1962 Reliant Sabre

The Reliant Sabre 4 and Sabre 6 were two-seater sports cars sold between 1961 and 1964. They used a front engine, front wheel drive layout and were aimed at the mid-range sports market.

Introduced in 1961, the Reliant Sabre 4 (code name SE1) was the Tamworth company's first venture into 4-wheeled cars, having produced rather pedestrian 3-wheelers since inception in 1951. Not only this, but the Sabre 4 was an open 2-seater sports car. First shown at the 1961 London Earls Court Motor Show in October, the body was constructed in fibreglass and had a long protruding nose in front of the headlamps, combined with two individual and large chrome 'L-section' over riders mounted vertically either side of the radiator grille.

A Les Bellamy-designed 'LMB' leading arm independent front system was employed with a coil sprung Watts link live rear axle. With disc front brakes, front engine and rear wheel drive, rack and pinion steering was also specified. Ford's Consul 375 1703cc overhead valve four-cylinder engine with 72bhp at 4400rpm was fitted. 93 mph was possible, with a 0-60 mph time of 14.1 seconds and 19.9 seconds taken over the standing 1/4 mile. At £1165, the Sabre 4 was offered in two stages of tune and was slightly more expensive than the £835 required to buy an MGB in 1962. The first stage was mildly tuned with a raised compression ratio to 8.9:1 against the standard 7.8:1 and used a downdraft Zenith carburettor. Stage two was offered with twin SU carburettors at an extra cost of £53, which enabled the Sabre 4 to reach a maximum speed of 100mph. An all-synchromesh 4-speed ZF gearbox was fitted.

In 1962 Reliant reacted to criticism by shortening and tidying up the nose of the Sabre 4 and offered it with Ford's 6-cylinder Zodiac 2553cc engine. It was known as the Reliant Sabre 6 (code name SE2). This engine improved performance no end, but the overall weight of the car went up nearly 500lbs. Even so, 0-60mph came down to 9.9 seconds, and top speed went up 16mph to 109mph. The price also came down by £9 to £1156.

From June 1962 onwards a closed Coupe version was launched but only in Sabre 6 form, and a more conventional flatter bonnet was only available on the Sabre 4 from June 1963. Most Sabre 6 cars had a four-speed gearbox with overdrive on 3rd and 4th gears. Only 77 Sabre 6 cars were made, of which 75 were coupes and 2 were convertibles, the last 60 cars having a conventional double wishbone TR4 front suspension to cope with the car's greater weight.

To prove the car's durability to the public, the Sabre 4 was entered by the factory in the 1962 Tulip Rally, 1962 RAC Rally, 1963 Ilfracombe Rally and the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally - with some success with famous drivers such as Raymond Baxter and Roger Clark. Although the car had good cornering at high speeds and was economical to run, the Sabre 4 was not well received and production only amounted to 208 cars. Unfortunately the Sabre 6 did nothing to recover the situation. Production ended in 1964 when the soon-to-be hugely successful Scimitar was launched.

The Reliant Sabre & Scimitar Owner's Club caters for owners of Reliant Sabre, Scimitar Coupé, GTE or GTC, Middlebridge Scimitar, SS1, SST and Scimitar Sabre cars. There is a comprehensive list of monthly regional meetings as well as events to attend and an online forum. Reliant Sabre 4 and Sabre 6 cars readily come up for sale on internet searches but are nonetheless rare finds today. Alternative sports cars are the Sunbeam Alpine, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, Triumph TR4 and MG B.