The Bond Equipe was a British 2 + 2 sports car produced from 1963 to 1970 by Sharp's Commercials Ltd./Bond Cars Ltd. It was Bond Cars' first four-wheel vehicle, which had only produced the three-wheel Bond Minicar until then.
The Bond Equipe 2 Liter Saloon was based on a design by Trevor Fiore, who had also worked on TVR Trident for TVR. Ultimately, their own design team (with Lawrie Bond) was also involved. The coupé presented in 1967 had nothing of the much more angular design Triumphs. The interior was also different, with bucket seats in the front and compared to the GT4S even more headroom in the rear.
As options, customers could choose a Laycock-de-Normanville overdrive, center-lock wire wheels and a built-in radio (!). Although the car was quite expensive with a price tag of £ 1.095, it became a success and production of the GT4S even had to be cut to make room for the GT 2-Liter. The handling of the Bond Equipe GT 2-Liter Saloon Mk II was heavily criticized by the car press. Triumph received the same complaints at the Vitesse and the Herald and when these were resolved by a new wishbone system with rubber Rotoflex couplings, that modification was also carried out at Bond. This is how the Triumph Vitesse Mk II and the Bond Equipe GT 2-Liter Saloon Mk II. The engine was also revised for these models.
In February 1969, the Reliant Motor Company took over Bond Cars Ltd. about. The production of the Bond was not immediately ended, but nothing was further developed. That would not have been logical, because Reliant already had a three-liter six-cylinder in house with the Reliant Scimitar.
The plans to build a convertible version of the Equipe GT4S 1300 were not implemented and the existing models underwent some changes here and there because no more parts were ordered from Triumph. Reliant worked together with Ford. As a result, the quality of the latest Reliant / Bond copies was disappointing. Reliant was working on an update of the Bond Equipe because they wanted to collaborate with Triumph continue to use it, mainly due to the dealer network of Triumph.
De TriumphDealers, however, became agitated by customer complaints. Triumph In the meantime, it also made changes to the models itself, and eventually Reliant decided to abandon the entire project and close the factory in Preston. In August 1970 the band's last Bond Equipes were released. The Bond Equipe 2-Liter Saloon was produced from January 1967 to January 1970, a total of 591. The convertible version, which was produced from January 1968 to January 1970, saw the light of 841 units.