My Scimitars Reliant Scimitar 1800 ti - LHD & Scimitar GTE Se5

My Scimitars:

II own(ed) several Scimitars. beside some scrappers for parts, it has been these five:
At the moment a 1980 GTC. I used to own LHD 1970 GTE SE5.and a 1987 1800ti and a 1988 1800ti and 1976 GTE SE6a automatic. The stories about the cars are on this page.

	Here it is: The replacement for the 1800ti, a Scimitar GTC. Bought in June 2007 in England. Befor the RDW approval only a few minor job neede to be done. From leaky exhausts (touch on loadup), non-working main beam lights, and rplacing these for continental uset. This Scimitar is in a nice condition, with OK piantwork and a nice interiour. Don't know much about its history. Obe thing is sure : last owner was Steve Jenkins. He bought it off Ebay form a trader on Guernsey. The first registration was in the UK, later (a week or a few years?) it went to Guernsey. It used to be an automatic, but now it has the Ford 4 speed with Laycock overdive on 3rd and 4th.
Bought in Newbury, UK. Together with my father-in-law I did a thorough check and test drive. It was clear enough: load it and pay. The car was good value for money. On the picture right, we are in the Dover ferry harbour. Tow car is a Volvo 240, the GTC is on the trailer. At the moment (september 2007) the GTC is a Dutch registred car, with a full year APK (MOT). The fun and enjoying is in full pace now.

	And this was my part time Scimitar. A 1970 GTE SE5. It has a 4speed with overdrive. It is one of the very few factory built lefthand drive cars. My father in law, Harrie Duit, and I bought the car in september 2002 from Leo Rijkelijkhuizen. Leo owned this car for over 8 years. We have owned the car since september 2002. When we bought it, I drove it home, witout problems. A day later, when Harrie was maken a spin, the transmissoin refused service. After removing all the bits, we saw a very destroyed clutchplate, completely into bits. We did the job in two days. The car was ready for the British Race Festival at circuit Zandvoort on sunday 06-10-2002. And it performed very well. The trip included having a spin on the track, more than 400 km driven in one day (and that goes for the 1800ti as well)!
Shortly after that, a brakeline collapsed. Luckily it happened while the car was in a garage (Setz Hoogezand). We had replaced instantly. Then I decided to use this Scimitar as my daily car for about 2 1/2 months. I chnged jobs and had to return the company car. The GTE turned out to be reliable in the winter season. In the last week of usage the waterpump broke down. We had it replaced at Lex Classics. After this, the car was hardly used. The car had some accident damage when we bought it, and we had the coachwork repaired proffesionally by Harms Autoschades in Hoogezand. The job took a long time, and we take a lot of time rebuilding. The rebuilt has been halted since summer 2004. The car is too far away from my home and my father in law is too busy with other things. So fiirst I need to get the car back to my garage. When the time has come, the project will be finished!
Here I am doing all the work
Short update: This is how it looks now. And what we used it for. Yes, that will be us: Angelique and I got married on August 10th 2006. And the white se5 was our wedding transport! Time has come to say goodby to the se5. In Februaru 2010 I sold the car to a novice in the Scimitarworld, a nice man from Germany. He will be doing the jobs I never got to do.

I own(ed) several Scimitars. beside some scrappers for parts, it has been these five:
At the moment a 1980 GTC. I used to own LHD 1970 GTE SE5.and a 1987 1800ti and a 1988 1800ti and 1976 GTE SE6a automatic. The stories about the cars are on this page.

I owned a 1976 Scimitar GTE. For the fanatics, the chassis# is 6J 49 183 01662. This makes it the 110th Se6a built. It was built in September 1976, colour caspian blue with a tan interior trim. It has powersteering and an automatic gearbox. But the real fanatic already know this, it is al hidden in the chassis#. I 've owned the car since fall 1993 and did some work on it. Because it was new sold in England the car was a RHD, but I bought it here in the Netherlands. It has been in Holland since 1989.

When I bought the Scimitar I had to do some work. First I repaired the wiring loom, someone really messed around with that. Then a complete check-up and I could drive the car. It was very disturbing at first, driving a RHD car with rightlane driving but I got used to it very quickly.
You can't imagine how many people turn their heads when they see a RHD car with Dutch licence plates.

In January 1995 my engine broke down: No oil-pressure, no compression and a 'nice' blue smoke from the exhausts. I made the decision to buy a second hand engine. A rebuild of the old one was too expensive at the time. While the engine was out I had all the space to convert the car from RHD to LHD. When this was done I had to get used to the car again, there are some differences between a RHD view and LHD view....

I bought the replacement engine from a Ford Capri specialist in the south Netherlands. The new engine proved to be okay, just like the garage owner told me. I doubted at first, you are never sure with second hand engines, but he volunteered to give me a written warranty on the engine. I enjoyed my Scimitar all summer, but returning from a vacation in Switzerland a new problem became very noticable. My gearbox 'died'. I had the gearbox rebuilt, expensive but repairing an automatic gearbox is beyond my expertise. The car has been without major problems since then. Small problems are always there, but it is a twenty years old car. From that time I didn't use it anymore as my daily car, I bought a Fiat Uno in the winter of 1995. An Uno is so much cheaper to run on a daily basis than a Scimitar. The costs of petrol (dfl 2.24 per litre 95 octane unleaded, 98 octane unleaded is even more expensive, price level end 1995 ) are down by 50%. Since December 1997 the Scimitar is my only car again, the Uno got scrapped.
Erik and his Scimitar

Erik in his Scimitar in Scotland
Here you see me driving up a bridge called 'DevilsElbow' in Scotland. In the background you can see Chris Pallasch's SS1.
I try to do most of the work myself. In 1996 year the car only visited the local garage twice. The first time for the APK (MOT/TUV), the second time because of a broken bolt of the exhaust manifold that was beyond fixing. The 1997 APK work was limited, only rearbrake adjustment and some rubbers of the front suspension need to be replaced. The car passed the APK in April 1997. Since then I had a few problems with the startermotor, but those are something of the past now. I took the car to Scotland, to the International RSSOC Meeting, and had no problems. During this trip the car showed its lowest fuel consumption I recorded: One litre was good for 10.5 Km! Not bad for an SE6 with automatic gearbox. Especially on long trips it is a fantastic car!

Early 1998 I bought a damaged Scimitar for spares to sell and to use for my car. This was going OK, but my car wasn't. First, it is second car again, I got a company Citroën Xsara Coupé TD. Second, the APK was more expensive than desired. New front-tyres, new brakes all around. (New as in: I took the good brakes from the scrapper and had them fitted by a professional garage, since I didn't have the time.) Alas, the mechanic made a stupid mistake and damaged the front end by driving it into the garage's equipment.
But he had the car repaired at his expense. But I was not satisfied with how the work was done, luckily neither was he. We could settle this in a decent way.
Driving to the spring meeting of the Dutch RSSOC, my gearbox gave up. No meeting for me, only a sunny afternoon next to a Dutch autosnelweg (=motorway) with a broken gearbox. I couldn't get it in gear it seemed. Fortunately my scrapper also has an automatic gearbox. So the car was repaired quickly (and rather cheap). In June my Scim was ready to go to the International Meeting in Denmark!
Like the trip to Scotland, it was a well organized event. Denmark is a nice country, a bit of a mix of the Netherlands and Britain. After the meeting we went further to Sweden. That is really a beautiful country! Also during this trip the cart was very reliable. Like the trip back to home, from the south-east coast of Sweden to the east of the Netherlands in 10 hours. And all at a relaxing speed. A great way to travel.
In October I bought a third car, a Reliant Robin van, a LHD. These are great fun to drive!, never thought it would feel that good. Also, how in earth could Reliant built two such different cars!
The 1999 APK gave me a headache! Some chassis rot was found. I had to do some major welding, I hoped to have the car ready for the International meeting in Germany, but alas.... too little time. The rest of the work is minor stuff, like the annual "free the handbrake". My car has got new APK just before the Oldtimer Grandprix at the Nuerburgring in Germany, first weekend of August.
Alas I did not have the time to do the welding myself (and also not enough welding practice last few years). My local garage did it for me. That man was not too pleased to see how a Scimitar is bolted up to the chassis. I removed the rear bumper myself. What a horrendous crime that is! It just is impossible to unscrew heavily rusted bolts. And at least 4 of those are in an almost unreacheable spots. The easiest way (that is: trying to avoid real damage) was literally breaking the bumper from the car. It destroys the bolting points on the side, but these are polyester in an unvisible place. The repair was a lot easier and quicker than the removal the way it is meant to be.
The trip to the Nuerburgring was really the first trip I made with my Scimitar since January! As expected: No problems at all.

Further for the freaks, the front-bumper is a mixture between a 6a and 6B model. It gives a much better airflow to the radiator. One thing keeps on bugging: the heater. This is one of the not-so-good parts of the car. First: too little airflow through the car. There are two blowers for the fresh air, but they are in the front of the car, right behind the headlights. Long ducts lead the air to the interior. On new cars there was no problem, but it seems hardly impossible to refit the ducts without leaks. The heater it self can do the job, by seventies standards. But the damn thing is prone to leaking. And it is fitted behind the middle console. A hell of a job to access it. I had to replace it twice already, and had to do it again: smell of coolant:leaking heater. Well, it keeps me from the streets... But now the leaking is over after second replacement. It works well too.
What was not original on my car? As mentioned above, it used to be a RHD and now has been converted to LHD. The frontbumper has been changed to a 6a/6b mixture and of course the cooling system has been uprated. One more thing, the chassis# has been changed! When it was imported, a Dutch customs officer made a mistake and since then the chassis# is 182 01662.
These are the major conversions. Now the smaller ones, Seats are leather now, two from inside adjustable mirrors, electrical operated rearhatch lock, SS petrol tank. And under the bonnet: Minor stuff, a K&N airfilter and tubular exhaust manifold and the obvious SS exhausts. My car also has an Webasto roof in combination with a vinyl roof. Not a factory option, but "later" (may 1977, where the car was built in september 1976) by a specialist in Brighton. The roof used to be blue, but has been painted black later.

But now avery sad moment has come: I sold my dear old GTE. Too little tiime and a the poor condition it was in forced me into this heartbreaking decision.

My grinning fun Scimitar is a 1988 1800ti. I bought it in february 2000 in Germany from a trader. When you are used to a GTE an 1800 is a revelation and a shoebox. It is so much smaller and lighter. And it is faster. So much faster. The same HP's with 400KG less. It gives you a silly grin.
But what happend to the car since I own it? Well, at first I had to transport it to the Netherlands. This was no problem at all. I drove the car home. A 600KM drive without problems. Then a Dutch license plate. First a thorough insection at my local Nissan garage (they know the turbo engine and the Scimitar!). Again no real problems. The first attempt at the RDW failed, because the RDW-man could not find the chassisnumber. Later that day I found it on a curious place (inside of the outer chassispart, righthandside, near the windscreen). The RDW-man agreed and after paying way too much taxes I had a Dutch license.
After 4 months a major disaster happened. Weird noise and a lot of blue smoke: The engine collapsed. This was close to the International Meeting 2000 in England. Fortunately I knew a guy who had a spare engine, new in a crate. I persuaded him to sell it to me. Thanks Siegfried. And the Nissan garage did a great job replacing the engine just in time. For everyone with an Scimitar 1800ti I can recommend Nissan Beltman in Rijssen. After that I took the car to england and had a great meeting there. And when I got back Thomas Touw phoned me if I wanted my 1800ti to feature in (the Dutch) Britisch Car Magazine. I wanted, so an article was written. See the august 2000 copy of the magazine. The rest of the year 2000 was without problems. The new APK in 2001 was also easy. But allas, when my girlfriend and me were ready to go to the International in Switserland, the car just would not start. Absolutely now power in the battery. No time to fix it. We took the Toyota. After we got back I replaced the battery and had no problems with it since.
January 2002 another no go. Some small electric problem. I had a part replaced and it is all OK again.
Maybe you noticed I have most of the work on this car done by a garage. Well I have very limited time now and the 1800 is the daily transport for Angelique, my girlfriend. Next job is the 2002 APK. You'll be informed.
APK 2002, oh boy.... A gasket in the exhaust system collapsed sometime ago. Yes, the one between the manifold and the turbo. Virtually impossile to reach. I had it done by my local Nissan dealer. The did a perfect job (as always). Luckily the gasket problem was the only thing that had to be done. A new APK!
During this summer's vacation, we took the car to Italy. Sunny Italy driving an 1800ti: Life is great!
But now the time has come to say goodby to this fine car. I bought another 1800ti. A car with a quality / price I could not resist. Frank Kat is the new owner. I hope he will enjoy this car as much as I did.

I just bought it in August 2003. It has a twin spark engine and uprated brakes. Drives great! Just a little better in the details than the old 1800ti. The car has been on a Dutch license since 1996. I am the second owner in the Netherlands. And it had two owners in Germany: (former) importer Martin Bracker and German RSSOG chairman Wieland Feige.
	Like the previous red 1800ti, it is a daily driver. So never in top condition, but always reliable. Fall 2003 two remarkable things: water pump failure. I had a spare, so fixed quickly by Nissan Beltman. Second: a photo shoot for a Scimitar article in Auto Motor Klassiek (Dutch classics mag). The story was published in de February 2004 issue. March 2004 an easy, but expensive APK (MOT/TUV). Only two failures: foglight that did not work and a blown exhaust gasket. Changing that gasket is a terrible job. It is (are) the gaskets turbo-in and turbo-out. Cheap gaskets, but it takes up to 6 hours to replace these two. My garage was very pleased.... But is is a fine reliable car! Maintaining this car is money well spend. This car is (like the previous red one) used as a daily driver. It simply does not let you down. Well, almost. Two things bothering me: KM counter and the light switch. Counter stopped working at exactly 200,000 KM and the light switch has a live on its own. Both originate from the famous Mini Metro... We took the car to England for the summer holiday. This combined with the international RSSOC meeting in Kent. Only two minor things traveling with an 1800ti: limited luggage capacity and te English weather is not too convertible friendly. It was a fantastic journey. We went from Calais to Dover. Stonehenge - New Forrest/ Beaulieu - Devon And ended up in Cornwall. The Eden project was the turning point of this holiday. During the fall and winter season no real news. I replaced the speedo unit for an used MG Metro dash unit. Only needed replacing the plastic lights layout sheet. And did a small service (oil change etc.). Later in the winter I checked the front brakes, as I knew the pads would be gone by that time. Well, I was in time. But the callpiers had seized in a bad way. On my car the brakes are uprated, from original Metro to MG Metro vented. I bought a set of renovated callipers from a local Rover specialist. When I fitted thes, the RH one simply stripped off all thread on the hose contection. Luckily the Rover specialist agreed with my point of view and was willing to see it as warranty. Two weeks later I got back a now fully renovated calliper. In March the APK renewal did not give any problems. I only had to fix a horn an fastening the rear bumper. Yes, Angelique hit a pole driving backwards in the winter . The damage still has to be repaired professionally

April 2007 The time has come to say goodbye to my 1800ti. Have a look at the ads section of this site. Here are a few pictures of the car as it is today. De 1800 is sold now. De new owner is Geert-Jan Peeters, a novice in the classic car world. A Scimitar 1800ti is a very nice 'first car'.

Back to the Scimitar UK-Index Page.
Back to the Intro Page

Last update: May 3 , 2010 by Erik Hofman