It’s taillight-related because of course it is. Here, look:
It’s that phrase “flashing indicators of correct intensity” that really gets me. It’s hard to think of a more space-filling bit of copy than crowing about how your car’s indicator flash with the “correct intensity,” which I’m certain was something many potential buyers crossed off their list of demands with satisfaction. I’m sure thousands of hours of R&D and testing went into confirming that those lights flashed with an intensity that fell within the demanding, narrow “correct” range. Bang up job, Autocars!
I enjoy how the grammatical convention at the time was to put things like names within quotation marks. So to us today, the ad copy makes it look like Sabra isn’t really its actual name or something. Also, periods in GT b/c abbreviation! “A similar vehicle was the Israeli Sabra Sport, also based on a Ford engine and running gear. Reliant was so impressed with the design, they sold it in the UK as the Sabre to help Reliant’s company image expand beyond a three-wheeled micro-car maker. The car sold poorly against offerings from Triumph and MG, however. Later, Reliant bought a prototype design for the replacement Daimler Dart, which would become the Scimitar Coupe and later the best-selling sporting estate—the Scimitar GTE. “ As a kid I perused the Motor and Autocar road test annuals amongst the cars mags that accumulated on my father’s book shelves. I can’t remember which publication had the test, but it was the 1963 or 1964 annual. I think when people saw the name Reliant they thought of the cheap three wheeler and that association was a negative. I believe four wheel Bond offerings were afflicted by a similar curse. However, those front bumpers do not have the “correct intensity”. Fast motoring being a relative term I’m sure. Those Israeli “hypermilers” out there could squeeze out 29.68 mpg with SLOW motoring if only there was enough Israeli highway to even travel 250 miles. Also, if no one gets around to it, I will figure out where the taillights came from once I come home to my automotive library. I am going to guess Ford Zodiac or something. Probably also why it hasn’t any rear opening hatch. Which kind of makes it a bit more exclusive. Like TVR, SAAB 92, an old Opel GT or an old Corvette. As for the taillights, I am leaning Austin A40 Farina – so BMC did the heavy work of identifying the correct intensity, assuming Sabra didn’t play with the voltage… the Sabra roadster had taillights from the Giulietta Sprint. We need Tom Mcparland. JT: “Is this loosely associated with taillights?” DT: “Seems to be…” JT: “Full Send!” DT: “That’s not how that wo… oh, fuck it.”
