The Reliant Sabre (also "Sabre Four") and the Reliant Sabre Six were small two-seater sports cars produced by

Reliant Reliant may also refer to: * Reliant Energy, an energy corporation from Houston, Texas, United States * Reliant Motors, a defunct British car manufacturer * Reliant Pharmaceuticals, now owned by GlaxoSmithKline * Stinson Reliant, a utility and ...

between 1961 and 1964.

History

Developed in collaboration with the Israeli motor company Autocars, as a result of the Managing Director Itzhak Shubinsky visiting the 1960 London Racing Car Show, where he saw the

Ashley 1172 Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words ''wikt:æsc#Old English, æsċ'' (“ash”) and ''wikt:leah#Old English, lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people a ...

fibreglass body and also a Leslie Ballamy-designed chassis, the EB Debonair, exhibited on the LMB Components stand. Autocars obtained licences for both parts and contracted Reliant to develop the Sabra for Autocars. Reliant introduced a right-hand drive version for the UK market and renamed it the Sabre. At Reliant, David Page redesigned the chassis and the bodyshell was redesigned by Eddie Pepall to meet US requirements. Launched in 1961 as two-door convertibles, front-engined, rear-drive, with four-cylinder OHV,

Ford Consul The Ford Consul is a car that was manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1951 until 1962. The name was later revived for a model produced by Ford in both the UK and in Germany from 1972 until 1975. Between 1951 and 1962, the Consul was the four-c ...

(later "Zephyr 4") engines of . They had front

disc brakes Disc or disk may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a two dimensional shape, the interior of a circle * Disk storage * Optical disc * Floppy disk Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other ...

, rack and pinion steering, and a ZF all-synchro gearbox. The front suspension was an unusual leading-arm set-up. Power output was giving at least . Coupés were introduced in June 1962, and total production reached 208 cars. At

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

in October 1962 the Sabre was shown with a redesigned, "less bizarre" front end. A six-cylinder Super Sabre SE2 prototype was also shown, which then became the Sabre Six. In 1962, the Reliant Sabre Six was introduced, with a six-cylinder Ford engine of , capable of and 0-60 mph in 12.2 seconds. The nose of the car was different from the earlier Sabres, and all but the first 17 Sabre Sixes had more conventional suspension, taken from the

Triumph TR4 The Triumph TR4 is a sports car produced by the Triumph Motor Company from 1961 to 1965. Successor to the Triumph TR3#TR3A, TR3A, the TR4's chassis and drivetrain are closely related to those of its predecessor, but with an updated body designed ...

. From a production total of 77, 75 were coupés and just two were convertibles. The Reliant competitions department modified three factory cars and three privateer cars for entry into a number of International rallies. Modifications included a

Raymond Mays Thomas Raymond Mays (1 August 1899 – 6 January 1980) was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. He attended Oundle School, where he met Amherst Villiers, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service in ...

alloy head with triple twin-choke Weber carburettors and independently-branched exhaust manifolds. Between 1963 and 1965, the cars participated in the

Alpine Rally The Alpine Rally, also known by its official name Coupe des Alpes, was a rally competition based in Marseille and held from 1932 to 1971. In the 1950s and the 1960s, it was among the most prestigious rallies in the world and featured an interna ...

RAC Rally Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) cal ...

, Welsh Rally and

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

. 1964 Reliant Sabre 4.jpg, 1964 Sabre Four 1964 Reliant Sabre 6.jpg, 1964 Reliant Sabre 6 Reliant Sabre 6 interior.jpg, 1964 Reliant Sabre 6 interior Reliant Sabre badge.jpg, Badge

Appearances in films and books

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...

had a Sabre Six in the book ''I Lucifer''.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources *

External links

Reliant Sports Car Index

Reliant Owners Club

Reliant Motor Club
S Cars introduced in 1961 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Coupés Sports cars Convertibles {{Classicpow-auto-stub