Quantum III - The Saabuar
04/13/2025
Haven't you always thought that the two biggest weaknesses of the Jaguar E-Type are its expansive dimensions and its unnecessarily powerful engine? And that's why you've never bought one, even though you really like the shape. If that's the case, we have something for you: the Quantum III - modeled on the lines of the noble Englishman, but only 3.81 meters long and with 52 hp.
At the 1962 New York Auto Show, amateur racing driver and nuclear physicist Walter Kern presented the small roadster he had designed himself. He had designed the aluminum chassis on a computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the plastic body had been manufactured by Atkins & Merrill in Sudbury - after naming the stylistic model. The engine and gearbox came from the Saab 96 Sport.
In Kern's opinion, the Swedish two-stroke engine had the advantage over the pressure-lubricated four-stroke engines from Porsche or Siata, for example, that the oil-petrol mixture meant that the engine lubrication would not break down even in fast bends. Equipped with three carburetors, the 841-cubic-inch three-cylinder engine was supposed to be able to accelerate the almost 500 kg light car to over 100 miles per hour.
After the premiere in New York, the white prototype was used in a few races on the West Coast and then dismantled so that the body templates could be taken from it for series production. But it was not to come to that. While the US importer showed great interest and newspapers announced the start of production in January 1963, the Quantum met with rejection in Sweden.
By the end of 1962, only two further pre-production models had been built in Fairfield, Connecticut, differing mainly in the height of their windscreens. Both red roadsters are still in existence today. Number two (the one with the high windshield) is currently being auctioned on bringatrailer.com. You should take advantage of this opportunity. Otherwise you'll have to make do with an E-Type.
