The Sabre Sprint was a product of the mini car company Sabre Cars, formed in 1984 in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. Steven Crabtree founded Sabre Cars in 1984 after years of producing

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

products such as

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

s, boats, sunbeds and fibreglass panels to other kit car brands. Crabtree designed and engineered the Sabre Sprint, produced between 1984 and 1986. Its boxy features resemble that of the Ford Escort MK3 or a

Talbot Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...

Sunbeam. Approx 110 cars were produced by Sabre Cars.

Manufacture and design

The Sabre Sprint was created from an all fibreglass monocoque body reinforced with

kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

and

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

at the mountings for extra strength. It used a classic mini front subframe and A-Series engine at the front. The rear was a galvanised beam axle used with classic mini radius arms and coilover suspension. The car had four seats and a boot area which could be accessed by tilting the rear seats.

MK1

The first design of the Sabre Sprint featured square headlights and an opening glass rear hatch.

MK2

Introduced only a year after the MK1. The front was changed to twin round headlights and a redesigned rear featured a full opening hatch.

Hybrid

Hybrids of the MK1 and MK2 were created during the change over period at Sabre Cars. These cars feature the twin round headlight front but with the MK1 style opening glass hatch.

Vario

While the hybrid version was redesigned in 1985 an additional version was conceived. It had a removable fibreglass rear roof section, and closely resembled a

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

with the A and B pillars remaining in place. The boot had a removable lid which could be replaced with a hatchback estate roof. Despite seemingly like a good idea at the time, few Varios were sold.

Camper

Just one of these Sabre Campers was produced.

End of manufacture

The Sabre Sprint vanished in 1986, after approximately 110 cars had been built. Some of them made it into motorsport, rallying, hill climbing and such due to the lightweight but strong design. The Sabre moulds ended up the property of a nearby company. The company later produced the FRA Mini based on the monocoque floor pan of the Sabre moulds. The FRA Minis have the same shortened floorpan as the sabre sprint.

References

{{reflist Companies established in 1984 Companies based in Newcastle upon Tyne Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom