Did you know Princess Anne had a Reliant Scimitar GTE?
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Reliant Scimitar GTE? Princess Anne had one. Yes I know..we all know! The Scimitar GTE was a brilliant sports/hatch/estate mash up that the world had been waiting for ! This one could be yours as its for sale at percivalmotorc... now
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Crossflags of Dumfries were the Reliant dealer in Dumfries SW Scotland. My parents regularly reminded me of the fact that Princess Anne had one as we passed the small showroom (She still does I am told). Crossflags was taken over by Arnold Clark and was renamed Harry Fairburn at a more modern premises but became a BMW dealer as Reliant withered on the vine. The old showroom became a used car dealer and only recently closed. I feel sad every time I pass it as I yearn for the late 70’s, simpler times.
Pardon my ignorance (I'm from Chile) who is Princess Anne?
@@zerocool5395 Queen Elizabeth 2 daughter (Princess Royal)
Growing up in a Northern town in the ‘80s these were the pub landlord’s transport of choice. Plenty of room for crisps and nuts from the cash and carry, but still a bit flash.
Alternative landlord motors were XJ6s/XJ12s, Granadas, SD1s, or down at heel Silver Shadows.
But the Scimitar was king of the lot - the one every landlord aspired to own.
Cardboard racks of KP nuts with pictures of Birds in Bikinis !
These were very highly thought of back in the day. Just for info, there was a "direct competitor" in the form of the Volvo 1800 ES. That had the same shooting-brake body style, similar performance and was on the market from summer 1971.
I real wanted one of these many moons ago but they were hard to find secondhand and held their value and even today they are not many for sale despite in the last 10 years the amount on the road has more than doubled to the point they are not as rare as many cars of that era. It wouldn't surprise me if many of these cars that are being put back on the road are still with their original owners ... The car that should have been a legend
It is sad that a whole genre of small niche British manufacturers met their demise by the problems and costs of development, rather than unwanted products. The obvious exceptions are Lotus, which had to be baled out several times and of course Morgan. It is rather ironical that Morgan survived throughout the devastating 70s 80s and 90s despite or maybe because of so little obvious change or development.
I believe even little Morgan tucked up under the Malvern Hills is part funded/?owned by Italian interests.
Rather nice that Morgan survived !
Yes I did know that! There was a shrine to her in one of the dusty rooms at the offices at the front of the Reliant factory on the A5 in Tamworth. Went around the factory(s) a few times & saw the original moulds for this. 😊
It is hard to explain what an odd place Reliant four-wheelers occupied in the market in the 1970s. Their production numbers were VERY low. Their reputation was VERY good. They were well known for a small firm. They advertised in the glossy magazines of the weekend papers. They were considered VERY fast in their day. And they had almost no competitor. It is a fun pub conversation to find competitors, but really there were none.
Sadly, there were also few people who wanted one and could afford one. And production was limited by industrial reality for a small firm.
But... in its day the Essex V6 was a real turbine of an engine; sitting in a car that didn't weigh much. It was also (and it remains) very attractive in a fairly timeless way.
Through the 1970s these things ruled the very small part of the market they lived in. They seemed not to suffer from the reliability issues of many smaller carmakers. They chose their components well.
Sadly, many today are languishing on garish period Wolfrace wheels and slowly revealing the cracks and crazing on their GPR bodywork and they burble towards their demise on drainpipe exhausts. But in period, these were quite a thing.
Scimitar SE 5 for 70,000 miles achieved 28mpg below 90mph on Autobahn with 18 gal fuel tank
Regularly covered 180km between signposts every hour. V relaxing drive with high ratio back axle and overdrive 100mph at 3,000 rpm
4 hour , 350 m evening Autobahn trips from Munster towards Bavaria for ski w/e in the mid 70's
Rear shocks replaced every 12k due to 4” of travel, 3rd gear every 20k as it would cruise at 100mph in 3rd gear with overdrive, back axle lasted 50k
Cooling system & electrics troublesome - reputation for being flammable, fabulous fun. Successor to my Scimitar GT V6 Coupe
In the mid seventies I was offered a very nice '66 straight 6 coupe for £450 but I couldn't afford it. Never forgot it and two years ago I finally bought an SE6a. Love it!
Thats a fantastic example, a great looking car. I always thought the Scimitar was a bit like an affordable Jensen Interceptor. The best thing is that this one even has a wobbly speedo needle, just like any 70's car should. Bliss!!!
The original Scimitar coupe was beautiful. You were surprised it had four seats! Wheels more like...
At least one of hers are in a Royal collection somewhere, one was in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace in the late 80's, taxed, so still in use then. She collected most of her speeding tickets in them.
My father still has his old Scimitar, resting on its trailer in the driveway, slowly being reclaimed by nature. I keep trying to convince him to dust it off and hit the hillclimbs again, like he did when I was a lad. Yet to be successful in my efforts
I bet Princess Anne when driving any of her 8 cars told many a driver , pedestrian to naff off out of the way 😂, great looking car Matt 👌🏻.
My mate had an auto one also the convertible oh yes an SS1 oh & various 3 wheeler things Regal & Robins, could say he was a Reliant nut. I myself have a Volvo C30 in homage, the GTE was a beautiful car.
The care the Capri wanted to be when it grew up. A genuine cool car. A bit forgotten now which is a shame.
The Reliant Scemitar l have seen on various british car show videos but living in Australia thanks Matt for reviewing this attractive car l know what the interior is like under the bonnet and in the boot anf l know all about the Reliant Scemitar thanks
I always liked the look of the Scimitar, but was put off by it's glass fibre body after someone I knew crashed his Lotus Europa on the motorway and the car just disintegrated.
I miss my SE5a, ahhh the smell of vinyl and glue 😊 The pre facelift dash was much better made. The moulded plastic one became brittle and was rather cheap, but it looked great at night, like an aeroplane cockpit with its many many Smiths dials. My uncle has a Scimitar SE6a GTC, the convertible one. He has owned that car since brand new. It is the Ford V6 with the Ford auto box which suits it's lazy cruising driving style. I drove that car from the UK to the South of France when they emigrated there and have to say it was a pleasure to drive. Your right they are an under rated car and still criminally cheap, Scimitar seem to have the same under valued brand name like Rover.
It looks great, a very cool classic car! And I was a bit shocked when I saw that they're asking only £13k for it, which looks like a crazy bargain compared to other cars from that time. I guess that there isn't much respect for the Reliant name, so that keeps the values down.
Used to work on them at Derek Warburtons in hazel grove Stockport .part of the sales pater in the sales office was a picture of the princess getting out of one
I do appreciate a sports coupé with an estate car profile. 😍 Ditto the Lotus Elite and Honda Accord Aerodeck.
Interesting style of wheels. Can`t recall ever seeing those before.
I’ve owned 3 Scimitars by the time I was 35, currently own a 1971 early Se5a here in Ireland, have exported the 3 of them from the U.K.
Fabulous motors remember my auntie and uncle used to drive them as demonstrators as my uncles family owned Roy Peplow and company reliant dealers in Wednesbury always liked their shape and exhaust sound was a terrible shame what happened to reliant and middlebridge in the end
Looks epic with those Steelies, equally the last of the line Middlebridge cars had lovely alloys. Funny how the first and last models of most cars look the best?
Isn’t there still a law on the statute books that requires all British people to say “Princess Anne had one of those” whenever this car is mentioned?
They weren't renowned for their reliability and a story used to do the rounds about a guy whose Scimitar self-immolated. When the Fire Brigade turned up to put out the fire, he said "Let the f****** burn"
The carb had a brass inlet pipe cast into the alloy. The tube would come loose and spray fuel all over the hot engine with a fire being the inevitable result. It was common to see them burnt out at the side of the road. Owners would put a pin through the carb and tube but I think the carb was soon modded properly to make it safe. Possible that Reliant used a different Weber to Ford as I don't remember that they had any problems with fires.
Interesting Jack #27 has turned up with a Rover 75. Grandpa type - diesel in Black with slushbox
Have owned quite a few cars in my life,the scimitar was always my favourit ,looked fantastic,great engine,fun to drive,good handling too,electrics a problem though
A friends dad had a scimitar with overdrive. He said the cars with overdrive used the transit gearbox and the gate between 2nd & 3rd was huge
basically the capri 3.0 running gear in a poor man interceptor lookalike 😂😂😂
Wrong, the scimitar had more advanced suspension, Capri had a live rear axle and leaf springs 😂
Also the simitar mounted the engine behind the front axle making it a better handler.
Last I heard, Princess Anne had nine of these rather than eight. Did one get lost somewhere around Sandringham or did Prince Philip accidentally drive it into The Wash?
ALSØ: I've finally realised what the Mk3 VW Scirocco reminds me of, and it wasn't the Mk1 or Mk2...
Word has it that Princess Anne used her Reliant Robin to nip down the High st shops wearing a stained chenille brunch coat and torn Hermes scarf to have a stout with plebs at the local pub.
I have always lusted after the poor mans Interceptor, Unfortunately most of them have real problems with the gelcoat which from owning powerboats in the past I know from experience is prohibitively expensive to put right!
I guess that the top of the range Ford Capri 3000E and 3000GT /Ghia would be competitors in terms of performance, accommodation and possibly even price. Some of those top Capris were pricey, in their day.
That whine is as a result of having a steel timing gear fitted, the original fibre item was silent.
Always liked the early Scimitars - and the Essex V6...
Fabulous. Does anyone know what year the galvanised chassis came in, for both GTE and GTC models ? This is a consideration, especially for road tax exemption purchases, which most buyers would naturally prefer.
I think the Galvanised Chassis was from '83. The fox Debuted in '83 with a galvanised version of the Kitten chassis and the Robins (or Rialtos, as they were for a while) also went galvanised.
Maybe Princess Anne had a hairy chest too Matt 😂
The News of the World would have had pictures!
Gilbern invader Estate was the closest to it, infact almost identical running gear and car type but a rarity
Interesting
Fairly forward thinking design.
Glass only tailgate today? Toyota Aygo?
Does that 6cyl engine overheat…side facing radiator.
Under 9sec to 60mph…..that’s still decent today.
Fantastic video, you look mega cool wearing the shorts, shades and hat. The GTE reminds me of the humble Allegro estate
And there was no Reliant manufactured Scimitar GT ( ie Coupe ) convertible .
Although at least one was converted into a convertible.
Hi mate I like your videos but could you work on the sound? It's very trebley/hissy and almost ASMR capturing every breath when you talk. Not sure if it's something you could work on in post or reposition your mic. Also we want to hear that mid-range/bass grunt of some of the more gnarly engines. Cheers!
Always got those mixed up with the Jensen Interceptor.
Did you know one of my teachers at secondary school had a Reliant Scimitar? One of the boys in my class put it up for sale in the local classifieds and said teacher went on to receive a number of unnecessary phone calls.
Princess Anne had one of those dont you know. (Top gear).
Always wanted a Lancia HPE, lovely looking car I thought.
matching 70s chronograph. Breitling?
Super, when there was space in the market for something different, halcyon times? 👍
Great video! What about the Lancia Beta HPE? That seemed like a natural competitor.
Had a short drive in one many years ago. Great fun, but felt a bit kit car ish. Adds to the charm though. Great video.
Great looking car then and now nothing has changed.
Made in my home town, less than a mile from where I lived.
the E stands for executive, not estate as the Phil Cornwell clone suggests. Not capri seats and not original.Not a ford steering column. Heating controls from a Mk3 Zephyr/Zodiac, not from 'someones domestic heating' as phoney phil says. Rear centre armrest missing (even though he talks about it). The Rover V8 was a 4 cyclinder? Really? The clue is in the name.
I did...I have sat in it and I infact cleaned it today 👍
Prince Philip also owned the Reliant Scimitar Ogle GTS. That one really is a bit special.
Ah, the plastic Zodiac! I hope anyone who has these has got rid of the fibre gears and oil pump drive shaft that killed many an Essex in the past. The comment about the available torque from the engine was borne out by my father rarely starting his Zodiac in first gear - it just didn't seem necessary.
Love this car I'm so happy you reviewed one!
Everybody fecking knew. Even here in Ireland.
What a brilliant car, I would love one
Good to see that the "Princess Anne had one." comment made it as far as 24 seconds. That's proper restraint. 😅
Always wondered what kind of a car is it
Looks like a Volvo P1800ES....
It would be easy to get more 🐎 out that engine!
Yes.
E-type coupés pre-dated Scimitars, and they were hatchbacks.
but only 2 seater
@@furiousdriving FYI, a "2+2" four-seater version of the E-type coupé, with a lengthened wheelbase, was released in 1966.
Yes. Everybody knows this, right?
Did you know Princess Anne had one of those?
It's still a very pretty model, the car not the princess.
I thought all the western world knew that Princess Anne had had a Scimitar 😉
She did???
Yes.😾
😸😸😸
Yipee i'm 9th today Mattie moo
PAHOOT...
Most definitely the best home for the Essex 3.0 litre V6.
Reliant was up there with the best with the Scimitar.
I lived next door to the Mitsubishi dealer in Tunbridge Wells in the late eighties who also sold Reliants. As a result, they got to stock the reintroduced "Middlebridge" Scimitar for a while. By then with a 2.9 Sierra engine. They had one in "Metaflake" Pearlescent White in the showroom for a while. They still looked good.
Princess Anne bought one of those
What a beautiful car, from childhood, I’ve always had a secret passion for Reliant, mainly the three wheelers, Regal, Robin and Rialto, due to their quirkiness.
However I also liked the four wheeled Rebel and Kitten, the Scimitar never really appeared on my radar, perhaps because it wasn’t quirky, until now that is.
Thank you for sharing this gem with us Matt❤.
I love the Scimitar. I’ve always wanted one. It’s like a poor man’s Jenson Interceptor.
Princess Anne had one of these you know.
I’ve always loved the Scimitar. My father had one in the late 80s to early 90s, an SE6B, I think, with the 2.8 non fuel injection Cologne V6. He was driving about 1000 miles a week in those days. One of his colleagues had a Ford Capri 280i, which made all the right noises and had more grunt, but the Scimitar was incomparably better as a proper mile eating GT.
Sadly, only a few months after selling it on to a friend of mine, it did what a lot of them seemed to and went up in flames. Something to do with the type of carbs and a plastic, rather than metal as used natively on Fords, air filter box.
Oh, and Princess Anne drove them, don’t you know. (I have to say that, it is a legal requirement!)
Im from germany have a Capri mark2 3.0v6. Still today a powerful engine 138ps 240nm and 200kmh top speed. And under 1200kg. It needs 6sec from 60 to 110kmh in the 3.gear. that Sound of the car! I love it so much..
The Princess had several over the years. Still owns the last production from Middlebridge. 120 upgrades including walnut veneers. Trusted club members occasionally get to show it for her at significant motor shows. DW NZ
Funny, I had no idea Princess Anne had one of these, you’d think people would mention that.
I think it is actually treason if you fail to mention that Princess Anne had one when you mention that car!
I know it's the classic Scimitar gag but I feel a lot of people don't know it's not actually true.
She didn't own one (as you said she had eight) but the past tense is wrong too. She still owns one to this day!
Great video other than the strange inverted shot near the end. I did begin to wonder if the overdrive was going to be mentioned at all, now I'm wondering how many viewers understand what an overdrive is. I just love the roar of the Essex engine when it's booted, when I drop a gear to overtake in mine I wish I could see the slower drivers face as I roar past.
Lovely things! My dad always wanted one! Odd though that the dashboard is so reminiscent of a Robin’s! The Sabre, the predecessor to this is an interesting car too. Very rare now, but they have a fanatical following! The styling was by Tom Karen - a bit of a British design legend - also responsible for the Bond Bug and the Raleigh Chopper! As for competitors - how about the Volvo P1800ES and the Lancia Beta HPE? The mk2 Capri, and later the Opel Manta / Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch would have also have been close. Only the Capri mk2 would offer a V6 option though.
I believe P Anne owns or owned a Middlebridge Scimitar and not a Reliant one.
She had more than one and when I worked at Reliant at Tamworth i worked on them. great cars and still very popular.
A beautifal looking car, I actually went looking on car and classic after the video and found this one for sale, there used to be one near my local Andy's Man Club in a nice shade of green.
A car I would add my to dream garage.
A excellent review as always Matt.
Reasons for owning a Scimitar - Princess Anne had one...
Reasons for not owning one - Princess Anne had one...
My dad had one of these and I remember being dragged out of the back seats by my legs as it caught fire on the M1. I was about 4 at the time so it obviously left a lasting impression. 😅
Volvo were clearly inspired when they made their own version, the P 1800 ES.
Scimitars are Soo cheap at the moment
Considering they were sold along side Porsche and other expensive sports cars
One of my all time favourite cars, right through to the final Middlebridge 👌
The rubber bumper one , mid 1970’s was the best one produced, with the 3.0 Essex V6 and overdrive.
That proper driving experience…with a wonderful sound…love it
HubNut needs one on the fleet…an estate…ideal
I'm sure he's owned one
Only if it's Beige or Brown
Does it come with ear plugs?
Wheels off a four bottom plow.
Bold choice to have square front wing arches... and round arches in the back.
Spark plug replacement procedure: remove engine...
Smiths Bounce-O-Matic speedo with a top speed of, let's say ten.
I assume the ammeter markings are: 'Discharged', 'Ask Again Later', 'Fire'.
Princess Anne must have really enjoyed the sensations of driving a school bus.
Spark plug replacement procedure: remove engine...BULLSH1t
I had a Scimitar GTE in 1984, and I can honestly say it was the second worst car I have ever driven. (Only beaten by a mini Moke)
The Scimitar had the most appalling build quality, water leaks into the interior from everywhere , electrical problems, squeaks and rattles, appalling handling, it was a total joke. Replaced by a BMW E21 323i, still one of the best cars I have ever owned. Give the Scimitar a wide berth.