Catherina

    Catherina, the sports car prototype, began as a private project in the early 1960s. Saabs stylist at that time, Sixten Sason, who worked on a freelance basis, drew up sketches of a small sports coupé for himself. A model is preserved in the Saab museum. At about this time, plans for a new Saab sports car after the first Sonett in 1956 began to take shape. Sixten Sason was commissioned to adapt his car to possible full-scale production and, in January 1963, work started on it in earnest. In May of the same year, assembly of the prototype was begun at the ASJ (railway equipment) wokrshops in Katrineholm (hence the Catherina).
    On April 2, 196, the prototype was shown for the first time in Linköping Sports Centre. It had a number of futuristic features such as the removable Targa top, while other Sason refinements were left out in its adaptation for production. One of the things Sixten Sason wanted was roofmounted headlamps to give longer range on dipped beams. Incidentally, some of the Catherinas lines are incorporated in the Saab 99 which was also on Sixten Sasons drwaing board at this time.
    However, test driving showed that quite a lot of development work still remained to be done on Catherina before she could be put into production.
    Meanwhile, a competitor had appeared on the horizon - Björn Karlströms and Björn Andreassons MFI 13. A comparison of the cars turned out in favour of the MFI 13. It subsequently formed the basis of the Saab Sonett II and Catherina was relegated to the museum for good.