The

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

MFI 13 was a February 1965

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

for the

Saab 97 The Saab Sonett is an automobile manufactured between 1955 and 1957 and again between 1966 and 1974 by Saab of Sweden. Sonetts share engines and other components with Saab 93, 95 and 96 of the same era. It was mainly intended for the lucrati ...

automobile, later known as Sonett II. It was built at the ''

Malmö Flygindustri Malmö Flygindustri was a small aviation and car company in south Sweden which specialized in small single-propeller aircraft and various plastic objects. It was later acquired by SAAB. Products ;Aircraft * MFI-9 * MFI-10 Vipan * BA-12 Sländan ...

'' as they had some experience with plastic manufacturing. The body of the prototype was made of steel though. A second prototype was designed by

Sixten Sason Sixten Sason (born Sixten Andersson; 1912–1967) was a Swedish industrial designer, noted for his work in designing several generations of Saab automobiles. Biographical Sason was born in 1912, the son of a Swedish sculptor. He trained in Pa ...

and delivered a month later by ASJ (''Aktiebolaget Svenska Järnvägsverkstäderna'' - the Swedish Railroad Works) in

Arlöv Arlöv () is the seat of Burlöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden. It is statistically not defined as a locality of its own, but forms part of the contiguous city of Malmö, 5 km northeast of downtown Malmö. Out of Malmö's 344,000 inh ...

. Both cars were brought to

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is locate ...

for examination and the MFI car was determined to be the most suitable for further development. Both cars had the

two stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

Saab Sport engine of 60 hp (45 kW) and were capable of 160 km/h. By spring 1966 the ''project 97'' had advanced enough so that 24 cars could be built in

, in the south of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. When series production started by the end of the year, many details had been altered:

brake A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

s, ventilation system, grille and parking lights. Prototypes were shown at both the ''

Salon International de l'Auto The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by the ...

'' (

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

) and

New York International Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan in late March or early April. It is held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first Su ...

. In Geneva a car was available for test driving. Both cars are now on display in the Saab

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in Trollhättan.

External links

MFI13 at Saabmuseum.com

Björn Svallner tells the story behind MFI-13

Sources

* ''The SAAB Way'', by Gunnar A. Sjögren. {{Saab Automobile MFI 13 Front-wheel-drive vehicles

See also

External links

Sources