The royally approved Scimitar cuts a stylish figure
Back in the heart of the Great Depression, Tom Williams designed and built a three-wheeled car for the Raleigh Cycle Company.
Despite being a success, with sales of more than 1,000 units from 1933-1936, Raleigh decided to opt out of car manufacturing and Williams was made redundant.
But he didn’t give up on his three-wheel dream.
With a modest loan, he formed Reliant Engineering and built a small three-wheel van that used an Austin Seven engine.
When Britain’s postwar motor industry concentrated on building vehicles for export, Reliant collaborated with a company in Israel called Autocars.
The business relationship was good in the beginning and soon Autocars asked Reliant to build a sports car, which they called the Sabra, an homage to a cactus found in Israel.
But the relationship with Autocars did not last and Reliant decided to market the Sabra in the United Kingdom, changing the name to Sabre.
During development working with the Ogle Design Company, it was discovered that the Ogle 2+2 Coupe body would fit on the Sabre chassis. This package became the Scimitar SE4 GT Coupe.
Soon after, Reliant and Ogle were approached by Triplex, the glass company, to build a car that would demonstrate the use of laminated and heated glass. Thus was born the Triplex Ogle sports wagon, a modified Scimitar Coupe.
The Duke of Edinburgh was so impressed with the design that he replaced his 3.0-litre Lagonda with one, and used it for two years.
The Reliant Scimitar GTE (GT Estate) emerged from the Triplex Ogle project.
Reliant never received the coveted Royal Seal of Approval — i.e. “By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen” — but enjoyed a long list of royal owners.
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, has owned a GTE and a GTC (GT Convertible).
Princess Anne was given a GTE for her 20th birthday and has owned nine since the early ’70s. She still owns one today.
The Royals are not exempt from the cars with blue flashing lights on their roof; Princess Anne has picked up no less than three speeding tickets in her Scimitar GTE S5.
Although the GTE/GTC production ended in 1986, the Scimitar story did not end there.
In 1987 an engineering company by the name of Middlebridge bought production rights to the Scimitar. Its aim was to bring the Scimitar up to date with more than 450 modifications and improvements. The cars cost more than $40,000 in the early 1990s and only 77 were sold.
Middlebridge always had plans to build an updated GTC model, but this never materialized.
Middlebridge Scimitars are highly sought after for their high level of specifications and command a high price.