When you hear the name brand of Mystery Car 78, you may think of an American model by the same name. But this car was never produced in the USA. However, if you are familiar with cars from Great Britain, you probably already know it. Mystery Car 78 was produced by Reliant from 1964 to 1986. While it was also sold in sedan form, our photo pictures the more common shooting brake variant (a two-door wagon).
With a fiber glass body, a 138 hp V6, and rear wheel drive, this was one fun car to drive. It was also “the first car to introduce the idea of separate folding rear seat-backs, allowing the owner to change the carrying capacity, between four-seats plus a reasonable amount of luggage, three seats and more luggage, or two seats and a large carrying capacity, all accessible through the rear top-hinged glass tailgate, supported on gas-struts.” 1 As you can see, this was one of those sporty cars like the Classic SAAB 900 which was fun to drive but could also haul a lot of stuff – definitely a good combination.
So, what is Mystery Car 78?
Mystery Car 78 is none other than the Reliant Scimitar.
1 http://nwarner.worldonline.co.uk/scimtech.htm
2 Wikipedia
3 Jalopnik
4 Scimitar Web
