Carryfast:
gingerfold:
Having seen the Sabre at an AEC Society Rally its engine compartment is quite spacious and it was well vented, so air circulation around the engine was much better than the Mandator V8 engine installation. The radiator appeared to be about twice the capacity of a Mandator V8 radiator, so Carryfast does make a valid point earlier about engine operating constraints and cooling. The Sabre has an ECW body so it is heavier by about 1 ton than a contemporary AH760 Reliance, but with 247 bhp on tap that is not an issue. Incidentally it has the same back axle and double reduction diff as used in the Mercury 26 tons gvw tractor unit, also the 24 tons gvw 6x2 Marshal, so it’s a red herring to say that the Reliance had a back axle that wouldn’t take extra power. The AEC / Maudslay back axle design was a well engineered, robust, and reliable unit. Those same axles became the basis of Rockwell axles when Leyland sold the Maudslay plant at Great Alne to Rockwell, who incidentally were quite happy to host an Autumn AEC Rally one year. The reason the AEC / Maudslay axle wasn’t used in the Marathon was because it’s design and engineering quality made it more costly to manufacture than other Leyland group axles.The Sabre was new to a London operator and Kemp’s bought it second hand. I don’t think that in Kemp’s ownership it ever did much serious coaching work, but some PSV enthusiasts will know its operational life.
The Queensland export order’s ? service life might provide some interesting answers regarding the V8 saga.
Although my guess is it was always going to be on the back foot v Detroit in the day bus or truck.
Hopefully cav might appreciate this more than Ramone.
My point was that AEC had the vision of and realising building a high powered coach , something no other British or foreign manufacturer at the time were doing or making available over here. We all no the V8 power unit wasnt any good due to reasons discussed at length in another thread. What Im trying to say is that when the TL12 was launched surely someone must have thought about dropping it in the Sabre having spent money developing the chassis and not being able to use it . The TL12 would have been well on top of the job at 273 bhp but it never happened. They didn`t need to use outside supplies of engines when they had one at their disposal