Topic: Q#120 - solved - Quantum III

[Quiller]

What's the name of this car?

[Allemano]

If I'm not mistaken it's the Saab Quantum III

[Arunas]

If I'm not mistaken it's the Saab Quantum III

Wow! Never heard of this model.. Does it really have its separate (different) Saab badge?

[Quiller]

If I'm not mistaken it's the Saab Quantum III

Hmmm. That's not the tag I have on this car. But looking at the Saab History website, it does look like the same car. I will do some more research and see if I can unravel the story...

[Arunas]

Maybe it also has nothing to do with Intermeccanica ?

[Quiller]

OK, the caption under the pic I posted said it was a sports car proposed for production by Alvin Trumbull, the man who inherited the Playboy brand, as a 'new' Playboy. But his partner in this was Hank Rudkin, who definitely was behind the Quantum, and it's clearly the same car. So - a point to you, Allemano.

[Paul Jaray]

Uff...I had this pic in that scan from that site....why don't you move to the pro.....why....whyyyyy......!!!
Hartford businessman Alvin Trumbull was the longest-lasting Playboy diehard. as late as 1964, he was still trying to find backers for a Playboy chassis fitted with this sleek fiberglass body originally planned for a Saab sports car Trumbull sold his last Playboy and the mahogany 1949 body buck to a Massachusetts collector around 1965, when he finally gave up on rescuing thePlayboy from its predestined resting place in oblivion. Federal engineering reluctantly scrapped the incomplete body dies in 1959, only after a decade of trying to find buyers to finance completion of the dies.

[Quiller]

Here's a paragraph from the same article. Given that the tone of the story suggests that Alvin Trumbull might not have been as transparent as he could have been, I think we can surmise that this car was a Quantum III, rather than any Playboy project. What looks like very much the same car appears in some period footage on the Saa History website

[Arunas]

Hey! Is there really any connection with Alvin Trumbull? I have been searching for info about this car but there's no word about this man 

For example:

1962-1963 Quantum Corp., Rockland, Massachusetts. The fibreglass-bodied sports car was based on SAAB running gear. This preceded the first production Saab Sonnet by 5 years. Power was by the 3-cylinder 850GT engine and the Saab sedan chassis was shortened by 12in.They were sold in fully assembled form by Saab dealers. Quantum also built a line of successful Saab-based racing cars.

[Paul Jaray]

Hey! Is there really any connection with Alvin Trumbull? I have been searching for info about this car but there's no word about this man

As I wrote, I think that this very car is not the Quantum III but it is Trumbull's proposal for a sport car to be sold for Playboy, that uses the Quantum fiberglass body on a Playboy's chassis.

[Quiller]

I asked the guy who runs one of the Playboy websites (no not one of those websites) but he'd never heard of this project. Given the clear link in the Playboy article (appended in an earlier post) to the guy who built the Quantum, my guess is there must be some connection with the Quantum. Any more light being shed on this gratefully received!

[Carnut]

What exactly is this for 1 point (and it's not a re-post...)

[Paul Jaray]

Repost..  http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=5469.0   

[Carnut]

Repost..  http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=5469.0   

Well I didn't think it was, because that puzzle was the kit-car that developed from this, which is the original prototype.
Look at the front bumpers, the grille and the door-handles.  They are not the same.

[Maxiu]

Saab Quantum III

[Carnut]

Saab Quantum III

Well yes it is, but this puzzle doesn't count as it has been compromised - PJ has given the answer above!
I've been waiting for someone to merge it.
Although I don't really agree that it was a repost as the original puzzle was not a Saab Quantum 3 prototype but a Quantum kit car derived from it.

If someone doesn't merge this I'll just move it to Solved.

Here's another pic anyway of it at the Saab Museum:

[Paul Jaray]

I'm sorry, Carnut, usually I just write that is a repost waiting for an answer, but this time I had the time to post also the link thinking that was a repost.
Next thim I'll stick with the "heads-up only" rule.   

[Carnut]

I'm sorry, Carnut, usually I just write that is a repost waiting for an answer, but this time I had the time to post also the link thinking that was a repost.
Next thim I'll stick with the "heads-up only" rule.   

Never mind, but I did specially say in the original post with the puzzle pic that it wasn't a re-post. 
Nice car anyway!