​Scimitars e Cimitarra
1966 Reliant Scimitar GT Coupe S/Six
Once the GTE had gone, the search for a decent Coupe began in earnest and it wasn't long before a suitable candidate turned up at Lenham Motors. With 66k miles on the clock and one owner for the first 16 years, the car looked and drove well and a price was agreed with Lenham's Peter Rix, who was a Coupe owner and club member. As I had a tow bar on my daily driver, a trailer was hired and I collected the car a week later. I remember Peter being none too impressed when I turned up with this, as the hire company had neglected to lend any tie down straps and I'd been too naive to think about needing them! He came to the rescue, however, with suitable ropes to secure the car well enough to get me home, provided I drove carefully and returned them . The paint was a little tired and the only thing that was letting the car down so, once home, I started to seek out a suitable company to get a respray. I was fortunate to find T J Coachworks in Farnborough, who did a great job.
The images, above right, show the car immediately following purchase and those below, show work in progress at T J Coachworks.
Whilst the car was away, I had the grille rechromed, bought some new seat belts and carpet, so this was all fitted once the car was back home and a few other bits and pieces tidied up. The images below were taken in January 1984 with the car now resplendent in the original Silver Streak paint.
Following a letter to 'Classic and Sportscar' magazine, I was invited in April 1984, to participate in a test, pitted against a Gilbern Genie, which would feature in the June 1984 issue, as one of their 'Back to Back' comparisons. This proved to be a great experience and it was wonderful to see my car preserved for posterity within the pages of a great magazine. An account of the day was later submitted to the club magazine and published in Slice 83. Much of the time was spent circulating the Chobham test track in Surrey, getting decent action shots of the cars, a couple can be seen here on the left. The article was written by Mark Hughes and he drove both cars and each of the owners drove the others car. Notes were taken on each others views and we subsequently retired to a pub for lunch, courtesey of the magazine. The published article was a pretty fair assessment of both cars.
Sabre Day at Droys Court, in June 1984, was the first ever concours event I entered, although I have no relocation now how I did. Probably not very well, as Tony Richardson, Dave Jockel and Terry Cox were all present with their superb cars.
Next was the 1984 National Rally at Stanford Hall, where CAN achieved a third place, out of six class entrants, behind Tony Richardson and Dave Jockel, marked down on chassis condition by Robin Rew who did the judging. If I was going to achieve better results this was going to need some attention! One of the outriggers was poor, so a fabricated section was carefully welded into place by a specialist. This was followed by many long, cold winter evenings under the car with a wire brush and a pot of Hammerite. A bit before commencing this work, a call from Gordon Collins, who was organising the club stand, resulted in CAN appearing at the 1984 Brighton Classic Car Show in November.
Encouragement from Mark Hughes at 'Classic and Sporstar', during the previously mentioned 'Back to Back' test, lead to my entering CAN 172D for the magazines national concours event at Cofton Park, Birmingham in June 1985. This just proved that I was completely out of my depth on the national concours stage and that club competion was much more my level. Roger Rowley's GTE, also entered, was a site to behold and is pictured elsewhere on this site.
Sabre Day in July was to prove more rewarding with a first in class, followed at the National Rally, this time at Bruntingthorpe, by a second in class, where I also managed a first in class in the autotest (below left). Spectating at a number of events earlier in the year, where Scimitars were entered, as well as the sprint at Bruntingthorpe, developed my interest in speed competition, which was to manifest itself with an entry into my very first event at the Ragley Hall Hillclimb in March 1986 (below right).
I was lucky enough to have my entry into the first Norwich Union RAC Classic Rally accepted, so in May 1986 we duly arrived at at the RAC Club in Epsom for the start, where we found another Straight Six Scimitar Coupe owner in the shape of Greg Sparkes. My memory regarding the route, as I write this thirty years after the event, is somewhat sketchy to say the least, although I do remember stops at Brooklands and Luton Hoo. It was a great day out and the following two years were just as good. In 1987 we took the Beaulieu to Silverstone route option, via Middle Wallop, Wroughton and Blenheim Palace. Then in 1988 we went from Bath to Silverstone via Castle Coombe, where we had a lap, Prescott, where we had a run up the hill and Ragley Hall.
The car was regularly campaigned throughout 1986 and 1987 at various southern sprint and hillclimb venues such as Ragley Hall, Goodwood, Gurston Down, Bruntingthorpe, Curborough, Lydden Hill, North Weald, Valence School and Snetterton. Success was very limited, as the car was clearly underpowered, compared to it's 3.0 litre class rivals, although 1987 did provide an overall win in the club Handicap Championship and I still have the silverware in the shape of a rose bowl. During this time a lot of further improvements were carried out, including an in-situ engine rebuild by Robin Rew, with a gas flowed head and sports cam. The suspension was uprated with Monroe Gasmatics and stiffer springs and a stainless steel exhaust system was fitted by Cheesemans at Woking. I also swapped the painted wire wheels for chrome ones, fitted with new Goodyear NCT's. I also bought a set of Revolution wheels with knock off centres for competition use, but these were never used in anger and subsequently traded back with Revolution, after I'd bought an SS1.
The above images were taken at Gurston Down in July 1986 and the one on the left at Valence School in 1987.
The centenary edition of the club magazine, Slice 100, in March/April 1988, featured CAN on the cover and an article detailing the car's history. The image used is shown below, which I took at the same time as those, also below, showing CAN sitting on the Revolution alloys.
Towards the end of 1987 I decided that CAN should be rested and another coupe, this time a V6, should be acquired for competition use. Even after tweaks at Robin Rew's, CAN was never very quick and although I had great fun, it had been a bit tiresome always being last , or very nearly last, in class. So for 1988 a new competition steed was found. A busy season of speed events with the new coupe saw CAN get very little use and the decision was taken to sell. Following my advertisement in Slice 103, a buyer quickly materialised in the shape of a chap who had seen the car at Gurston Down. He paid the full 6K I was asking, which at the time I believe was the most anyone had paid for a coupe. This was four times what I'd paid for it, although still probably well short of what I'd spent on improving it. Out of all the cars I've owned CAN holds many enduring memories and, along with just one or two others, is certainly one car that I wish I hadn't sold.
Postscript:
Looking back through old editions of 'Slice' I found that the original owner had advertised the car for sale in issue 53 (May/June 1980), with 53000 miles on the clock. It obviously didn't sell as it was advertised again in Slice 55 (September/October 1980) inviting offers.
Some years ago now (probably around 2006) the car was advertised for sale, on Ebay I think, although I don't know what price it achieved. In 2016 the Gov.UK MoT History site showed that it failed the MoT on quite a few points in May 2011 and appeared to be off the road until a pass certificate was achieved in 2016. Fast forward to October 2019 and CAN was advertised for sale on Ebay, the history showing that the chap that purchased the car from myself in 1988 kept it up until 2005, with only two owners since, the last being for 13 years.
In late 2020 a Jaguar/Scimitar Specialist, based in Petersfield, Hampshire, MDS Ltd., (trading as 'Restaurare') appeared to have acquired the car, subsequent to the Ebay sale and show photos of it, marked as 'Sold' on their website.
