Great British Cars often forgotten

[Pericoloso]

GTRene said:

Pericoloso said:

Reading up on the aforementioned Triumph Italia I'm trying to decide the % that is Triumph and how much is

Vignale and Italian.

TR3 chassis and mechanical components were supplied by the Triumph Motor Company in the United Kingdom, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Italia

This isn't a British car.
"Innocenti used locally sourced glass ,different wheels ,electrics, door handles/levers, heaters ,instrument binncales and the labels for the controls are in Italian.

[woodypup59]

Had a good day at the Festival of the Unexceptional in Bucks on Saturday.

A video of the car park and concours here :-

https://youtu.be/aHnbU5S683k

[Riley Blue]

woodypup59 said:

Had a good day at the Festival of the Unexceptional in Bucks on Saturday.

A video of the car park and concours here :-

https://youtu.be/aHnbU5S683k

I don't normally take my Riley to static shows but to rub shoulders (wings?) with so many uninteresting cars I could make an exception.

[grumpy52]

Does Costin qualify ?
I remember an article on them back in the 70s , The prototype had a mast on the roof with sidelights on it so it could be seen over the hedgerows.
Frank Costin was involved in many famous projects and companies but unless you're a car geek the majority of the public won't have heard of him let alone that he produced cars .

[Evangelion]

Was he not the brother of Mike Costin, the Cos half of Marcos?

[Pericoloso]

Evangelion said:

Was he not the brother of Mike Costin, the Cos half of Marcos?

Mike Costin ,one half of Cosworth.

Frank Costin ,one half of Marcos.

[Evangelion]

Ah yes, I remember now.

Keith Duckworth and Jem Marsh were the other halves.

[brucky74]

The Reliant Scimitar GT Coupe.
The Coupe was intended as the replacement for the Daimler SP250 (Dart), until Jaguar purchased Daimler and cancelled the project. Its got a 3 Ltr V6 and goes like stink for it’s age. A nice looking and rare car IMHO http://www.scimitargt.co.uk/ScimitarGT/Welcome.htm...

Edited by brucky74 on Thursday 25th July 16:44

[brucky74]

[brucky74]

[brucky74]

[RichB]

brucky74 said:

The Reliant Scimitar GT Coupe. The Coupe was intended as the replacement for the Daimler SP250 (Dart), until Jaguar purchased Daimler and cancelled the project.

So did Daimler own Reliant at that time or did Reliant buy the design from Daimler?

[cjb44]

brucky74 said:

The Reliant Scimitar GT Coupe.
The Coupe was intended as the replacement for the Daimler SP250 (Dart), until Jaguar purchased Daimler and cancelled the project. Its got a 3 Ltr V6 and goes like stink for it’s age. A nice looking and rare car IMHO http://www.scimitargt.co.uk/ScimitarGT/Welcome.htm...

Edited by brucky74 on Thursday 25th July 16:44

My memory tells me that Daimler produced one prototype to replace the SP250, this car as I recall did not look much like the Scimitar but a vast improvement on the SP250. Somewhere I have seen a picture of this car but now I am afraid this is where my memory has failed me, I am sure a knowledgeable PH person will come up trumps.
Jaguar as you quite rightly say cancelled the project, reportedly they were afraid it would eclipse the E Type. Well they may have been fearful because had Daimler used the wonderful 4.5 larger brother of the 2.5 litre V8 they would have been in trouble as the V8 is lovely smooth engine with plenty of low down grunt. One of these engines was used very successfully in a single seat hillclimb car in the 60's/70's.

[Pericoloso]

I was going to chip in and mention Ogle but they were responsible only for the GTE.

[RichB]

cjb44 said:

My memory tells me that Daimler produced one prototype to replace the SP250...

I assume you mean the Daimler SP252, really good looking car and with a Daimler V8 it would have been fantastic to drive.

[Allan L]

Pericoloso said:

I was going to chip in and mention Ogle but they were responsible only for the GTE.

About time too.
Ogle produced a design for a coupé body for the SP250 and made two of them called SX250.


The Daimler company did not follow it up for reasons not unconnected with Jaguar ownership and Ogle made a few cosmetic changes to the SX250 body and we had the Reliant Scimitar GT (based on their Sabre Six chassis I think).
By then Tom Karen was in charge at Ogle's (following David Ogle's death) and he revised the back to make the hatch-back Scimitar GTE.

[Pericoloso]

That's a considerable improvement in looks over the 250.

[RichB]

Pericoloso said:

That's a considerable improvement in looks over the 250.

The rear has hints of Aston Martin convertible about it.

[brucky74]

This is it, fully refurbished. Reliant purchased the design from Daimler. Ogle tweaked the body to fit the Sabre chassis.
http://sporting-reliants.com/images/Prototypes/Ogl...

[brucky74]