Anyone put an estimate on this Reliant Mistral V8?
Anyone put an estimate on this Reliant Mistral V8?
Author
Discussion

geeman237

Original Poster:

1,340 posts

207 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
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https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/classic/sat-22nd-s...

Anyone wager any thoughts on what this might be worth? Ball park range...…..15-20k? 30-40k?

Seems a bit of a 'bitsa'

Lowtimer

4,293 posts

190 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
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It is entirely and explicitly a bitsa, and in no way shy about presenting itself as such.

Presumably it was the personal vision of whoever commissioned it but who for whatever reason is no longer in a position to pursue that vision. The only way to find out what it's worth to someone else will be at the auction in a couple of weeks. There is no established market for such a thing, so price discovery will depends on there being more than one active bidder on the day. I can't imagine there will be a lot of people consciously looking for such a thing.

It may be worth more in its various individual components than as a complete running car.

aeropilot

39,331 posts

249 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
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SBC running to a Ford English axle....... scratchchin

rofl

tr7v8

7,524 posts

250 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
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aeropilot said:
SBC running to a Ford English axle....... scratchchin

rofl
Will be fine on those tyres as they'll be the safety valve. People run English axles on far greater powers than that. It's when the tyres get stickier & wider they suffer.

aeropilot

39,331 posts

249 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
quotequote all
tr7v8 said:
aeropilot said:
SBC running to a Ford English axle....... scratchchin

rofl
Will be fine on those tyres as they'll be the safety valve. People run English axles on far greater powers than that. It's when the tyres get stickier & wider they suffer.
It's not the power, its the torque that will destroy the casing.

I've seen many a 'twisted' English axle case in pinto powered Escort's......which is why you pull them and put a baby Atlas in at least....which is what this should have.


Skyedriver

22,015 posts

304 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
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Not sure the Reliant Sabre ran an English Axle.
Later Scimitars ran a Salisbury, wonder if this has something out of a Zephyr/Zodiac.

Lowtimer

4,293 posts

190 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
quotequote all
May depend on whatever donated its chassis: could have been a Sabre 4 (the Consul 375 1700 four-pot) or a Sabre Six (2.6 Zephyr engine). And could of course have an axle blagged off anything, not the one from the original car at all. But, yes, I would want at least an Atlas and really a Salisbury off a Scimitar.

geeman237

Original Poster:

1,340 posts

207 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
quotequote all
The auction blurb states “......... on a Reliant Sabre 4 chassis from 1962 (wheel base 90"). .............with a significantly upgraded Ford English axle with extra heavy duty half shafts and LSD.”

Mind you, I’m not familiar with these axles.



aeropilot

39,331 posts

249 months

Tuesday 11th August 2020
quotequote all
geeman237 said:
The auction blurb states “......... on a Reliant Sabre 4 chassis from 1962 (wheel base 90"). .............with a significantly upgraded Ford English axle with extra heavy duty half shafts and LSD.”
Half shafts and LSD won't stop the axle casing twisting like an elastic band from the torque of a sbc, when a bog standard Essex V6 can manage to do that to an English axle over time.



Lowtimer

4,293 posts

190 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
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geeman237 said:
Mind you, I’m not familiar with these axles.
An English axle is basically what you find under an ordinary Mark I / Mark II Escort. Generally okay up to about 100 or 110 lb ft.

The Atlas is a more heavy-duty thing found on a 3.0 Capri amongst other cars, and came in various widths, the narrowest (which goes nicely under a hotted up Escort) being known as a "baby" Atlas.

The Scimitar GTE came with a Salisbury 7HA (early cars) or a 4HA (later cars, including my old SE5a). These are properly strong and can cope with big V8 and V12 engines.


geeman237

Original Poster:

1,340 posts

207 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
quotequote all
Lowtimer said:
geeman237 said:
Mind you, I’m not familiar with these axles.
An English axle is basically what you find under an ordinary Mark I / Mark II Escort. Generally okay up to about 100 or 110 lb ft.

The Atlas is a more heavy-duty thing found on a 3.0 Capri amongst other cars, and came in various widths, the narrowest (which goes nicely under a hotted up Escort) being known as a "baby" Atlas.

The Scimitar GTE came with a Salisbury 7HA (early cars) or a 4HA (later cars, including my old SE5a). These are properly strong and can cope with big V8 and V12 engines.
Thank you for the education thumbup
I posted this because the car interested a friend of mine in the US.

grumpy52

5,930 posts

188 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
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Low weight and very limited grip will help the axle cope with the power of the V8 . If the engine is built to period specs it certainly won't be putting out huge power but in a light car it certainly will be entertaining.
It certainly looks like a period built car rather than a later recreated retro look bitsa .

aeropilot

39,331 posts

249 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
quotequote all
Lowtimer said:
geeman237 said:
Mind you, I’m not familiar with these axles.
An English axle is basically what you find under an ordinary Mark I / Mark II Escort. Generally okay up to about 100 or 110 lb ft.

The Atlas is a more heavy-duty thing found on a 3.0 Capri amongst other cars, and came in various widths, the narrowest (which goes nicely under a hotted up Escort) being known as a "baby" Atlas.

The Scimitar GTE came with a Salisbury 7HA (early cars) or a 4HA (later cars, including my old SE5a). These are properly strong and can cope with big V8 and V12 engines.
Yep, 4HA was same as fitted to the solid axle 50's Jag's and the MK.2 of the 60's.
It was also the axle type used by the 'works' HS/R Chevette's, 'works' Sunbeam-Lotus and 'works' Triumph TR8 rally cars in the 70's.

IroningMan

10,598 posts

268 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
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aeropilot said:
Yep, 4HA was same as fitted to the solid axle 50's Jag's and the MK.2 of the 60's.
It was also the axle type used by the 'works' HS/R Chevette's, 'works' Sunbeam-Lotus and 'works' Triumph TR8 rally cars in the 70's.
The 4HA also lives under 6-cylinder Astons, and the diff in 4HU form saw theXJ6 and XJS powertrain through to the end of its life. It was also used in a couple of Thwaites model ranges, but, you know, least said, soonest mended, and all that...

That Mistral would look an awful lot nicer if it was still a Sabre Six.

slurpysi

102 posts

214 months

Wednesday 12th August 2020
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So what do we think it is worth, as I am going to bid on it ?

Will it be elegible for any race series, or Goodwood ?

Keep it stiff

1,839 posts

195 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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slurpysi said:
So what do we think it is worth, as I am going to bid on it ?

Will it be elegible for any race series, or Goodwood ?
There are a few race series where this would be a fit, but as to being competitive, that is a very different matter. Also, from the pictures, it looks like various items are more of a token of being race spec as against being suitably compliant. As to Goodwood, who knows, if every car that is optimistically advertised as "Goodwood eligible" were invited they would need to run a meeting every weekend to fit them all in!

aeropilot

39,331 posts

249 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
quotequote all
Keep it stiff said:
slurpysi said:
So what do we think it is worth, as I am going to bid on it ?

Will it be elegible for any race series, or Goodwood ?
Also, from the pictures, it looks like various items are more of a token of being race spec as against being suitably compliant.
I'd agree with that.......especially the carbs. Triple 94 carbs's are show not go......or rather, go in a straight line, not go around corners, with their propensity to piss fuel everywhere, and trying to set up a race scrutineer acceptable throttle linkage for them as well.
Edit: looking at the last photo of the engine from the pass side, you can see that only the centre carb is actually connected up to the throttle cable, the front and rear carbs are even connected!

This looks like a car that has been dressed to look like a race car IMHO.

Writhing

629 posts

131 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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I think that’s for the choke. If you look at the offside, you can see a couple of bars running to the first and third carb.

dandarez

13,848 posts

305 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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Ha Ha
'Correctly' registered at DVLA as a Reliant Mistral?

Delete the word 'correctly' and you have it 'correct'.

Or more accurate perhaps if it said registered at DVLA as a Mistral Reliant.
More nearer the mark imo, as the former sounds like it's trying to pass it off as a Reliant.

Ozzie Dave

574 posts

270 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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My question is how old or new is the vehicle, Mistrals are currently made by Old No 7 Kits and can fit on a number of donor chassis/engine options. The advantage seems to be that for a 'newly constructed vehicle' no IVA is required if enough of the original vehicle is retained, especially if the original engine and chassis is utilised.