Autocars Sabra - الكتالوج والمواصفات الفنية

Autocars Sabra is a small passenger car in the format of a 2-seater coupe or roadster, produced by the Israeli company Autocars from 1960 to 1969. The word “sabra” has two meanings: a fruit-bearing cactus and a person born in Israel. The idea of ​​creating the Sabra belonged to the founder of Autocars, Itzhak Shubinski. In 1960, at a car show in England, Shubinski saw a prototype of the Ashley 117... قراءة الكل2 sports roadster. Impressed by the design, the businessman suggested that his British partners from Reliant build a similar fiberglass body on a different platform. The chassis was purchased from engineer Leslie Bellamy. The engines were supplied by the British subsidiary of Ford. Reliant put all the components together. The car, designed in just 9 months by engineers who had previously only dealt with 3-wheeled cars, came out rather awkward: in front there were huge “fangs” that replaced the front bumper, and a cactus was depicted on the radiator grille. The engine chosen was more than modest - a 1.7-liter with 61 hp. (later versions with 74 and 90 horsepower appeared). The engine was located within the wheelbase, ensuring even weight distribution along the axles, and was connected to a fully synchronized 4-speed ZF manual transmission. The suspension turned out to be non-standard: independent on trailing arms and springs at the front and dependent on springs with a continuous beam and longitudinal rod at the rear. There were disc brakes on the front wheels and drum brakes on the rear wheels. The maximum speed was 160 km/h, but when it was reached, the car simply lost traction. In 1961, the coupe Sabra was shown at an exhibition in New York as the first sports car from Israel, although there was little that was purely Israeli in design; even the first hundred copies were assembled in the UK at Reliant facilities. In Israel itself, Sabra remained virtually unknown for a long time. The “cactus from Israel” did not indulge in dynamics, much less image and prestige. The car didn’t stand out because of its affordable price. I was not pleased with the reliability and build quality. The value of Autocars Sabra came only in modern times, mainly due to its rarity. Of the 379 copies of the total circulation, not all of them remained in use. There are Sabra fan clubs in the USA, Switzerland and Belgium, and millionaires have a couple of them in their collections.