Mystery of car from photo of 1960s London was unsolved for years with people baffled over what it is

A photo of 1960s London has sparked a lot of speculation online – because people couldn’t identify what this mystery car was.

The image itself is a snapshot of bustling London, with red buses galore and busy pedestrians making their way up and down the sidewalk.

But it’s a distinctive blue car that captured everyone’s attention.

For years, this fascinated car enthusiasts across the internet, until an answer emerged.

The mystery of a car in 1960s London that had the whole internet scratching its head

This car is something of a folklore in the world of automotive geeks.

The photo of it on the streets of 1960s London has surfaced on many forums over the years, leading to endless speculation on its model.

Many people speculated it may have been a Ferrari 250, which is a valid guess given that it matches the proportions of the 250.

Over on Reddit, people were asserting with confidence that this was a TVR Griffith.

Elsewhere, it was a modified Sunbeam Alpha that seemed to fit the bill.

But ultimately, nobody was totally certain.

However, we think we have the answer to the car mystery that has been baffling drivers for decades.

After we published an article about the car, the owner of a virtually identical car contacted Supercar Blondie and told us that he thinks the blue car in the picture is a Saab Sonett II.

Having owned his car for years, he was familiar with the shape.

While he owned a 1973 model, he identified the blue car as being a 1969 model.

It certainly looks like a match.

But what do we actually know about the Saab Sonett II?

Key Features: 1969 Saab Sonett II

The story of the Saab Sonett II, the car spotted in 1960s London

First introduced in 1955, the Sonett remained in production for three decades before it was discontinued in 1974.

When it first rolled off the production line, it was as a coupe or a roadster.

But by the time its second generation had come around, the Sonett was being marketed as a coupe while the roadster version had been retired.

This may come as a surprise to you, but the Sonett II could hold its own as a race car.

It successfully competed against other sports cars, including the Triumph Spitfire and the Austin-Healey Sprite.

However, it sometimes ended up being excluded from certain competitions due to low production volume.

To put those production figures into perspective, only 28 were made in 1966.

The rise and fall of Saab

When Saab – the Swedish manufacturer behind the Sonett – emerged on the scene back in the 1930s, it was originally as an aerospace company.

It started building cars in the following decade, and had a knack for coming up with some revolutionary concepts – including a car with no steering wheel.

But by the time the 1990s rolled around, the company was in dire straits.

By the end of the 2000s, its parent company, General Motors, had effectively walked away from it.

A brief ownership by Spyker didn’t pan out, and Saab went bankrupt in 2016.

Remnants of the company still remain, like this abandoned dealership, but its glory days are, sadly, a distant memory at this point.