I’ve got a bucketload of stuff to post from Hirsch today. For those who might be new to this site, Hirsch are based in Switzerland and are the only tuning company a Saab owner can use and retain their factory warranty. Essentially, they’re Saab’s in-house tuners, except they’re out of house.

Anyway, I’ll have heaps from Hirsch on site shortly, but these images and the story I want to show you now came up quite unexpectedly.

These photos popped up on a Hirsch-related Flickr account today. Have a peek and then I’ll tell you the story about that white car (as best as I can remember it, at least).

The green car in those photos is Saab Sonett #4. It was the subject of a book a few years ago, where the story of its restoration was told. My copy of that book is currently sitting on (former SaabUSA chief) Bob Sinclair’s desk as he was unfamiliar with the story, too. As I don’t have my copy here, you’ll have to forgive me if some of the details are sketchy, but the basics are as follows:

Saab built just six of these Sonetts and when it was known that they weren’t going into production, they sold a majority of them. The price wasn’t steep as they weren’t considered a valuable car way back then, they were just another registerable vehicle in the test stages.

Sonett #4 was purchased by a guy who didn’t like the Saab body shape, so he removed the green body and crafted his own body to sit on the Sonett’s framework. He called it the Facett (I don’t recall what it means), drove it for a few years and then left it in his yard as a plaything for his young children!

Eventually the car was found by a German guy by the name of Dr Klaus Muller-Ott, who restored the car to its original Sonett condition and published the aforementioned book (note to self: write to Bob and get it back some time).

Recently, the car was purchased from the doctor by Rene Hirsch, owner of Hirsch Performance in Switzerland. Rene Hirsch has a great collection of Saab cars and I’ve got no doubt this is the jewel in the crown.

What I’d forgotten until seeing this story this morning, however, is that they got the Facett body as well. It looks like that’s been restored to prime condition, too. What a fascinating extension to the collection and a great way to fill out the Sonett story.

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Here’s a taste of the Hirsch material to come later, and something a little Bizarre as well.

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