Throwback Thursday: 1964 Bond Equipe GT first drive

We found the four manual gears to be smooth and easy to change, with the lack of synchromesh in first being of "decidedly practical value" and third "the perfect ratio for storming hills and for main road overtaking".

The ride was judged to be "excellent on reasonably well-surfaced roads", although "potholes in the road caused pronounced thumps, sounding as though the suspension had bottomed".

We continued: "On pavé, there's severe bottoming and violent vertical movement as though the wheels are unable to keep pace with the irregularities, and on the rarer washboard type of surface there is a lot of scuttle vibration.

"An associated criticism of the Equipe on bad roads is the amount of wheel shock coming back through the steering. This is excessive. The excuse for this trait is the really precise rack and pinion steering allied to lightness of control and the remarkable turning circle."

As for the handling: "There is mild understeer at first, which lessens and gives way to oversteer when the limit speed for a given corner is approached. The rear wheels still slide outwards rather abruptly.

"Steering correction quickly retrieves the situation, and as the car has a marked tendency to nose into a corner on the overrun, instead of running wide, the Equipe should help its driver out of trouble if he takes a bend too fast. On wet roads, the tendency for the tail to slide is accentuated. No matter how hard the Equipe is thrown about on a winding road, there's hardly any roll, and only violent braking brings any protest from the tyres.

"Disc brakes are fitted at the front, drums at the rear and, although there is no servo, response to quite light pedal pressure is good. The driver seldom has any qualms about stopping quickly."

There were some considerable and worrying flaws with our early-production test car. First, we noticed that "the metal doors and Herald scuttle did not perfectly align with the remainder of the bodywork". Then we realised that the steering wheel design blocked the driver's view of the instruments, although this wasn't as bad as the fact that one of its screws worked loose on a rough road. Before long, one of the quarterlights also lost its nut during our test drive, rendering it unopenable. And, worst of all, "a low-pressure area along the sides of the car causes the frameless windows to bow out, leaving a substantial gap from the rubber seal". 

Thankfully, things were a little better inside, with "the apparent comfort and finish being most pleasing".

We said: "Thick weave carpets cover the floor front and rear, and the seats and side trim are in shiny black PVC.

"The seats themselves are of Bond's own design and are especially comfortable. Based on a metal framework, they are deeply padded and give really firm lateral support to hold the occupants in place on corners."

However, like in any 2+2 coupé, head room wasn't great in the rear, with the bench being suitable really only for children. Leg room was adequate, however. If you were to drive two up, with the rear seats folded forward, there was "really copious luggage space".