Owning a Saab Sonett in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona


After I wrecked my MG Midget, in 1979, I decided that it was time to buy a larger, more reliable car, so I bought a Saab Sonett. And I know what you're thinking, that a Jensen-Healey would have been more logical for me because of my relationship with Delta Motorsports, but I never really liked the look of those cars, and besides, if I was gonna have a 907 engine I wanted a Lotus around it (which was way beyond my budget!). But Delta did factor into the decision.

The Sonett on Wonderview Road on Camelback Mountain

One of the Delta Motorsports (there were three, hence the name) suggested a Sonett. He owned a Sonett II, and when I saw a III I was convinced. It was beautiful! It also had a hard top, and air conditioning (well, a button that said air conditioning and a compressor, but it really didn't do much of anything). In 1979 I wasn't a teenager anymore, and I felt the weight of my years pushing me into getting something more practical. Seems like I've always felt the weight of my years, and it's continually pushing me to be more "age appropriate" in what I do.

By the way, for you Shakespeare fans, the correct spelling isn't Sonnet, which is poetry, it's Sonett which means something small in Swedish (I don't know what), and it's pronounced Son-ETT, like "kitchenette". This information can come in handy if you're at a car show and want to show off your knowledge a bit!

The Sonett only lived in Phoenix until I graduated from ASU a few years later, and then it prowled around the twisty canyons of Southern California. I sold it, sadly, when I was 28, and again was feeling the weight of my years to get something more practical, which is when I bought the 5.0 Mustang, which brought me back to Phoenix in 1989, and which I wrecked in '92.

For those of you who were at ASU in 1981 and '82, you may have seen me park the Sonett waaaay out in the parking lot by the stadium. I carried my bike in the back (could never have done that with the Midget!) and rode into campus, of course going slowly past Manzanita.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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