Matchbox (Lesney) Saab Sonett III: An English Swede

Long before Mattel bought the iconic Matchbox car brand, it was once owned by the English toy company known as Lesney. The Lesney Company was first established following World War II in the late 1940s, by Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith. Though the two founders were previously friends, they were not related. The name was a combination of Leslie and Rodney's names, and it stuck. Initially, Lesney started producing small diecast construction vehicle models. In 1953, the first Matchbox car model debuted, a steam roller, and the rest was history. These early Matchbox cars are referred to as "regular wheels" by collectors, and mainly refers to the models produced from 1953 to around 1969. 

In 1968, another diecast car brand by the name of Hot Wheels (ever hear of them?) debuted to the world. Owned by Mattel, which owned the other popular toy Barbie, the Hot Wheels line became an instant hit overnight. Unlike the Matchbox cars and other diecast brands, which mainly focused on realism, Hot Wheels cars were edgy. They took risks by producing mainly sports and creative cars with bright colored "spectraflame" paint jobs. They also rolled very fast, due to their thin axles and wide wheels. Matchbox cars at the time had thick axles with thin wheels, causing their cars to roll with more resistance. 

In 1970, to compete with Hot Wheels, Matchbox introduced their "Superfast" line, which replaced the "regular wheels" cars from past decade and a half. These cars featured similar thin axles and bright paint jobs. While at first, Matchbox carried over their previous models, they started getting creative and adding more sports cars, racing cars, and fantasy cars to their line up. This is around the time when the Saab Sonett III model would debut. 

In 1973, Matchbox introduced the blue Saab Sonett III to their line up. It was the first Saab model and Swedish car they had produced. The model was sleek, and had the distinction of featuring a functioning rear liftgate. The most common color the car was produced in was the teal blue with yellow accents, as seen here. However, more rare combinations include a reversed white and blue Sonett only produced for the American market, and a red and yellow Sonett produced for South America. These models fetch high values on the collector's market, especially the red example. The Sonett would stay in production until 1976, disappearing for a short while.

The Sonett III reappeared in 1985, however, I'm going to save that for another entry. There is a bit of history to talk about for that entry, and this one is also getting pretty lengthy! Anyways, let's have a look at this Sonett III!

As you can see, these two models are less than perfect examples. Both were well used and played with back in the 1970s, as both of these belonged to my father and his childhood friend. In the picture on the right, the car on the left is my father's friend's Sonett, and the right is father's. Both have aged to a nice faded patina, losing their shine and gaining a well-loved appearance. The friend's car spent some time in the sand, with grains of sand corroding and bubbling the paint. However, the two Sonetts live to tell the tales of afternoons spent on the sidewalk, as a car that spent hours traveling imaginary roads or racing down Hot Wheels tracks. They may not be perfect, but they have a story, and that's what makes a toy car special. 

I like the fact that Matchbox took the time to make a model of such an obscure car. Even in its own time, the Sonett was a strange car, and Saab didn't sell many Sonetts as they intended. leading to its niche in car culture.

 The 96 and 99 models were much more popular cars that Saab produced, which makes me curious why Matchbox went with the Sonett. I suspect that Matchbox went with the Sonett because it looked more sporty than the other two Saabs mentioned, which leads to my second suspicion. Clearly in the 1970s, Matchbox was trying very hard to compete with Hot Wheels, which were producing radical designs like the Twin Mill and other sports cars. Since the Sonett was different enough from most cars at the time, I would believe that Matchbox saw this as a great opportunity to move on the Sonett's strange design and use it in their line up.

At some point, I plan to obtain a mint example of the blue Sonett. I also plan to get the 1980s reissue of the Sonetts, as I think they deserve their own entry and would make a fine addition to my collection.