1965 Reliant Scimitar

History

The Reliant Scimitar was one of automotive history's happy accidents. Conceived during the innocent days before market research and rigid competition shaped every last detail of a new car's design, the Scimitar was a vehicle whose success nobody predicted. Pieced together as the hodgepodge creation of several different companies working together, and working together quite accidentally, the Scimitar turned out to be a more cohesive and influential product than it had any right to be. An example of the British automobile industry's somewhat magical ability to turn bad ideas into great cars, the Scimitar earned its place as a classic by slapping in the face both the status quo and the burgeoning tradition of product planning—for 22 consecutive years.

The British auto industry has, of course, had its share of innovators and genius engineers. Alec Issigonis and Colin Chapman, for instance, brought with them many great ideas of lasting value. But nevertheless, the major British carmakers all had their own take on the 'bad idea done well' theme. How could any sports car succeed when powered by an engine similar to a Ferguson tractor's? Ask the brilliant Triumph TR2. And how could an overgrown, off-road capable station wagon with atrocious body roll become one of the most respected luxury vehicles on the road? Ask the Range Rover.

And so the Reliant Scimitar, a fine and logical car in retrospect, appeared at first as an ill-conceived curiosity. On the surface the car looked strange enough: a fiberglass-bodied GT, with Ford six-cylinder power, produced by a manufacturer best known for its charming three-wheelers. But for as odd as the Reliant seemed at first glance, with its crisp beak of a nose flanked by quad headlights, the car's real strangeness lay beneath its fiberglass shell, rooted in a convoluted development history involving half a dozen companies.

The first step in a long chain of events leading to the Reliant Scimitar's birth came when British luxury carmaker Daimler decided to produce its SP250 Dart sports car. The Dart, an interesting but disappointing vehicle in most regards, led to poor sales at Daimler. Enter the second company involved with the Scimitar story, Ogle Design. The founder of this design house, David Ogle, created a one-off special based on the Daimler SP250. A proper grand touring car that was better thought-out than the original SP250, Daimler nevertheless declined the opportunity to purchase and produce the so-called SX250 for itself. Jaguar (the third player) purchased Daimler as sales continued to sag. Its image reinvented under Jaguar, Daimler now had no use at all for the SX250—but luckily a fourth company saw great promise in the SX250 design.

That company, of course, was Reliant. Despite Reliant's reputation as a producer of economy cars, the firm did offer a sports car called the Sabre. The SX250 design was adopted and renamed 'Scimitar,' replacing the Sabre in 1964. The Scimitar shared both chassis and engine with its predecessor. That engine, a merely adequate straight-six, came from a fifth company: Ford. (The sixth company involved with the Scimitar story, Middlebridge, didn't come into play until the very end of Scimitar production).

Thus the Scimitar was born, a fiberglass fairytale built with bought-in power and a bought-in design based on the defunct product of a bought-out carmaker. This was the sort of recipe only a British car company could make turn out well.

And turn out well it did. The Scimitar sold strongly and developed a cult of loyal followers. Reliant continuously improved the car, preventing it from going stale over a long production run. The very first Scimitar was actually called the 'Series 4A,' indicating its place amongst a progression of Reliant sports cars (Sabre Series 1 through 3). When Reliant introduced the Scimitar Series 4B, they were able to fit a new and better engine to the car: Ford's 3-liter Essex V6. With 135bhp, a huge increase from the prior six's 87bhp, the Scimitar Series 4B offered the performance of a genuine grand touring car.

In his superb book GT: The World's Best GT Cars 1953 to 1973, Sam Dawson writes that the Essex V6-equipped Scimitar 'instantly began attracting the 'old money' rather than the jet set, as it was rugged, unpretentious and understated, making it ideal for the aristocrat who wanted a sporting car with luxurious features which could weather being used and left on a country estate, and would be stylish enough for public engagements and continental touring.' Such praise seems almost too flattering, especially for a car that appeared so modest next to contemporary GT machines by Ferrari and Aston Martin. But such kind words proved true when the Scimitar fell into the hands of the oldest of old money in Britain: the British Royalty.

In the late 1960s, an Ogle-designed one-off Scimitar was commissioned by HRH Prince Philip himself, who appreciated the versatility of the Scimitar but wanted a car with even more practicality. Accordingly, Prince Philip specified a shooting-brake body style, essentially a sporting station wagon with two doors. This one-off vehicle was named the 'Triplex GTS' and featured a radically large glass areas with curved rear windows and glass panels in the roof. The basic design of the Triplex GTS, albeit with a far less striking use of glass, led to a production shooting-brake styled by Tom Karen of Ogle Design. This new production model was named the Scimitar GTE, for Grand Touring Estate.

The Scimitar's almost simultaneous endorsement by the royal family and development into a shooting-brake signaled a turning point in the car's history. No longer a callow oddity, the Scimitar was now a proven machine with celebrity credentials. And no longer just some entry-level GT for those who couldn't afford an Aston Martin, the Scimitar GTE instantly became the most practical car on the market for discerning buyers who refused to sacrifice performance in their search for versatility.

Speaking of discerning buyers, Princess Anne owned eight different examples of the Scimitar GTE. The royal family's fascination with the Reliant Scimitar, and the parent company's desire to distance that car's reputation from the image of its three-wheeled products, eventually led to Reliant marketing Scimitar as its own brand.

Though the Scimitar coupe lasted only until 1970, a convertible (GTC) version debuted in 1980 to complement the GTE. As with the original coupe, though, convertible Scimitar sales were far below those of the shooting-brake model. Production of the GTC nevertheless continued alongside the GTE, and both models were built until Reliant discontinued the Scimitar in 1986. But even this was not the end of the Scimitar name.

Now the sixth and final player in the Scimitar story arrives. Following Reliant's discontinuation of the Scimitar range, a company called Middlebridge purchased the rights to the Scimitar GTE. Rightly ignoring the outdated coupe and unsuccessful convertible models, Middlebridge took the finest and most commercially viable Scimitar model and gave it what Reliant couldn't: a fresh look. The small Middlebridge concern couldn't afford to redesign the Scimitar GTE from the ground up, but they were able to freshen the car substantially and tastefully. The Middlebridge cars featured fuel injection (which had been standard on Scimitars since 1980) and a revised body that replaced chrome trim with body-colored plastic. The resulting car looked modern and muscular—and with a top speed of 130mph, it had performance to back up its looks. Middlebridge produced its updated Scimitars from 1988 to 1990.

The Scimitar name also made it onto an unsuccessful succession of tiny sports cars manufactured by Reliant from 1984 to 1995. The most popular of these, called the SS1 and produced from 1984 to 1990, was the last car designed by Giovanni Michelotti. These diminutive Scimitar models handled well, but early versions were slow and the styling was controversial. The cars never caught on with buyers, and by the time the Mazda Miata debuted in 1989 there was no hope for the cars to succeed.

Thanks to the Scimitar, Reliant was able to make a name for itself as an incredibly versatile carmaker in Britain. The company found success building three-wheelers like the Robin, which were easier and cheaper to keep on the road in their home country, thanks to the lower taxes and licensing requirements faced by owners of three-wheeled vehicles. The Scimitar, though, proved that Reliant could also build a car with the comfort and speed befitting the royal family. Only about 15,000 Scimitars were produced by Reliant. Though this number looked huge next to the small production figures associated with more exclusive GT cars, it represented only a very small proportion of its parent company's total output. Reliant likely never could have survived on the Scimitar alone, but its ability and willingness to produce the upscale Scimitar models while maintaining microcar production showed Reliant to be a unique British company capable of meeting uniquely British automotive needs.

Sources:

Dawson, Sam. GT: The World's Best GT Cars 1953-1973. Dorchester, England: Veloce Books , 2007. Print.

Schlegelmilch, Rainer W., and Hartmut Lehbrink. British Sports Cars. H. F. Ullmann, 2007. Print.

By Evan Acuña

British automobile manufacturer Reliant produced the Scimitar from 1964 through 1995. It was a sports coupe based on the styling of a Daimler SP250 prototype (renamed the SX250) and rode on the chassis of the Reliant Sabre. The first example was displayed in 1964 and came equipped with a 2.6 liter Ford six-cylinder engine found in the Ford Zephyr and Ford Zodiac. Many components were used from other vehicles in an effort to keep costs at a minimum.

By Daniel Vaughan | Aug 2011