At the end of the 1970s Reliant looked to build a new small sports car, possibly inspired by the Tony Stevens Cipher project based on a Reliant Kitten chassis. Reliant decided to use a design by Giovanni Michelotti, and this car turned out to be his last design. The SS1 (Small Sports Car 1) used pressed plastic panels on a backbone chassis, but these gave the car numerous panel joints and its looks were criticised because of it. The Reliant Scimitar SS1 was launched at the 1984 Birmingham Motor Show with Ford 1300cc engine, and later with 1400cc and 1600cc engines. From 1986 the Reliant Scimitar SS1 1800ti was sold with the Nissan Silvia's 1800cc Turbo engine. In 1990 Reliant bowed to criticism regarding the looks of the SS1 and asked William Towns to redesign it, and then rejected much of his work. However, the SST did benefit from William Towns, and since the body was no longer made of separate panels it was a better car; 1400cc, 1600cc, and 1800cc models were available. By 1991 Reliant were under new ownership, and launched the Reliant Scimitar Sabre as the final evolution of the SS1 at the 1991 Earls Court Motor Show. The SST had been mildly restyled and was given the Rover 1400cc K-series engine and the 1800ti engine. There was a restyle in 1994 and then Reliant went out of sports car production.