・One-off built for sprints, trials and hillclimbing

・Reliant Scimitar Coupe underpinnings

・Tuned Ford V6 offering 160bhp

・A regular competitor at Prescott and Shelsley Walsh

A heartfelt tribute is a wonderful thing. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the old cliché goes, and the world is jam-packed with people and places paying tribute to the things that inspire them. When notable art forgers are arrested, they usually claim that their efforts are in tribute to their creative heroes rather than trying to steal a little of their reflected glory, and you can see the logic of that (even if it’s not always strictly true). The glimmering city of Las Vegas is so enamoured of global architecture that it features its own replica Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Egyptian pyramids, and even a little Statue of Liberty. And there’s another Statue of Liberty replica in Kosovo; Thames Town near Shanghai replicates much of London; heck, in Virginia there’s even a copy of Stonehenge made entirely of foam. It’s called, as you might imagine, Foamhenge. A little respectful borrowing is what keeps creativity vibrant and alive – this sort of behaviour is effectively a dedicated real-world version of clicking Facebook’s ‘like’ button. Wear your influences on your sleeve, that’s the key.

The car you see here is a very real embodiment of this train of thought, at the same time fusing a sort of greatest-hits melange of parts that acts as an exercise in anti-concours. Its creator drew influence from the venerable post-war automobiles of the Allard Motor Company, and chose a Reliant Scimitar Coupe as his base upon which to craft a respectful and thoroughly capable tribute. Hence the name: Reliant + Allard = Rellard.

What you’re looking at, in essence, is the underpinnings of a Scimitar clothed in a one-off aluminium body with plastic wings, over a bespoke steel spaceframe. And while the craftsmanship is exquisite, the engineering is the car’s true party piece. The Rellard was built for trials, sprints and hillclimbs, and that’s precisely what it’s always been used for.

The current owner has had the Rellard in his possession for over a decade, and has regularly used it as its original builder intended. An intrepid and adventurous type, he’s campaigned it in events far and wide, and he doesn’t trailer the car to compete either – it always gets driven there and back, as the journey is all part of the adventure.

Maintaining the car himself in his impressively kitted-out garage, the Rellard has been as much a beloved companion as it has a motor-car; naturally he knows the car inside-out to an encyclopaedic degree, and has driven it to its limits on all manner of circuits and hillclimbs – but the key point here is usability. It’s a friendly and willing thing, easy to drive on the road without histrionics; it keeps itself cool, it sails over speedbumps, it always starts first time. A thoroughly decent all-rounder.

So why sell now, after so many years of adventures? Well, the owner also has a genuine Allard J1 in the garage which is increasingly demanding his attention, so the time has come to release the Rellard to a new life of sporting escapades elsewhere.

The correct V5 is present, showing that the car is registered as a convertible Reliant in blue and yellow; the date of first UK registration is listed as August 21st 1968, and the document states four former keepers. A couple of rolling-road printouts are present, showing the power output to be in the region of 160bhp. (Impressive numbers for an Essex V6 – in standard guise in, for example, a Capri, Ford quoted a figure of 136bhp.) There’s paperwork for the Gripper LSD, and most recently a brake master cylinder and reservoir. The car is MOT exempt, although the owner has had it tested almost every year anyway; the current MOT actually expired in January 2021, although he says he’s very happy to have it MOT’d before sale if the buyer desires, and is absolutely confident that it will sail through.

Swinging open the extraordinarily lightweight aluminium doors, you find yourself in a supremely minimalist interior. Function is at the forefront, as this is first-and-foremost a competition machine – although that doesn’t mean form has been sidelined, as it’s all very neatly crafted with everything both fit for purpose and attractively presented. The seats are comfortable as well as supportive, with the driver having a Sabelt harness while the passenger gets a three-point belt. The custom aluminium dash is tidy and tasteful, with logically laid-out dials and all the mod-cons you could wish for. The car has all the normal road car stuff fitted that you mightn’t expect in a hillclimber – windscreen washers, an electronic speedo, and a heater that’s really very effective indeed. Everything has been kept clean and tidy, and undoubtedly the most endearing element is the extensive selection of scrutineering stickers gummed to the passenger side, telling all sorts of stories about where and when the car has competed.

A true one-off, the body has evidently been hand-crafted by an artisan with a perfectionist outlook. Looking somewhat akin to a slightly taller Lotus Seven, the aluminium body panels have been hand-formed, and the attention to detail is superb – look, for example, at the perfect spacing of the louvres in the removable bonnet panel. It’s all beautifully finished, with plastic wings fitted for durability. You’ll spot that there’s a spare wheel mounted on the rear; the mount can actually extend to hold two spares for trials driving.

The owner has had a new custom windscreen fabricated, as he’s tall and this is more practical for long-distance driving. There’s a neat tonneau cover for topping off the interior when parked, and there’s also a custom three-window soft-top which sits upon a bespoke tube frame. The windscreen surround is only held on with a few bolts so is easily removable, and can be replaced with a low-rise Brooklands flyscreen (which reportedly adds a few miles-an-hour to the speed!).

The 15” yellow wheels you see fitted here wear 195/65 Bridgestone road tyres; the car also comes with a set of six white wheels on low-profile semi-slicks, as well as a set of Scimitar steels.  

The Rellard is powered by a Ford 3.0-litre Essex V6, which has been mildly tweaked. It’s been fitted with electronic ignition, as well as gas-flowed heads and some mild cams, and is good for 160bhp – which makes for some pretty hysterical performance given that the car weighs about as much as a church mouse on a skateboard. The gearbox is a 5-speed Getrag from a Jaguar XJ-S, which offers decent ratios for competition as well as a nice tall top-end for motorway cruising. At the back end, there’s a Salisbury 7HA axle with a Gripper limited-slip differential – and for events in which the LSD isn’t permitted, the car also comes with a Salisbury open diff.

The engine runs beautifully, firing on the first turn of the key and idling evenly, then pulling strongly with a gloriously gruff soundtrack. The temperature gauge reads a little high (around 130-degrees) due to having the wrong sender, but the owner assures us that it never, ever overheats, whether in the stresses of motorsport or simply languishing in nose-to-tail London traffic. There’s an electric fan which cuts in when it should, and it’s also operable via a switch.
In terms of suspension, we’re looking at adjustable coilovers units which provide impeccable stability for competition, but also superlative comfort for day-to-day driving. It’s not stiff or crashy; trust us, the Rellard doesn’t need to slow down for speedbumps! And as for the brakes, it’s all Scimitar under there, with discs at the front and drums out back.

A true one-off, this is a superbly engineered machine that’s competed at Shelsley Walsh, Prescott, Wiscombe Park and all sorts of places, and is a well-known curio in the sprint, trials and hill climbing scene. And while the aesthetics are unique and the design eye-catching, you’re not buying this as an amusing ornament: this was a car built specifically for competition, and it’s always been used as such. Of course you could buy it as an entertaining road car and it would fulfil that brief very satisfactorily – but its true home is in motorsport, and that’s where it’s at its most capable and confident. An attractive and well-built special with eminent usability and strong sporting prowess… and all at a fraction of the price of the equivalent Caterham. You won’t find another one, this is the only Rellard in existence!  

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