Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Thought I’d best start an actual project thread specifically for this car after discussion on my ‘fleet’ thread. So this is a mild rehash of some of the posts on there to keep it all together. Basically, I got given a free scimitar. James, who’s username I can never spell properly but is generally referred to as vilerug cos it looks a bit like that, put a post on FB about him/his dad loosing his storage. That was due to the untimely death of forum member MDH with whom they shared unit space. it was decided it was probably time to let one of his dads old cars go as it had spent the last 30 years getting just getting shunted round between various barns and lockups. It was offered free to anyone who’d take it on and actually do something with it. It was located near Gloucester, which isn’t that far from Bristol. So I took the van down, dropped it off, and drove to Gloucester to pick up this-  a scimitar se5a. It’s been off the road since spectacular head gasket failure in the early 90s. Prior to that it has GENUINE MOTORSPORT PEDIGREE!  Well, James dad used to hillclimb and sprint it.  It’s got a few bits of body damage but nothing too bad, the drivers seat is a cobra recliner bucket seat with the foam falling apart, the interior is ratty and smelly as you’d expect, the chassis is rusty, the motor is buggered, and it’s needs entirely going through as it’s been sat for 30 years.  There are good points though. It’s tax and mot exempt, the body is Probably ok with minor fixing, and lastly, this-  So why did I want it? Well, I think these are criminally underrated cars. They’re a bit gawky looking but they’re light, well balanced, have a stiff chassis, a pretty much indestructible rear axle, and are 6 linked and coilovers all round as standard. Not many cars can claim that. They’re also a short wheelbase (99.5”) and 1180kg stock. They’re so close to being an awesome car but let down by a rubbish engine, and because of that they’re still not worth curse word all. What they need is a proper engine and you’ve then got something that’s a bit of a weapon. Something like a 351W should do it, so I bought a water damaged one that looks like it’s been stored in a swamp, but has a load of good performance bits and should rebuild without too much work. Major reason I wanted a Ford was the Ford dizzy location.   The plan is rebuild the motor and put it in the car, then see what breaks. This should take it from 100hp/ton to 300hp/ton, which should make it far more interesting! It Proably won’t happen that soon, but if I’ve got the bits laying round I can chip away at it as and when 😬 |
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Last Edit: Nov 17, 2022 10:32:22 GMT by Dez
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,998
Club RR Member Number: 58
Member is Online
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Looking forward to seeing how the scimitar ends up, they can sound quite nice with the Essex but the v8 should wake it up quite nicely!
One thing I've never quite got about them, why do they always seem to have towbars fitted? 😂
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My dad had a MOD one, was a nice car, essex had apparantly been rebuilt by someome who had done capri race engines, certainly drove well, main issues were the flimsy interior slowly falling apart and the bushes in the gear linkage giving up.
I don't think its the engine which affects values, 3.0 capris seem to sell for enough, I think it's the unapealing flimsy interior and people being scared of fiberglass, V8 and doing something with the interior and would be superb.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Looking forward to seeing how the scimitar ends up, they can sound quite nice with the Essex but the v8 should wake it up quite nicely! One thing I've never quite got about them, why do they always seem to have towbars fitted? 😂 Well, they are a practical estate car! |
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Is that water pump off the engine? It looks identical to the one on the Jaguar MK2. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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My dad had a MOD one, was a nice car, essex had apparantly been rebuilt by someome who had done capri race engines, certainly drove well, main issues were the flimsy interior slowly falling apart and the bushes in the gear linkage giving up. I don't think its the engine which affects values, 3.0 capris seem to sell for enough, I think it's the unapealing flimsy interior and people being scared of fiberglass, V8 and doing something with the interior and would be superb. People will pay proper money for lotususes though, and they fall into the same pitfalls of being fibreglass with a blue Peter interior. The same could be argued of the AC ace which only took off once it had a proper motor stuck in it too… Look at it the other way, Jensen interceptors are utter wibblepoo but people get all unnecessary over them becuase of the engine choice. I can’t help but think of the scim had had something a bit spicier it would be better regarded now, especially as the chassis is capable of handling a lot more than the Essex puts out. they’re one of the few GT cars that was more popular new than they are now. Pretty much all other Gran tourers are mega money now, and the scimitar was a trendsetter (it came before the p1800 and the lotus elite) that should be better regarded really. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Is that water pump off the engine? It looks identical to the one on the Jaguar MK2. I’ve not actually checked tbh, I’ll be putting a new one on anyway as they’re cheap. I was only really interested in the bottom end being ok, and the inlet, valve covers and Mallory dizzy, so they’re what I’ve been cleaning up. |
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,951
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Used to get them in at the Ford dealership I did my apprenticeship in, along with the wedge TVR with the 2.8. Always had massive problems bleeding the cooling system and usually arrived at our door step after somebody had done the head gaskets after fitting the chrome rad hose extenders…. Having said that would have with with a 5.0 and a T5. Looking forward to seeing your take on it Dez P.  |
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My dad had a MOD one, was a nice car, essex had apparantly been rebuilt by someome who had done capri race engines, certainly drove well, main issues were the flimsy interior slowly falling apart and the bushes in the gear linkage giving up. I don't think its the engine which affects values, 3.0 capris seem to sell for enough, I think it's the unapealing flimsy interior and people being scared of fiberglass, V8 and doing something with the interior and would be superb. People will pay proper money for lotususes though, and they fall into the same pitfalls of being fibreglass with a blue Peter interior. The same could be argued of the AC ace which only took off once it had a proper motor stuck in it too… Look at it the other way, Jensen interceptors are utter wibblepoo but people get all unnecessary over them becuase of the engine choice. I can’t help but think of the scim had had something a bit spicier it would be better regarded now, especially as the chassis is capable of handling a lot more than the Essex puts out. they’re one of the few GT cars that was more popular new than they are now. Pretty much all other Gran tourers are mega money now, and the scimitar was a trendsetter (it came before the p1800 and the lotus elite) that should be better regarded really. I guess the real issue is the Scimitar does lots of things well but nothing really grabs the heartstrings. With lotus's it's the handling and racing legends, the AC and interceptor the styling and engine, with Capri's it's the styling and the nostalga, On the Scimiter nothing realy stands out and there were not enough around in the day for people to get nostalgic also perhaps the link to the Robin has an effect. |
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This should be good. I like these and I agree they're under appreciated (which is good for folks like us). You got the early body, with the Consul Capri windscreen, which I feel is a better looking car than the face lifted version. It actually seems odd in retrospect, that Reliant didn't offer a V8 version. I think a set of the old chrome Rostyles would really look the part on one of these cars. Also there's the Jensen connection with using them.  |
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People will pay proper money for lotususes though, and they fall into the same pitfalls of being fibreglass with a blue Peter interior. The same could be argued of the AC ace which only took off once it had a proper motor stuck in it too… Look at it the other way, Jensen interceptors are utter wibblepoo but people get all unnecessary over them becuase of the engine choice. I can’t help but think of the scim had had something a bit spicier it would be better regarded now, especially as the chassis is capable of handling a lot more than the Essex puts out. they’re one of the few GT cars that was more popular new than they are now. Pretty much all other Gran tourers are mega money now, and the scimitar was a trendsetter (it came before the p1800 and the lotus elite) that should be better regarded really. I guess the real issue is the Scimitar does lots of things well but nothing really grabs the heartstrings. With lotus's it's the handling and racing legends, the AC and interceptor the styling and engine, with Capri's it's the styling and the nostalga, On the Scimiter nothing realy stands out and there were not enough around in the day for people to get nostalgic also perhaps the link to the Robin has an effect. As for famous owners, Princess Anne owned a few Scimitars, a double edged sword perhaps? |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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People will pay proper money for lotususes though, and they fall into the same pitfalls of being fibreglass with a blue Peter interior. The same could be argued of the AC ace which only took off once it had a proper motor stuck in it too… Look at it the other way, Jensen interceptors are utter wibblepoo but people get all unnecessary over them becuase of the engine choice. I can’t help but think of the scim had had something a bit spicier it would be better regarded now, especially as the chassis is capable of handling a lot more than the Essex puts out. they’re one of the few GT cars that was more popular new than they are now. Pretty much all other Gran tourers are mega money now, and the scimitar was a trendsetter (it came before the p1800 and the lotus elite) that should be better regarded really. I guess the real issue is the Scimitar does lots of things well but nothing really grabs the heartstrings. With lotus's it's the handling and racing legends, the AC and interceptor the styling and engine, with Capri's it's the styling and the nostalga, On the Scimiter nothing realy stands out and there were not enough around in the day for people to get nostalgic also perhaps the link to the Robin has an effect. I agree, I think there’s definitely more than one factor at play, and it’s hard to pin down which one has most effect. I think they’re the best value rwd vehicle a available at the current time though. Especially if you’re looking for a capable chassis to engine swap. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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This should be good. I like these and I agree they're under appreciated (which is good for folks like us). You got the early body, with the Consul Capri windscreen, which I feel is a better looking car than the face lifted version. It actually seems odd in retrospect, that Reliant didn't offer a V8 version. I think a set of the old chrome Rostyles would really look the part on one of these cars. Also there's the Jensen connection with using them. Funnily enough we were discussion what the screen was from when I picked it up, thanks for the answer! I agree the se5/5a is a better looking car. It’s also significantly lighter. The 6 is arguably more of a ‘true’ GT though. The 5s are a bit small and light for that classification when compared to others. I do need to do something about wheels because of tyre choice. To find something capable of handling the expected power for reasonable money I really need to go up to 16” or 17”. People tend to want telephone numbers for suitable wheels though which kinda balances the scales Vs. Expensive tyres. I’m not adverse to redrilling to 5 stud or running adapters to get something on there through. |
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Last Edit: Nov 6, 2022 15:47:09 GMT by Dez
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I've always had a thing for scimitars it has to be said....but I couldn't get one as they only fit 2 in the back (have 3 kids see) so.....I bought a Lotus Excel instead.....(yep, same problem!!).....but once I've (finally) fixed that I'll see if I can't find a fast four-door (dolomite sprint perhaps that I also really like).
Fascinated to see where you take this, loving your overall work.
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I love Scimitars, a proper pro touring one would be cool Have you seen any of the Steve Strope builds where he makes a fake back story for the cars Maybe a guy working on the GT40 built a scimitar with left over bits, Halibrands, V8, 
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Windscreen was also used on the elan +2.
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frodo
Part of things
Posts: 104
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Hi Dez, great choice - although I’m biased! I have an SE5a in the same colour that I’m sloooowly turning into a race car, with a dry-sumped Chevy LS in it. I’ve gone 15”s (Revolutions) albeit the fronts had to be custom from Image - you just can’t find anything in the right offset that is 7” wide…
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frodo
Part of things
Posts: 104
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v8
Part of things
Posts: 312
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Doesn't the Jag LSD fit straight into the Scimitar axle?
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Last Edit: Nov 6, 2022 17:49:13 GMT by v8
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