Just when you think the Saab world is a pretty small one and you think you've seen just about everything.....
The Saab Speedster.
Photos attributed as requested to Grafikdesigns
The writeup on this car was originally done in 2007 and to be honest, there's not much there on the car itself. The story seems to be more about the owner, one Vincent Villanueva.
It seems Mr V owned a Saab dealership, along with a few other brands. How he acquired the car is not mentioned, but as of 2007 the dealership moved to his daughter's care and presumably he's enjoying the Basque countryside in his one-off Saab 2-seater.
The car is said to be based on a 1984 Saab 900 but Mr V acquired it in the mid-1990s.
SaabRobz, as well as providing the Speedster link, above, has also traced the likely source of the vehicle.
It seems Swedish magazine Tekniken's Varld had a number of project cars they followed over the years, and this is most likely one of them. They mention the name Mellberg, which makes sense as Leif Mellberg is known for making some highly customised cars out of Saab 900s. This one, for example.
Thanks SaabRobz!!
But as a personal project car, it's still commendable on the works down (not the design decisions mind).
Most enthusiasts may not have an enderstanding of design elements, that's why most of the DIY cars and modded cars are a bit hideous to look at.
The few that cracked it, have some true sense of design.
Mellberg also created the another Saab based "supercar", called Mayo P1.
http://medlem.spray.se/saab900t16aero/saabspec1.html
It was designed by Sune Envall, the brother of Saab's former chief designer.
Interesting the way the body work over where the rear seats used to be is quite similar to the recent McLaren Mercedes limited edition which is supposed to look like Sterling Moss's car from the Mille Miglia. That idea of the cowling running up to the back of the seats is very old school but still pretty cool to me. Jags used to do it too from memory.
Leif Mellberg has also done the Saab EV-1.
/Enis