1971 ‘Special’ Hot Rod – Classified of the Week

Something a bit different for this week’s chosen classified in the form of this, urm, car. We say car because it’s not really anything, we’re sure it started life as something recognisable, but that was a long time ago. Now the car is recognised as a ‘Special’, meaning its the only one of its kind. And we have to say, we’re kind of into it. 

Hot rod culture has been with us for around a century, and it has seen many a car turned from humble grocery-getter to fire-breathing race machine. And to a degree, that’s what this one is. It’s been built for the thrill, and it seems to have been done pretty well, which is nice for a one-off car, as they’re normally held together with spit and glue. This one seems to have been subjected to some actual engineering.

The vendor describes the car, as we said, as a ‘Special’, though it does carry a 1971 number plate. We had a look on the DVLA website, and the car is actually listed as a Reliant, so we can only assume that it was once a Scimitar GTE – the added 3.0 Essex V6 as found in the Scimitar would certainly back this up. Being a Scimitar is of course no bad thing, it means this ‘Special’ is based on a chassis with some proper engineering behind it. It’s four bits of angle iron tacked together.

The car was apparently built to its current specification in 2011 by James Horner of Newcastle and is the result of around 2,000 hours of labour over three years. Certainly, looking at this car, you can see that some serious attention to detail is at play, it doesn’t appear to be cobbled together in any way. That said, we can’t find anything online for James Horner.

The seller says the rebuilt 3.0 Essex V6 is loud, fast and pulls well. He talks of the car being comfortable and well appointed with a decent heater and comfy seats, the car comes with a lot of spares, too, which is always nice. It’s been registered as a historic vehicle with the DVLA, so nothing to worry about there, and there is even talk of the seller having a bespoke matching trailer to go with the car. Cool!

Obviously not one for the shy and retiring types, we have to say that we like this weird, little car. It should go well enough with that engine, and it certainly looks the part. We would encourage anyone looking at it to do so thoroughly, maybe even get it up on a ramp so you can get under it. If it’s as well-built as it looks though, ten grand is very little to pay. And just think, you will literally never, ever see another one on the road. How cool is that?