The Reliant Scimitar GTC – A Celebration

Looking at the Scimitar GTC, it is hard to believe that it debuted in the same year as the Audi Quattro, the Austin Mini Metro and the Ford Escort Mk3. This is not to imply that the Reliant looked at all dated, for it was a true Grand Tourer; handsome, purposeful and always looking ready for a dash along the A27 to Goodwood.

The GTC debuted in March 1980, almost 12 years after the GTE and at £11,360, it cost £1,036 more than its stablemate. Motor accurately observed: “Like the Triumph Stag in its day, the Scimitar GTC has no rivals of exactly similar concept”. The BMW 323i Cabriolet was cheaper at £10,095 but a very different machine; likewise, the VW Golf GLi at £6,540 and the Lancia Beta 2000 Sypder were not alternatives to the Reliant. It really was a car that stood alone.

The story of the GTC began in 1977, the year of the Stag’s demise. Tom Karen created a very appealing drophead from his GTE, with new panelling rear of the B-pillars. An early prototype used the familiar Essex V6, but production models used the 2.8-litre fuel-injected ‘Cologne’ engine from the SE6B-series GTE. In 2001, the great designer remarked in an interview with Mike Taylor:

“I think the idea originated from Ray Wiggin and for us it developed into yet another styling exercise. With the added strength that we had given the standard GTE model, the transition into a soft-top was made easier because the torsional rigidity was already there in the structure.”

Motor Sport believed the GTC “should be readily acceptable to those seeking a rust-free-bodied car of distinct ‘character’” for it genuinely was an individualist machine. Reliant marketed the drophead Scimitar as “a reminder of your earlier sports car days!”, and it might well have appealed to the motorist who once ran an Austin-Healey 3000 or a Triumph TR4.

However, the timing of the GTC’s launch was on a par with a Little & Large routine. The Scimitar convertible was always going to be a niche model, but the early 1980s were not a good time to introduce an expensive new tourer. 340 examples left the factory floor in 1980, after which sales plummeted.

A further challenge was that by 1984, Tamworth was concentrating its efforts on the SS1 and the GTC ceased production two years later after just 443 units had been made. It actually outsold the SE6B’s run of 407 cars, but neither enjoyed the success that should have been their due. A post-script took place in 1987 when Middlebridge Scimitar Ltd of Nottingham acquired the GTE and GTC’s manufacturing rights, but they produced just one prototype convertible.

Today, it goes without saying that any GTC is much sought-after and one that lives up to Reliant’s claim of a car “destined to become a classic in its own right”. In a world of the Metro City and the Vauxhall Chevette E, it truly stood apart – a vehicle for a Kenneth More-style motorist of the 1980s – complete with flying jacket and a flat hat.

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Here at Lancaster, we love classic cars as much as you do and we understand what it takes to protect them for future generations.

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