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.