Scimitars e Cimitarra
1967 Reliant Scimitar GT Coupe V6
Chassis No: 400528
Purchasing a second coupe was not part of the original plan, but I felt that I had pushed the s/six as far as I was prepared to and it was time to get a V6, hopefully with a bit more power and with fewer concerns about maintaining concours condition. I was familiar with Chris Gow's yellow coupe, as he'd started sprinting about the same time as myself, and when he offered it for sale it seemed like a good fit. It came with a Holley carburettor, which Chris had never got running satisfactorily so I didn't even try and sold it on, preferring to keep the standard set up. Chris had fitted an incredibly heavy Recaro seat, which I also sold on, in favour of a fixed lighter weight racing seat. Other than that, the car was pretty much ready to go. I only campaigned the car during the 1988 season, taking in events at Ragley Hall, Goodwood, Curborough and North Weald. My times at Goodwood were 3 seconds quicker than the s/six and at Curborough 2 seconds quicker, so the swap to a V6 had produced the desired result.
The images above were taken at North Weald and Curborough, with Goodwood on the right. In early 1989 I took the decision to sell the car and look for an SS1. It was duly advertised in Slice 106 (March-April 1989). When I put it up for sale, Peter Aston, fellow club member and coupe owner, brought a young chap along to buy the car who, if I recall correctly, was a neighbour. A year or so later I chanced upon it parked in the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth.
Postscript:
The above image at North Weald was used in a thread on the club forum, where Chris Johnson spotted it and, recognising the registration, posted an image of the car with it's original owner, non other than Mike McCartney (McGear) of Scaffold fame and brother of Paul McCartney. Neither myself or Chris Gow had been aware of it's previous celebrity owner. Curious as to the original colour, I contacted Mike via his Facebook site and he was kind enough to reply.
He remembered the colour as being a Khaki Green, this must have been Exeter Green, which fits perfectly with the monochrome image. He went on to say that the car was registered CCM 1C (COMIC) whilst in his ownership. The pop star style image above was taken outside the entrance to Thornley Manor, the home of Lord Leverhulme on the Wirral. It is understood that the car was supplied by Argyll Motors in Birkenhead and it appears, briefly, in the Beatles film 'Magical Mystery Tour' in a sequence shot at West Malling airfield.
This photograph was discovered in Slice 66, July/August 1982, at which time it appears that it still sported the original Exeter Green colour. The owner at the time was John Byers of North Harrow. It is interesting that this image shows that the car had a disguised split in the front bumper (these were originally sourced from Ford Capris, cut down and re-welded before chroming), so this could be a replacement. The car was offered for sale by John the following year (an advert appeared in Slice 74, November/December 1983.
Taken at the ACOC Ragley Hall Sprint in 1986, whilst in Chris Gow's tenure, GBG 540E wears the registration KOV 3F, which was originally on a V6 Coupe with the chassis no: 400497 (both Coupes owned by Chris at the time).
According to the Gov.UK MoT History site, GBG 540E appears not to have been taxed/MoT'd since 1997. The photograph on the left, which shows the car in rather unloved condition, was posted on the club forum in 2020, but it is not known where or when this was taken or who the current owner is.
Charterhouse Auctioneers & Valuers of Sherborne, Dorset offered the car for sale by auction at Haynes International Motor Museum on October 5th 2021. It is believed that the final hammer price was £1500.00.
In June 2022 I was contacted by the new owner requesting any details I might have regarding engine modifications. It transpires he is also the custodian of the well known ex-Ted Howles 'Inca Trail' Coupe KBE 752E and purchased GBG for spares, so unfortunately it may not survive.