If you’ve always quite fancied the idea of following in the footsteps of the British Royal Family, but have never had the social connections to do so, then maybe your search is over. I have to really thank Barn Finder Paul for referring this classic to us, as it is a make and model of car that has had some pretty illustrious owners. Princess Anne, Princess Margaret, and the Duke of Edinburgh have all owned a Reliant Scimitar, and now you can follow in their footsteps at a very affordable price. This 1969 Scimitar GTE SE5 is located in Yreka, California, and has been listed for sale here on eBay. The owner has set a BIN of $3,950 for the Reliant, but the option is available to make an offer.

Reliant became renowned the world over as the producers of basic and inexpensive cars such as the heavily lampooned three-wheeled Robin. The Scimitar was far more conventional, but it still contained some innovative thinking. The frame is steel, but bolted to that is a body made of fiberglass. In fact, this was a common theme with Reliant, and at one point in time, Reliant was the world’s second-largest manufacturer of fiberglass-bodied motor vehicles. Number one was held by Chevrolet, with the Corvette. Naturally, body rust isn’t an issue, although the bodies can be prone to flexing over time, resulting in cracking of the paint and the fiberglass itself. This Scimitar is showing signs of this sort of flexing, but only a personal inspection will determine how severe the fiberglass cracking is. The steel frame of this Reliant looks to be quite good, with only some minor surface corrosion in evidence. Having said that, there are some spots on the frame that can deteriorate, and these need to be inspected carefully. The tops of the main frame rails can be trouble spots, as can the area at the bottom of the main roll-bar, and the radiator support. There are some other areas as well, but these seem to be the main ones. The glass is all present, and apart from a crack in the rear hatch glass, is in good condition. There are a few pieces of external trim and chrome that are missing, so finding replacement pieces might take some work. Thankfully, the bumpers are both present and are in good condition. These are made from what I would term “Unobtainium.” In other words, finding replacements, particularly for the rear bumper of an SE5, is incredibly difficult. The wheels aren’t original, but swapping the originals for something aftermarket was a pretty common practice, so that doesn’t surprise me.

At 2,620lbs, the Scimitar GTE was by no means a heavy car, so the fact that it was powered by the 2,994cc Ford Essex V6 engine meant that it was quite a spirited performer. Backing this engine is the only transmission available in a Scimitar at this point, which is a 4-speed manual unit. It wasn’t until 1970 that an automatic option was made available. The performance wasn’t “muscle car fast,” but a Scimitar could still top 120mph. This Scimitar doesn’t run, but the engine does turn freely. Obtaining parts for both the motor and transmission is both easy and relatively inexpensive. Provided the car is maintained properly, the drive-train in a Scimitar can last for many years, but the engine needs to be serviced correctly. The transmission can be susceptible to wear over time, and the first sign that work may be required is when it starts to show a tendency to jump out of 2nd and 4th gear.

Tackling the most obvious thing first, and that’s the fact that the steering wheel is on the wrong side! Yep, the Scimitar is right-hand-drive, and there really is no option than for it to remain that way. Reliant did manage to export the Scimitar, but to the best of my knowledge, the car was never available in left-hand-drive form. If I’m wrong on that point, then I have no problem being corrected. The interior looks reasonably tidy, but the seats that are fitted to this Scimitar are not original. They are too heavily sculpted, and the standard upholstery in 1969 was black vinyl. The interior is showing some wear around the edges, but the vast majority of what can be seen in the way of wear and fraying would seem to be repairable. The edge trimming around the door frames is probably beyond this sort of help, as is the carpet. However, replacements for these are readily available, but the new owner will need to be prepared to source these directly from the UK. Apart from the seats, the most obvious non-original item fitted to the Scimitar is the Pioneer radio/cassette player. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear as though the dash has been cut to fit this, so if a genuine radio can be located, swapping it back in should be easy.

The royal connections with the Reliant Scimitar make them an interesting car, and it would seem that they are also a car that has the ability to endear themselves to their owners. The Duke of Edinburgh owned a couple, but Princess Anne proved to be a real champion of the Scimitar, and she owned no less than eight of them. If the frame of this car is solid, then obtaining all of the mechanical parts to return it to a completely sound mechanical state should be pretty easy. Restoring the body of a Scimitar is no more complicated than restoring the body of a Corvette. One big advantage that the Scimitar has over the Corvette is that if you rock up at your next Cars & Coffee in a Scimitar, there isn’t a lot of chance that you will find another one there. You probably couldn’t say that about a Corvette.