Here’s some news for you.  At one point Israel had a short stint building cars.  No, not tanks or army Jeeps.  They had a little sports car they could call their very own.  This car, shown here at the Scarsdale Concours last fall, is called the Sabra.  This is a 1967 model.  The Sabra was named because the colloquial meaning of the phrase in Hebrew is “born in Israel” and the cactus logo is known as the “sabra”.  Israel manufactured another car before this known as the Sussita–Yitzhak Shubinksy requested Reliant Auto produce a small sports car (yes, the same Reliant Auto that produced the hilariously incompetent Reliant Robin and Reliant Regal), which they did in a scant 9 months’ time.  Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1967, production was cut short.  A total of just 171 were made during its life, and a scant 41 made it to the United States.  The owner was gracious enough to show it at the Scarsdale Concours this past fall.  While it isn’t the prettiest car in the world (far from it), it is certainly unique and drew a solid crowd of its own that afternoon.  Enjoy the pictures.

-Albert S. Davis