Fun fact. (I really need to come up with better titles for these posts)

"not for canada - australian in disguise" (for-canada) 10/26/2019 at 16:05 • Filed to: None

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Bond, the people that made the Bug three wheeler (among other three wheelers) and were later bought by Reliant, tried their hand at a contemporary four wheeled sports car, just like their contemporaries Morgan (with the 4/4) and Reliant (with the Scimitar, Princess Anne had one, you know). Enter the Bond Equipe.

There were actually several generations of the Equipe, the second generation taking a lot from cars like the Sunbeam Rapier fastback coupe. Unlike the Rapier though, I’m not sure the Equipe works. The proportions are very, awkward, like someone stuck a much larger car than what was really possible on a short wheelbase. It looks like it’s going to fall over or something.

Like the Scimitar, the second generation Equipe also had a shooting brake variant. It looks a lot better, but is slightly ruined due to the weird rear end that makes it look like they changed their minds last minute and tried to add a trunk.

Mechanically, they were pretty uninteresting. Underneath, the Equipe initially shared it’s platform with the Triumph Herald, before switching to the slightly more sporting Vitesse’s chassis for the second generation .

The Equipe was not long for the world though, as in 1969 Reliant, Bond’s biggest competitor, bought them out and closed their factory in Preston, Lancashire in 1970, killing off the Equipe in the process, which probably would have overlapped with Reliant’s Scimitar anyways .

The Bond name would continue on for four more years for the ill-fated Bond Bug, Reliant’s failed attempt at appealing to Britain’s youth. After the Bug was squashed in 1974, the Bond nameplate was officially dead after 25 years, a mostly unsung and un celebrated casualty of the volatile 1970s British car industry.

kanadanmajava1 > not for canada - australian in disguise 10/26/2019 at 17:45

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The 2nd generation Equipe’s design loo ks like the one used for Monteverdi High Speed 375 L . The proportio ns are just weirder.