1978 Reliant Scimitar | SOLD

1978 Reliant Scimitar SE6A GTE

Pastel Green
Automatic
86k miles
Historic vehicle (exempt from Road Tax, MOT and ULEZ)

Another icon from the Ogle Design studio - alongside the Raleigh Chopper, the Bond Bug and Luke Skywalker’s XP-24 Landspeeder.

Perhaps it’s a long shot on here, but I’ve found it to be a highly practical daily driver, especially with the benefit of not having to worry about the soon to expand ULEZ zone in London.

With the rear seats folded, the luggage area expands to 40 cubic feet and easily accommodates 2+ adult bikes, tent, camping gear, full backpacks, and grocery shop all at once.

The car was certainly designed to eat up longer trips with ease and the lovely Essex V6, 20 gallon fuel tank (capable of 500 mile stints) and rust-free fibreglass body mean it’s both long legged and ready for use in UK weather. Of course, it’s also very handy for big supermarket shops in style.

I know this is technically against the rules (it’s just been listed here for £8.5k), but I wanted to offer it up for a slightly reduced £8k for fellow LFGSSers.

It’s currently based in Oxford but London viewings can easily be arranged. Many more pictures and information in the advert link above.

Any questions, feel free to drop me a message on here and am happy arrange a phone call if preferred.

Many thanks,

Joe

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Such a great car, I remember seeing this in the flesh and it's a really nice example. In fact it got me thinking about a classic car for London but sadly this one is out of reach for me atm.

Shame you have to move this on, GLWS

That is wonderful. Love these and that looks mint. Be awesome if someone off here took it. As an auto I am out.

That's brilliant

Love it. A year ago and I would've been all over this. Hope it goes to a good home.

They are great cars
The Reliant motor company played a big part in my formative years as i grew up in Tamworth and my dad worked in the Scimitar service department at the factory.
At that time (the 60's and70's) buyers could pay extra and have their car serviced at the factory. My dad would spend a lot of time test driving for faults and in the summer holidays would pick me up from home and take me on very thrilling drives.
He had a few scrapes and in a re run of the AC case got pinged on the M1 while tyre testing. The cops caught them at the service station as they were swapping tyres over.
The royal GTE's appeared on the drive along with the triplex ogle that at the time belonged to the Duke of Edinburgh.
There is still an SE4 GT coupe in the family. My dad bought it crash damaged from the factory in about 1970. It was a test car with a 3 speed Borg Warner auto box which they didn't take into production so it remains the only one of its kind.
I myself had an SE6b a few years back with the 2.8 cologne engine (as well as a couple of Reliant Rebels!) The Scimitar was a gorgeous car but a bit petrol thirsty so i let it go.

Phwoar!! 😍

That looks great.

There was one of these sitting unused on a farm when I was growing up and it still looked in good shape, I nearly persuaded my dad to enquire after it so we could do it up.

Ah so much love. My dad used to take me to school in his.

Just fantastic. And I’m not even a car heid.

While we have a few Reliant fans on here, what was the story with the Scimitar? Reliant made 3 wheelers and noddy cars, and then out of nowhere this beauty showed up. Did someone spike their cocoa or something?

They made a 4 wheel sports car in the late 50’s early 60’s called the Sabre. Ogle designed a replacement for the Daimler dart called the SX 250. Daimler didn’t take it up and with a few tweaks it became the scimitar SE4 GT coupe first with a 2.6 litre straight 6 and then the 3 litre V6. For a short while during the oil crisis they also did some 2.5litre V6’s as well

By the late 60’s they wanted to update the design and so Tom Karen of Ogle reworked the rear end of the GT into a hatch back and so the GTE was born. The Triplex GT which had a full glass hatch rear created by Triplex in 1966 to showcase their glass is credited as the genesis of the idea.

This is my dad’s GT,it now belongs to my brother

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What a stunning looking motor. Hope it goes to a good home on here.

A guy at uni had one of these, we used to pick it up and shift it to other parts of the campus for a laugh. He was surprisingly good spirited about it at the time. One of the many things you look back on and think, what an idiot I used to be.

I used to have a Capri with a 3L Essex engine. Loved it. Glws and sorry for the csb

Thought it was my dad's old one for a brief sec - his was OPE 999L!

Loved that car,he's Oxfordshire based might see if he wants it!

That is fucking beautiful!

I had a similar Scimitar, one of the last. 2.9 k-jetronic, the chassis number was 6 from the last one produced.
Seriously regret selling it. Many miles of happy motoring.
GLWS.

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Thanks all for the lovely comments!

@EcuriePeril - great to hear your scimitar stories, these cars certainly do put a smile on your face. My dad also had an SE4 Coupe which he also just sold, they're stunning machines!

@adroit - Awesome, strong green. Looks in good nick too!

Also, thanks to @Oddo for sending over some nice shots that show off the cavernous nature of the car's rear end. Taken during a bikepacking weekender in the New Forest:

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Hmmm... Currently on the lookout for a tidy 850 T5 but this sure has intrigued me.

Would a this be a bad choice for someone who’s never owned a classic car like this?
I’m not particularly knowledgeable about cars tbh. But I am looking for a car at the moment and this is very appealing.

What would the maintenance costs of this be like? When parts need replaced could it be a money pit?
Best looked after by a specialist garage or is that unnecessary?

I’ve just sold my f30 3 series that I owned from new but ended up having to spend thousands on it in the past 18 months. I’d like something that won’t bankrupt me when it breaks!

I’m quite far from Oxford near Glasgow. But I’ll be in London in October.

Edit - quick read up shows this would obviously suit someone with some knowledge of it.
Never too late to learn though… I can’t stop looking at it.

Engine parts are Ford so fairly plentiful. Some parts on the earlier GTE’s were Triumph. The body is of course grp so it isn’t going to rust on you. They are also fairly highly geared so the motor doesn’t get stressed.
If I won the lottery I’d have another in a heartbeat

I found most parts easy to find, a lot were sourced from from production vehicles so very little was unique. Most mechanics will find it easy to work on, and they are really simple things compared to modern cars.
There is also a really excellent owners club, and most unique parts have been made available for surprisingly reasonable prices.
You have a fibreglass body on a galvanised chassis so they’ll outlast many other vehicles, which is a huge bonus, alongside the appreciation in value. You’re not going to lose money other than running costs.
I’d have another if I wanted a performance car.

It was developed from the Daimler Dart/SX250? I had no idea about that. I saw one only this month at an event, just lovely.