Background
It’s well known that in 1962 Decca Records turned down a four piece pop band, claiming ‘guitar groups are on the way out.’ And a couple of years after The Beatles went on to rule the world, Daimler dropped a clanger when they turned down Ogel’s design for a replacement for the visually challenged Dart sports car.
The sleek, smoky grey GT coupé before you could very well have been a Daimler. But Daimler’s loss is Reliant’s gain, and this gorgeous example of a lesser seen Sixties classic became the company’s first successful sports car.
The Reliant Scimitar GT originally started life as a styling exercise built on a Daimler SP250 Dart chassis. Around the same time, with the Sabre 6 by now looking a bit dated, Reliant’s Managing Director, Ray Wiggin, started looking for a new design. While at the 1962 Motor Show, he saw the Ogle SX250, designed by David Ogle (of David Ogle Associates, later known as Ogle Design). It was based on the Daimler Dart SP250 chassis and V8 running gear.
Daimler weren’t interested – probably because they were now part of the Jaguar company, who wanted no in-house rivals to the E-Type. But Reliant liked the lines of the SX250 so much they bought the rights from Ogle. Suitably redesigned for the Sabre-Six chassis and called the Scimitar GT SE4, the car’s body was made from glassfibre, by now Reliant’s preferred construction technique, and powered by Ford’s 2.6-litre straight six from the Zephyr saloon.
Early cars were tricky to handle at speed, but the addition of trailing arm rear suspension for the Ford live axle in 1965 greatly improved handling, making the later versions genuine performance cars, with excellent handling, impressive acceleration and very good build quality. Reliant built up quite a waiting list during this period, and literally couldn’t hand build the cars quick enough to satisfy ever growing demand.
In late 1966 Ford dropped its 2.6-litre straight six and replaced it with the new 3-litre Essex V6, which was used in the Mk IV Ford Zodiac and would go on to power both the Ford Capri and Reliant’s later Scimitar GTE. This meant that Reliant had to do a good deal of development work to the GT to enable the new more powerful engine to fit. But as the Essex engine was shorter, it was mounted further back, thus improving weight distribution and handling. The interior was also improved with an anti-dazzle black interior and better ventilation, with variable air jets from the Ford parts bin.
The lower wishbones were re-positioned, the tower structures and cross members were reinforced and an anti-roll bar was added. Other modifications included replacing the wire wheels with wider steel wheels as standard to handle the Essex V6’s extra grunt, and fitting a higher ratio rear axle.
Autocar tested the new 3-litre GT in 1967 and said: ‘High performance 2+2 coupé. Lusty, low revving engine in conjunction with high gearing gives effortless cruising at three-figure speeds. Good gear change, but rather wide ratios. Smooth, light clutch. Ride and handling very good, and much improved over the earlier car. Light, accurate steering and first class brakes with powerful servo. Fuel and range very good’.
The GT continued in production until 1970 after fewer than 600 had been built, before Reliant moved on to the far better known but decidedly less exclusive Scimitar GTE.
