There can’t be many owners of a 20 year old car that can claim a full service history, never mind one that begins almost a year before the car actually left the factory. I was fortunate to inherit such documentation when I purchased my coupe in September 1983 and, as a consequence, have a full appreciation of the entire history of the car, primarily due to the diligence of the first owner in maintaining the records which have subsequently been sustained by others.

The story begins in October 1965 with a letter from Ray Wiggin, then managing director of Reliant, to the prospective Scimitar GT owner John Stanbury of Salcombe in Devon. This letter thanks Mr. Stanbury, regarding his apparent decision to purchase an automatic version of the car. Later letters between Mr. Stanbury and Ray Wiggin discuss the choice of final drive ratio on the automatic compared to the manual version and the fact that it was very much a compromise that suffered, compared to the manual overdrive car, lower top speed and poorer fuel consumption.

In May 1966 Mr. Stanbury spent a day at Tamworth discussing his prospective purchase with Reliant personnel and road testing both automatic and manual overdrive versions, including BUE 442B, the Motor road test car. In the final analysis he much preferred the latter and in his letter of thanks to Reliant for their hospitality confirmed that he would be placing his order with Taylor and Crawley the well known Mayfair dealers. Following delays, caused by components supplies to Reliant, CAN 172D was finally ready for collection from the works on 4th October 1966. Total purchase price including overdrive, radio, number plates, delivery and 10 gallons of petrol was £1,343.12s.1d.

So began fifteen and a half years careful ownership, during which time the car was to cover less than 4,000 miles each year. Unusually the car was used only during the winter months and laid-up throughout the summer, probably because Mr. Stanbury owned a Transit Motor Caravan which I assume fulfilled transportation requirements throughout the warmer months.

In the early days of sports/GT car production Reliant did not have an extensive network of dealers or service agents; as a consequence perhaps of both this and his familiarity with dealing with the factory, Mr. Stanbury communicated with the Tamworth Service Department on a fairly frequent basis sorting out the inevitable minor irritations and problems with a new, low volume production car, i.e. rusty radiator grille, water entry via quarter lights, noisy back axle etc. This latter item was changed by the factory only for it to subsequently be discovered that this was not the cause of the noise after all. The problem was finally traced to the nearside front wheel bearing which had apparently never seen any grease. No other major component has been changed on the car since.

Apart from retaining all letters and receipts associated with the cars purchase, a drivers log was maintained recording everything associated with servicing and maintenance; if ever CAN 172D missed a beat it was recorded in black and white and subsequently acted upon to effect a cure. This log has proved absolutely invaluable in terms of saving time when attempting to trace elusive faults that have seemed otherwise incurable.

In November 1970 Reliant were requested to provide their quotation for respraying the car in its original Silver Streak colour. Their price was a princely £60.0s.6d. including flatting the original paint, but excluding any damage repair. This was never carried out and I can scarcely believe the car could have needed it at the time as it was still resplendent in its original paint when I bought it some thirteen years later.

Around the summer of 1972 a new marketing policy prevented further direct dealings with the factory and all requests for parts supply etc. were routed through a dealer network. So ended Mr. Stanbury’s long relationship with the factory, although he did write to them again during 1974 seeking assistance on parts supply for a new exhaust system, although by then this item was already unavailable.

The RSSOC did not receive an application for membership from Mr. Stanbury until January 1979. During 1980 CAN 172D was advertised for sale in Slices 53 and 55. A buyer was not forthcoming and eventually Exchange & Mart was tried. This had a more satisfactory result and CAN 172D was finally sold to John Hartley of Ware in Hertfordshire in March 1982.

Mr. Hartley kept the car for less than eight months covering just under 7,000 miles. During his brief ownership maintenance was carried out by club committee member Nigel Newth-Gibbs. In November of 1982 the car was sold on to Scott Marshall of Purley in Surrey. His intention had been to restore the car but I understand this never materialised, perhaps due to a lack of enthusiasm, money or both and CAN 172D ended up sitting in his garage until August 1983 when he decided to sell it.

At this point Peter Rix of The Lenham Motor Company enters the story. Whether Peter was approached by Scott Marshall, or vice versa, I don’t know but, to the uninitiated, Peter is a purveyor of classic, sporting and GT cars and a keen V6 coupe owner. Always on the lookout for good coupes Peter was interested in CAN 172D if only because the body and the interior trim were in such good condition. He later confessed to me that he would normally have stuck to examples of the V6 for which there has always been more demand.

My own interest in the marque started late in 1982 when I acquired an SE5a GTE, with the intention of carrying out a rolling restoration, and I joined the RSSOC about this time. The inevitable happened and what had started as a minor restoration grew into a major undertaking. Copies of Slice periodically dropping through my letterbox, with the usual GTE tales of woe, did nothing to increase my enthusiasm for the car and the magnitude of the task before me. I grew disillusioned with the prospect of the restoration as I became, through Slice, more aware of, and interested in, the coupe. The decision was finally made at the end of the summer of 1983 to axe the GTE project, salvage what I could from it financially and buy a decent coupe; one that could be used straight away without a major rebuild.

The GTE disappeared on the back of a trailer, behind a 2.5 litre V6 coupe, towards Graham Rose at Airevale Motors, for a good deal less than I had paid for it. If nothing else this episode taught me a lesson regarding the commitment, patience and long hard work that is required to see a full restoration project through.

It was all very well making the decision to purchase a coupe, it was another thing however trying to find the right one. A chance phone call to Lenham revealed the immediate availability of a very tidy and original straight-six coupe. I was not too bothered whether I acquired such an early example or the later V6. What I most wanted was a good, well looked after car, preferably with wire wheels. This latter requirement obviously meant a straight-six would be the most likely candidate. Arrangements were made to drive down to Harrietsham the next day. The moment I saw CAN 172D I knew I was going to buy it. Apart from a few minor faults the car was everything that I hoped it would be. The interior was exceptional for a car of its age, the mileage a genuine documented 66,850, it drove well and the body was good. The ravages of fifteen years use in the salty winter air of Salcombe had taken its toll on the chassis, but this had been professionally repaired, except for a couple of the outriggers that needed attention. The only other problems were a few blemishes on the original paint, a split in the glass fibre below the drivers seat, some faded carpets and a rusty radiator grille. Peter Rix and I shook hands on £1,400 and the following Saturday, 24th September 1983, complete with trailer behind my Cortina Estate, I set off to collect my new acquisition.

The plan was to get the car completely resprayed to a high standard before Christmas and spend the early part of the new year rectifying the various minor faults and bringing the car up to as high a standard as possible ready for the spring. Repainting was entrusted to a local firm in Farnborough, Hampshire who took the original paint off, back to the gel coat, and resprayed in the original Silver Streak. All the other repair and improvement work, with the exception of rechroming the radiator grille, was undertaken by myself.

All went according to plan and so pleased was I with the result I wrote to Roger Tipler and my letter was published in Slice 75 with a photograph appearing in Slice 76. About this time I also wrote to ‘Classic and Sportscar’ magazine resulting in CAN 172D being featured in the June 1984 issue in a ‘Back to Back’ test against a Gilbern Genie. My recollection of this particular event has already been extensively chronicled in Slice 83.

Just prior to this I had written and sent a photograph of the car to the original owner and received a very nice letter in reply. Suffice to say he had thoroughly enjoyed his ownership of the Scimitar GT and was very pleased that it was now in safe hands and restored to such fine condition. I even received the offer of sundry spare parts, free of charge, if I could collect from Devon - alas this was not, at the time, possible.

Since completion of the limited restoration work over the winter of 1983/84 CAN 172D has been regularly entered in various club events and, although not quite up to the standard of certain well known V6 coupes, has achieved a great deal of concours success. Twice overall winner at Coupe Day, first and two seconds in the coupe class at the National Rally and a first in class at Sabre Day.

Many shows have also been attended including The Classic Car Show at Brighton in 1984 and finishers medals have been attained in both runs of the Norwich Union RAC Classic Rally in 1985 and 1986.

Both myself and my wife, Ann, have competed in the car in several club autotests, with a number of class placings and this has lead to my own interest in the competition scene. CAN 172D is now a regular at the various Southernsprint and hillclimb venues. Success in this area has been limited as the car is clearly underpowered compared to its 3 litre rivals, though this has not detracted from my enjoyment and 1987 has in fact seen a class win at Curborough and an overall win in the club Sprint and Hillclimb Handicap Championship.

A lot of further work has been carried out on the car over the last few years. The chassis and the engine bay have received a good deal of attention. New chrome wire wheels, fitted with NCT’s, have been purchased. The engine has had a Robin Rew in situ rebuild, with gas flowed head and sports cam. The suspension has been uprated with Monroe Gasmatics and stiffer springs. A stainless exhaust system has been custom built and fitted by Cheesemans at Woking. On top of all this there has been the inevitable replacements that are necessary to keep a twenty-one year old car in good condition. Such items as brake calipers, trunnions, starter motor, battery, overdrive solenoid, brake and water hoses, fuel pump, etc., have all needed replacement.

Make no mistake, if you want to obtain a coupe, restore it, use it regularly in competitive events and keep it in fine fettle, with the odd improvement, then you are looking at a considerable financial commitment. I just hope that one day the cognoscente will come to appreciate that the Scimitar GT was, and is, a damn site better than a lot of its contemporaries that are now fetching more money than they’re worth. Vive la coupe!

- Jeff Craske

(This article was written for Slice by Jeff back in the 1980’s. The bottom picture is of Jeff earlier this year at Straight Six when he was reunited with his old friend.)