Start with what the Saab Gran Turismo is: a 2-door coupe with 748-cc and 841-cc three-cylinder Saab two-strokes, built from 1958 to 1968, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Sixten Sason.
The story
The Saab Granturismo (also Monte Carlo and Sport) was a series of up-powered sedans sold by Saab Automobile AB from 1958 to 1968. They were powered by three-cylinder, two-stroke engines until the 1967 model year. Most variants were distinguished from the standard model by twin metal stripes along the rocker panels.
What is underneath
The engine is 748-cc and 841-cc three-cylinder Saab two-strokes; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 810 kg. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual / 4-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Saab Automobile line-up the Saab Gran Turismo has a clear place: the factory was Trollhättan Assembly, Sweden. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Dodge Challenger, the Nissan Patrol, the Mini Mini. Nearby in the Saab Automobile catalogue sit the Saab 60 and the Saab 600.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Saab Gran Turismo has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.