Reliant Scimitar Sabre

In August 1991 Beans Industries bought the Reliant Motor Company, who made one final attempt as redesigning the bodywork of the SST.  The result of which, was now called the " Scimitar Sabre" and the prototype Scimitar Sabre was shown at Earls Court Motor Show in October 1991.

Finally launched in July 1992 the Scimitar Sabre had much smoother lines, wider wheel arches, and stylish colour coded bumpers.  Originally Reliant uses the under powered Ford 1400 CVH engine and later planned to use the Rover 1.4 'K' series and the 2.0 'T' series engines, but they dropped the 2.0 litre 'T' and used the Nissan 1.8 turbo charged engine.

In 1994 Reliant made a few changes to the Scimitar Sabre , such as re-styling the front bumper/lights.

The Reliant Motor Company had finally got the impressive design they deserved; however by the time it had taken the Reliant team to get the design right, competition from other motor companies was too fierce for such a small company and ultimately it saw the end of Reliant sports car manufacturing.

Reliant ended their production of any sports cars and tried to concentrate on the 3 wheeler car sales.

Above: The Mk2 Scimitar Sabres launched at the Birmingham Motor Show in October 1994

Mk1 Scimitar Sabre

Mk2 Scimitar Sabre (Note: the front bumper is different from the Mk1 Scimitar Sabre)