Unlike Invicta and Standard, the incredible story of Reliant Motors is one that stretches to living memory for most people over 30, especially if they spent some time in the UK. Reliant three-wheelers were still a common enough sight there in the ‘90s, and I remember seeing a few Scimitars as well. How did Reliant keep producing their increasingly irrelevant and un-exportable cars for so long? And why did they have to stop?
When the Raleigh Bicycle Co. decided to terminate their motorized three-wheeler line, works manager Tom L. Williams and repair shop foreman E. S. Thomson figured that a new design could be engineered to carry the concept forward. By mid-1935, the two men had founded the Reliant Motor Co. and had a working prototype. The Reliant Regent van kept a motorbike feel, complete with chain drive, single headlamp and driver almost astride the single- or twin-cylinder JAP engine. In 1938, Reliant switched to the venerable Austin 7’s 747cc water-cooled 4-cyl.; Austin soon transferred the engine line over to Reliant.
Van production resumed in 1945, but Reliant were keen to conquer the ever-expanding passenger car market as well. The Regal, unveiled in 1952, still sported the Austin side-valve and had a timber-framed aluminium body, but now the motorcycle genes were receding. Demand for light vans and affordable cars was at an all-time high after the war, so Reliant made great business, thanks in no small part to their products being subject to a lower tax band. Thanks to a legal loophole, vehicles under a certain weight and with less than four wheels were classed as motorcycles, not cars. This explains the multitude of trikes that Britain has foisted upon the world. But not all of them were hits.
Let’s just take three to look at a few contemporaries. The AC Petite, the Bond Minicar, the Trojan 200 and the Invacar. The 1952-57 Petite (top left) was a complete flop. the Minicar (top right) was probably the best of the bunch – Bond was Reliant’s real rival in the market. A license-built Heinkel design, the Trojan (bottom left) was more innovative – but also looks rather dangerous and did not last very long (1961-65). The Invacar was designed by AC, but not made by them. As the name suggests, it was specially designed for handicapped folks. It was made until 1975, but was solely distributed (free of charge) to those eligible by the Ministry of Pensions, though a few did end up in private hands. That last one aside, Reliant still had quite a lot of competition to contend with – not to mention a variety of other four- and two-wheeled vehicles.
Reliant’s ace in the hole was their early adoption of GRP. By 1956, all Reliants were plastic-bodied. This meant weight savings, lower costs and cars that never rusted (well, visibly, anyway). Reliant always emphasized economy in their sales literature, appealing to those who felt every penny counts. And there are a lot of poor folks and skinflints to cater to in the UK…
A thoroughly revised Reliant three-wheeler arrived in 1962, with a trendy reversed backlight and edgy styling. The new packaging was also the occasion to give the old side-valve engine the heave-ho. In its stead, a brand new wet-lined OHV all-alloy bloc was unveiled, with a displacement of 600cc producing 25 hp.
Above: 1968 Reliant Regal Special; below: 1973-82 Reliant Robin
The Regal 3/25’s angular looks faded quickly; in 1973, the Reliant three-wheeler was redesigned as the infamous 750cc Robin. For some reason, the name “Reliant Robin” (or even “Robin Reliant”) stuck to the marque’s three-wheelers from then on in the public’s mind. These were the good times at Reliant. The company claimed it was the “second largest British carmaker” after BL, conveniently putting Ford, Vauxhall and Rootes aside as “foreign-owned.” It’s true that reliant were churning out over 350 cars per day from several factories in the early ‘70s, but that was also due to consolidation.
The Bond 875 was a thorn in Reliant’s side ever since its 1965 debut, so it was time for the Tamworth boys to go on the offensive. In 1969, Reliant bought Bond and pretty much shut it down. The legacy Bond cars were immediately nixed and replaced by the Regal-based Bond Bug (below), which would be the marque’s final model. The name and design of this particular vehicle ensured it would remain in the hearts of eccentric Brits (pleonasm?) for decades after its death from insecticide poisoning. But let’s not get ahead of the story – it gets a little complicated.
The ‘60s were very busy times for Reliant, for it was a time not just of growth and acquisitions, but also diversification. Not only did Reliant take over the three-wheeler competition, they made the great leap into the arena of four-wheeled cars. The first toe in the water was the Sabre. It was wise of Reliant to start off with a small sports car: in a niche market, even small sales looked pretty impressive. And the enthusiast crowd, if they liked what they saw, could perhaps start talking of Reliant in a positive way.
In the late ‘50s, a car manufacturing plant was being built in Haifa for a new outfit called Autocars. Their director Yitzhak Shubinsky struck a deal with Reliant so the British firm could help Autocars build a sports car called Sabra. It had a plastic body, a Ford Consul engine and buckets of charm; the first cars were assembled by Reliant in Tamworth in 1960 and exposed with great fanfare in New York. Thus the Autocar company (later Rom Carmel) was born, but that’s a story for another series.
Reliant started selling the Sabra (renamed as Sabre) under their own brand in 1961; a heavy restyle, a 2.6 litre Ford Zodiac engine and some Triumph suspension bits turned it into the 1962 Sabre Six, which didn’t exactly catch on, but Reliant had had a taste of this completely new market, and they liked it.
As a follow-up, Reliant wanted to attempt a true luxury coupé. The Sabre Six’s engine, now with dual carbs and producing 120 hp (gross), went into a re-engineered, longer and wider chassis. Designer David Ogle had proposed a fiberglass coupé design for the Daimler SP250, but the deal fell through. Reliant bought the design and launched the Scimitar GT in 1965.
The GTE evolved from graceful ’60s restraint into gimmicky late ’70s farce in under a decade.
It was a relative success. Reliant were now competing with the big boys – Austin-Healey, Daimler and Sunbeam. The genius of the Ogle design lay in its timelessness and versatility. Reliant launched the even more successful Scimitar GTE shooting brake in 1968, which just kept ticking along through to 1986, burying the cramped coupé in 1970. In 1980, a GTC convertible was added, but it failed to sell 500 units in six years.
With their (optional) automatic gearboxes and leather seats, the Scimitars were a complete deviation from the other Reliant products. They must have been very profitable, but not many were sold after the model’s ‘70s heyday. Total production (1964-86) was just over 15,000.
The Scimitar name was bestowed to a smaller 1.5 litre roadster called SS1 in 1984. Still using Ford (and Nissan) engines, the SS1 was made to fill the gap left by the demise of MG and Triumph roadsters, but the car’s bizarre looks (apparently Michelotti’s last design) didn’t catch on, even after a thorough restyle in 1990.
Having conquered trikes and started a new four-wheel sports car line, Reliant proved even more ambitious and launched a small four-wheel car. The 1964 Reliant Rebel was essentially a four-wheeled version of the Regal: same 600cc engine, same RWD transmission, same rear axle. The Rebel was a bit rough around the edges, though. Impinging on turf of the BMC Mini, the Hillman Imp and the Fiat 500 with a RWD design was gutsy, perhaps even foolhardy.
The problem was Reliant’s image as, first and foremost, a maker of cheap three-wheelers. This was reinforced by popular sentiment and echoed in the culture (Steptoe & Son, Mr Bean, etc.) even into the present decade (Top Gear). There were enough second-hand Fords and Morris Minors by the ‘60s to enable car ownership for comparatively little money. By this point, folks who bought Reliants actually believed they were saving money by only using three tyres. It would have been difficult to claim similar savings on a four-wheeled Rebel. So Reliant’s main clientele would probably not be interested in those. But everybody else, those who wanted four wheels, would never dream of visiting a Reliant showroom. Or if they did, it was low on the list.
The Rebel’s engine was upped to 700cc, then 750cc in 1972. But sales were extremely slow – around 2600 were made in 10 years, including 850 export models. One of the side benefits was the creation of Anadol in Turkey. Their 1967 debut model, the A1, was designed by Reliant, building on the Rebel experience. The incredible expansion of Reliant’s range in the ‘60s seemed to keep going in the ‘70s. In fact, the firm had plateaued.
The biggest sign was the 1975-82 Kitten, which replaced the Rebel as Reliant’s Mini-fighter. The car looked quite modern on the outside, but underneath, it was more or less the same old set-up: the front suspension was new (the Rebel’s was made from Standard-Triumph bits) and well-designed, but the rear kept the three-wheelers’ antediluvian live axle and leafs.
To keep production costs low, the Kitten also shared many body panels (doors, rear end) and glass with the new Robin saloon and wagon. There was also a Kitten van, with a simplified grille and round headlamps. In spite of these efforts, the Kitten was much too expensive to have any hope of succeeding. Let’s look at the general state of play in the world of late ‘70s city cars.
The Citroën was not sold in the UK at the time, but it’s there as a reminder that Reliant faced additional competitors (the LN, but also the Autobianchi A112, the SEAT 133 or the Innocenti 90) abroad, including in certain markets where Reliants had a small following (e.g. the Netherlands or Greece). Many of the Kitten’s competitors were FWD cars and were available with bigger engines – and disc brakes. Some could even have automatic transmission. The client walking in a Reliant dealership could not be persuaded to get the bigger model: there was only one. Well, two. The 850cc Kitten, or a three-wheeler Robin. Or the super exclusive Scimitar. How many folks went into a Ford dealership looking for a Fiesta and coming out with a Cortina, or the other way around?
There was none of that over at Reliant. The three car ranges were in silos. The Kitten was the first to go. It seems just over 4000 were made, including a few hundred exports. Just for comparison, the Linwood plant made over 200,000 Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeams in fewer model years (1977-81). It was another unmitigated disaster — and I’m talking about the Sunbeam. The Kitten, for its part, was a pure Deadly Sin.
Well, Reliant being who they were, they did manage to squeeze everything out of the Kitten (me-YOW!) before they were through with it. Reliant had another Mediterranean tryst, this time in Greece. In 1979, MAEBA, the firm that assembled Reliant three-wheelers, developed a Kitten-based vehicle inspired by the Mini Moke and the Citroën Méhari. They called it the Fox and built the car for a few years.
Reliant also built their version in the UK, but only 600 had been sold when production stopped in 1990.
Another great way to recoup investments was to license and/or ship over the whole line to an independent manufacturer. Reliant soon found a place where the Kitten’s separate chassis and rudimentary suspension were an asset: India. Hitherto specialized in three-wheelers, Sipani Automobiles of Bangalore imported the Kitten in CKD kits starting in 1983 and marketed it as the Sipani Dolphin. Given that some Indian States mandate the existence of doors for rear passengers, a locally-designed 4-door saloon called Montana soon appeared. Neither the Dolphin nor the Montana sold very well and Sipani turned to other parnters for their future projects.
In 1989, Reliant bought the Metro-Cammel-Weymann Metrocab, a Ford-engined, fiberglass-bodied, separate RWD chassis alternative to the ubiquitous Austin FX4 that had been launched in 1987. Production moved to Tamworth, but Metrocab sales were sluggish and Reliant were already short on cash. The Metrocab operation was sold off to Hooper in 1991, where production continued for 15 years. Perhaps Reliant didn’t think the Metrocab was a winner, but it kept the lights on at Hooper for a good while…
Despite a continuing trickle of four-wheeled products, Reliant really went back to what it had always been: Britain’s three-wheeler specialist. The Robin gave way to the Rialto in 1982 – this is the first Reliant I remember seeing, on my first trip to the UK, sometime in 1990 or 1991. The Rialto kept the all-alloy 848cc engine of their predecessor, though it was more tuned towards economy. But then, Reliants were always cars for the economically challenged.
The Robin came back in 1989 with Ford headlights, but otherwise things hadn’t changed much since the 1973 Robin Mark 1. Reliants were never cool, but now Mr Bean was ruining it for the younger generation as well. There were fewer and fewer markets that Reliant could export to and British sales were inexorably drying up as Robin devotees either passed away or passed their car license. It was remarked even in the ‘90s that the Robin’s continued existence was a sign of British exceptionalism. Alas, the exceptional Reliant were in dire financial health and sputtered along, just barely.
The small 4-cyl. Scimitar convertibles (SS1/SST/Sabre) only found 1500 homes in 12 model years
Speaking of Mr Bean, it so happens that Reliant was bought off by Beans Industries in August 1991. Beans used to make cars back in the ‘20s and had gravitated toward parts supply. It had been bought by Standard back in the ‘50s and found itself caught in the BL saga; Beans were privatized in the mid-‘80s and were looking for a challenge. And they got one. Tamworth was a tattered and cramped mess of a plant by the ‘90s. Beans sank a fortune in trying to make the SST (above), an SS1 with a pretty decent nose job by William Towns, into a proper sports car. It was rechristened Reliant Sabre in 1993, but nobody took any notice. Rialto production was cut and all focus turned back on the Robin. Beans Industries went into administration in 1995, yet somehow Reliant production was only paused, not stopped.
The video above is a fascinating look at the situation of Reliant in 1996, after the company’s third bankruptcy. Perhaps this is a British version of what it was like over at Talbot, Salmson or Delahaye, circa 1950: partial disorganization, ageing equipment, problems with suppliers, small team of long-time employees (experienced, but also quite set in their ways) – a small victory today means you get to continue the fight to the death tomorrow. When the pre-war luxury French marques agonized throughout the ‘50s, few people took much notice, let alone bothered to document it. Luckily, Reliant collapsed during the video age, and in England, where automotive eccentricity is a celebrated national virtue.
A final restyle in 1999 was all for naught. Reliant finally closed in 2001 and with it died a venerable British tradition of small and silly RWD cars built very seriously (but by hand), following a pattern basically set in the early ‘50s. The failure of the small four-wheelers meant that Reliant was unable to weather the storm with only three wheels.
There was little doubt, even when it was being made, that the Reliant Kitten was a lost cause. It was impossible for Reliant, still making chassis the old-fashioned way and incapable of changing their production methods, to even dream of competing with British Leyland, Fiat and all the rest. The Rebel should have made that fact clear enough, but it seems Reliant were feeling cocky enough to try.
Reliant’s investment in the Kitten, which did not pay off, might have been useful in other areas – they could have attempted a 1.5 litre roadster in the ‘70s, for instance, and tried to hang on with sports cars, the only logical niche for small-time automakers. Instead, Reliant blew their cash (and in the early ‘70s, they had plenty) on a losing horse that became a three-legged one-trick pony.
That’s it for this edition of British Deadly Sins, folks. What country should we visit next?
Related posts:
COAL: 1969 Reliant Scimitar GTE, by David Saunders
Curbside Classic: 1978 Reliant Scimitar GTE – Princess Anne Had One, You Know. And Another, And Another…, by Roger Carr
Curbside Outtake: 1976 Reliant Kitten Estate – Four Wheels On My Robin, by Roger Carr
Cohort Sighting: Reliant Rialto In Scenic Setting, by PN
* * *
European Deadly Sins series
French DS 1 (Hotchkiss, Panhard, Citroën) — French DS 2 (Bugatti, Facel-Vega, Monica)
French DS 3 (Berliet, Salmson, Delahaye)
British DS 1 (Jowett, Armstrong Siddeley, Daimler) — British DS 2 (Alvis, Lagonda, Gordon-Keeble)
German DS 1 (BMW, Borgward, Glas) — German DS 2 (Neckar, DKW, NSU)
Italian DS 1 (Autobianchi, Iso, Lancia) — Other DS1 (Minerva-Impéria, Monteverdi, DAF)
That small car comparison looks interesting. Seems like the Japanese were giving a lot of bang-for-the-buck (pound?)
BTW, where did the data (especially pricing) come from?
Aha, so you want to know what’s in the sausage, do you?
First stop: Wikipedia. Sometimes, there is period pricing info in there, and 80% of the technical info is in there, even if you sometimes have to switch languages.
Period ads are all over the web too, those can have prices. Old catalog scan sites can also be a good source.
Dumb luck: I got like 7 out of 12 prices on that Reliant table in one fell swoop, from a Fiat 127 comparison document made by Fiat UK in 78. Found it online by image search.
I also have a precious collection of French car mags that list all the prices of all the domestically-made cars from 1934 to 1983. Those are very handy, but only for the French stuff.
And sometimes, it’s just bloody impossible, so I give up or I just omit pricing. It’s definitely the hardest data to extract from the web, but it provides much better context.
I was surprised by the pricing too – and the Datsun does look good value, especially as they tended to feature more standard equipment than the opposition.
I’m amazed by the prices of the Mini and Fiesta, no wonder Mini sales were slow by then. I really suspect few people actually paid list price for a Fiesta, but Ford tended to rely on big fleet sales and its huge dealer network in achieving big UK sales figures.
Hindsight of course, but the Scimitar was the way of the future. What they needed was a stroke of luck like the TVR Griffith and Chimaera to power them out of the 1987/1991 downturn, but unfortunately the SS1/SST weren’t it. And for any low-production business, small cars were a dead end – three wheels or four.
Saw a Kitten just last week in a very 1970s Orange (left-over Bond Bug colouring?), P reg so 1975-76. Interesting that the four wheeled Regal was a Rebel and the four wheeled Robin a Kitten – a neat juxtaposition of opposites!
Minor point on the Chrysler Sunbeam – the rear suspension is the same as the Avenger: live axle on trailing arms with coil springs.
Thank you for catching that! Fixed it.
I seem to recall that the Scimitar GTE was the vehicle of choice for Princess Anne.
I have managed to see just 1 SS1 in all my travels between 1972-1987, and of all places it was while on Bermuda. Since Bermuda still had strict laws governing vehicle width, with any car LARGER than the 3 generation Escort being too big, you can imagine just how tiny the Reliant was.
Actually, the “facelifted” version looks pretty good, certainly better than the SS1 with all its odd creases and cut lines. However, I would think the price being asked was a bit out of proportion to the cars size. Weren’t they charging TR6 type prices for a Spitfire sized car? (And, yes, I realize both Triumphs were out of production when the SS1 appeared.)
As I understand it, the SS1 was created precisely because Triumph and MG roadsters went out of production. Reliant could charge TR6 prices without it being too much of an issue: the SS1 was the only game in town.
And then the Miata happened.
Poor Mr. Bean, he couldn’t escape the blue three wheeler 🙂
My only exposure at all to these was the Reliant Space Shuttle – when it launched, that was Peak Cool(tm) for the Reliants, it looked awesome throughout, even the inevitable explosive aftermath
Seems part of the eventual failure is that Reliant caught an earlier version of what we’d now call Harley-Davidson Disease: Your product is so identified with a certain customer base that no other potential customers will be caught dead looking at your product. And when that loyal customer base goes away . . . .
While I’ve always gotten a chuckle about how Top Gear treated the Morris Marina (having had an Austin-badged version in the family (if you’ve never owned one, Top Gear is too kind), but Jeremy needs to be forced (at gunpoint if necessary) to drive nothing but Reliant Robins for the rest of his life. I hated that episode, you don’t drive a three wheeler that way.
It’s been fully acknowledged that the Reliant he drove was rigged to keep tipping over. Like everything else at TG: pure rigged entertainment, for those that find that sort of thing entertaining. Not me.
Somewhere on youtube is a vid of Reliant Robin drifting, I saw that before the Clarkson fall over clip on TV.
I remember seeing a black 70s Robin with Wolfrace wheels in magazine in the 90s. It had unfeasibly long dual exhausts (I hate to say but they resembled wheelbarrow handles) and it supposedly had a Rover V8 in it.
That would be interesting to drive.
Fascinating history of a company that could have done better. The GTE is still an under-appreciated and undervalued car that I’d really rather like if I could fit in one (too tall). I heard somewhere that Michelotti died during the design of the SS1 and that it was completed by someone else. No idea if there’s any truth to this.
Another excellent walking tour of an English car slo-mo disaster.
I actually found a Robin (a virtual twin to the blue Mr. Bean car above) on the drive back from our visit to the Lane Museum in 2016.
It is a shame the roadster was ruined by the bad styling. That edgy school of Italian styling that came so into vogue in the early 70s sort of morphed into pure ugliness.
The roadster would have been an interesting design exercise, and would have made a great show car. It was a visual standout – certainly distinctive, but it really wasn’t pretty. Sort of like a reskinned, updated TR7. But then the William Towns version was smooth almost to the point of anonymity – out of the frying pan into the fire?
The Scimitar/GTE was a stroke of luck/brilliance. It goes to show how much randomness there is/was in the industry. Among the fringe players, it was basically a roll of the dice.
Unexportable, not quite, there were plans for Anadol production in New Zealand under a different name I cant remember offhand, it came to nothing but Reliant was behind it, Theres a yellow Reliant three wheel van at Hinds Classics so one made it out of the UK and Scimitars are here in small numbers but early Zephyr six models are about as are the later Zephyr 3.0 V6 GTE models, I kinda like them but I dont want one.
Here’s a section of picture (taken from a slide) that was taken by my father at the model boat lake in Victoria Park, Hackney with a Rebel estate in the background. We were on our way back from seeing the London Harness Horse Parade on the Easter Monday 1970. Reliant 4-wheelers were rare even then.
Looks like an LP cover.
“Robin Reliant and the Rebels”…
I like that idea!
There’s a fellow named Ian on YouTube who is “restoring” a Fox van. He’s barely competent and it’s more entertainment than educational, but he’s a hoot to watch.
The channel name is “HubNut”. Look him up if you have time to kill and want to be entertained.
To buy a Reliant,other than Scimitar, was to mark yourself as tight, careful, parsimonious or whatever word you prefer. For the price a credible used Escort or Avenger, you could have a plastic box with three wheels and funny smell inside, from all the adhesive.
I suspect Beans bought Reliant to keep a customer afloat, but lost out, probably predictably.
You still the occasional Robin or Rialto around, mostly in northern England and the cars are often clearly being run on a “value for money” plan. Just say no, when asked.
Roger, you mention them mostly being seen in northern England now. Was their appeal regional? Were people proud they had a local, independent car manufacturer?
Pete, Tamworth is 14 miles from Birmingham, so essentially in the heartlands of the UK motor industry.
If you lived in the north you were more likely to wear a flat cap. And Reliant drivers wore flat caps.
I wear a flat cap, but i don’t see myself as a Reliant driver. 🙂
I tick both boxes.
the real reason would be affordability in the less affluent (and maybe in some ways socially conservative) areas that make up northern England.
In Israel we got all of the poverty models (but not the Scimitar. The importer did not bother with the hassle of type approving a car which yearly sales could have been counted on the fingers of one hand); the Kitten did initially sell moderately well on account of its advertised 50 MPG but the cars did not last long under Israeli conditions and only few are preserved. When I first visited Austria in the 90s Robins were still curbside fodder – Austria had a similar rule to the UK so that they were taxed as motorcycles.
I actually like the Kitten – I find the styling attractive, it was practical and unassuming. But it did not make commercial sense.
Read that Autocars Co’s Yitzhak Shubinski was killed whilst driving a Reliant Kitten, have to wonder whether the Reliant models would have fared any better had the Kitten received the 4-door saloon and 5-door estate versions.
http://www.sporting-reliants.com/images/ShakespeareRaceway/KittenDraw2.jpg
http://www.sporting-reliants.com/images/ShakespeareRaceway/KittenDraw3.jpg
http://www.sporting-reliants.com/images/ShakespeareRaceway/KittenDraw1.jpg
Speaking of Israel, were the cars taxed based on engine displacement or dimensions / weight up until recently. Am asking since the following link below on the Mini-based Autocars Marcos W90/W95 prototypes mentions that changes in the Israeli tax system in February 1970, suddenly made even 998cc-engined Minis very expensive before the W90/W95 project was canned.
A pity Israel never merited the fiberglass bodied Chilean and Venezuelan Minis like the Mini Cord, the former allegedly had a 721cc / 750cc tax special version of the A-Series engine. Apparently a fiberglass-bodied Austin 1100/1300 was also developed.
Autocars Marcos W90/W95 – https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NhcreWHBAO0C&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=autocrs+marcos+w90&source=bl&ots=8oJ-BklgNb&sig=ACfU3U33mlBWIC_uompMCV1hUjGJ0l0XWw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3o6ir-ffgAhXSTBUIHUK6DZ8Q6AEwBXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=autocrs%20marcos%20w90&f=false
Fiberglass Austin 1100/1300 – https://www.minimarcos.org.uk/altpics/1300/index.html
There’s a kitten pick up parks near me occasionally, I’ll try pick up some photos.
Found it, and on the cohort
Did think I’d attached a photo
It is unfortunate the Microcar segment in the UK was not more practical (with a number of tiers including analogue of the French VSP / Voiture Sans Permis and German Class IV at the lower tiers), less classist and more along similar lines to Japanese Kei Car class (at the top tier), of being below a certain weight, dimensions (aka sub-Mini such as the Vespa 400 and Fiat 500 / 126) and engine displacement (e.g. 750cc and under) instead of featuring 3-wheelers and at one point even minus a reverse-gear.
Interesting facts about Reliant (based partly on the Elvis Payne and Daniel Lockton books on the Reliant marque):
– The all-alloy Reliant OHV was actually a downsized reverse-engined 803cc Standard-Triumph SC engine first used in the Standard 8, an attempt was also made to develop an OHC version with help from BRM and even putting out 60 hp though it apparently needed more work by the time the agreement with BRM ended (with BRM themselves having a mixed record with developing engines – see the Avenger Twin-Cam by BRM).
– Prior to the Ogle-styled Reliant Scimitar GT, Reliant considered buying a ready-made car the vehicle in question being the Peerless / Warwick GT / Gordon-Keeble though they rejected the proposal because they were not overtly intending to rival the likes of Aston-Martin as Reliant would have had to sell the car at a higher price than was really desirable.
– There was a Reliant Rebel prototype known as the Reliant Rebel 1600 GT, which was powered by an 80 hp 1.6 Ford Crossflow engine from the mk2 Ford Cortina 1600E and had it been given the green light it would have entered production in 1968. When it was canned by the company after rumours surfaced that the Rebel GT was so much faster than the 6-cylinder Scimitar GT models (0-60: 12.3-10.0 / 111-121 mph) thanks to a power-to-weight ratio of 204 bhp per ton.
– When Reliant acquired Bond Cars, aside from buying its main rival it was also motivated due to Bond having a pre-existing deal with Triumph / Leyland that involved using the latter’s componentry and access to the latter’s dealers (see mk3 Bond Equipe prototype that was derived from the Triumph 2000), etc. Which was ultimately never realized due to the formation of British Leyland.
– They looked at designing a mid-engined sports car in 1969 known as the Reliant FW7 prototype, which preceded the Fiat X1/9 by two years though was canned when it was soon realized the all-alloy Reliant OHV was not powerful enough for the vehicle (OTOH a 1.6 Crossflow engined car would have made it a viable version of the 1.6 Cosworth BDA engined De Tomaso 1600 Spider).
– Saab at one point approached Reliant in the early-1970s (pre-fuel crisis) to design, engineer and assemble the stillborn SAAB Sonett IV
– There were unrealised plans in 1977 for Reliant to be acquired by a consortium of businessmen led by investor Joseph Beherman (as well as including the likes of John Barber, Donald Healey and even John DeLorean) and organised by Ray Wiggin.
Which essentially entailed Reliant undergoing expansion via a number of largely unrealised proposals (see FW11, etc), one of which was a deal being explored with British Leyland allowing Reliant to switch from Ford engines to the Rover V8 and Triumph Slant-4 and transmissions for the larger sportscar projects. It is also possible that the DeLorean attempt to acquire the Triumph TR7 is somehow connected.
1) – https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/a-wheel-over-the-edge-1439961.html
2)- http://www.sporting-reliants.com/Prototypes.htm
– The Michelotti styling of the Reliant Scimitar SS1 was unfinished to the former’s illness and death, additionally aspects of the styling were apparently derived from his proposals for the unbuilt Triumph Broadside project.
– A number of attempts were made by Reliant and others to produce a 4-wheeled version of the Bond Bug up to the 1990s, with Reliant Robin diesels being investigated with either Lombardini or Kubota sourced diesels.
Unrelated to the above, it would have been interesting seeing Reliant somehow return to its motorcycle roots by basically producing Reliant analogues of the Triumph Tigress / Triumph Tina without Triumph motorcycles having to go downmarket via the right historical points of divergence.
Wow, you made me look up the FW7. Not entirely pretty, but an interesting effort. BTW, you really should consider writing something for CC.
Wow, thanks for all that additional info. Lots to be said about Reliant, for sure…
I second Dr Andreina’s call for you to consider writing for CC, Mr (Reliant :-)) Rebel.
Here’s a pic of the late ’70s Reliant FW11 prototype you mentioned, while I’m here.
The name is basically the logical (e.g. Lotus Twin-Cam) evolution of a 1.6 Crossflow powered Reliant Rebel (aside from the 1.6 BDA), had things been different Reliant could have arguably been credited with creating the first Hot Hatch preceding the likes of the Simca 1100 TI, Renault 5 Alpine and Volkswagen Golf GTi (think a more compact featherweight precursor to the Lotus Sunbeam and Vauxhall Chevette HS/HSR in Lotus Rebel form).
Perhaps the potential success of the Rebel 1600 GT, would have encouraged Reliant to bring a small sportscar into production for the 1970s whether via the mid-engine FW7 prototype or some Lotus Elan replica type sportscar of sorts akin to an earlier analogue of the Evante (in place of the Scimitar SS1 or at least featuring completed styling by Michelotti).
Also forgot to mention the Nick Wotherspoon books on Lawrie Bond / Bond Cars, which does goes into when Reliant acquired them as well as Lawrie Bond’s involvement in Berkeley Cars and Opperman ( – kind of surprised Bond was not in a position to acquire Berkeley or at least the rights to the Berkeley Bandit).
Along with the Reliant Lucas Hybrid prototype. – http://www.sporting-reliants.com/LucasHybrid.htm
Appreciate the kind offer though do not mind contributing in the comments, looking forward to the next episode of Deadly Sin.
The FW11 looks a lot like an Austin Maestro.
crossed with a Citroen BX.
FSO Polonez
and a side dish of Triumph SD2
The FW11 was planned to form the basis for a range of vehicles including a Scimitar GTE replacement, with engines ranging from 1300-2800cc engines until it was canned.
Otherwise unsure whether this project also included an up-market medium-sized car built in collaboration with BL (apparently a Dolomite Sprint-type sports car), which would further link the connection between the Reliant FW11 and Triumph SD2 projects.
There was also another Scimitar GTE replacing proposal styled by Bertone called Project SE82, which Bertone allegedly sold the styling theme to Honda who used it as the basis for the Honda Accord Aerodeck.
A couple of questions:
1) How did the three-wheelers handle? Did the drive similarly to a comparable size four wheel car?
2) Was it difficult to change the front tire? Was one side open with suspension attachment on the other side?
1/ no, not really. You are aware when cornering that you are driving a car with a single front wheel by the way it leans. It may lift a rear wheel if driven enthusiastically but in reality they are a lot harder to actually tip over than you’d think. Yes it’s possible but you’d have to make an effort to do so.
2/ yes
“I’m so sorry, he’s from Barcelona.” The discreet charm? I’d rather slice my eyeball than drive a Robin, but upon thinking about it, it really is the sort of car Manuel might have driven. A jumped up pile of pus, quite unlike the Rover 3500S whose occupants with a touch of class Basil so named.
As for a reliant kitten, well, there are, aren’t they? In this case, on miserly buyers.
Great piece on a firm whose mainstay (putting aside the Don’t-You-Know-A-Horsey-Royal-Bought-Them Scimitar) was truly idiotic.
Harsh, man!
I’d definitely drive a Robin, in fact I would have bought one years ago but wasn’t brave enough. I mean to face the shame, not drive a 3 wheeler. I’m still tempted to import a Rialto to the US. They were dirt cheap but prices have been rising – one will show up at Sotheby’s any day now.
They were cheap to run, had rust free bodies in an era of rampant rusting and they look a ton of fun.
They weren’t like Yugos that people bought, tempted by a stupidly low price then swore off them forever – many Reliant buyers were lifers, including the only one of my acquaintance.
Just think, if they’d survived a few more years they could have been at the forefront of an EV revolution. They would have been the perfect “ironic” purchase for hipsters, who already rock the flat cap look anyway.
Tonito – IT’S GOT A WHEEL MISSING! Even the blinkiest nob at registration said “Well that’s not a car”. It’s not! It looks like a bald version of my cousin’s 3-legged cat. It looks like a bathchair. It looks like it has already had the accident it will inevitably have, and is limping home. It looks, to be as polite as can be mustered, as if they did not finish it. I mean, good grief man, surely they could at minimum have tried to put the single wheel at the rear. Morgan worked that out for ’em in 1909, surely someone from Tamworth had once been 60 miles to Malvern. I could go on, even if they didn’t.
I know in truth they were actually a product filling a gap in the market that was created by economic, reg and licensing peculiarities, and I get that they’re eccentric, but personally, I have never been able to see the charm in them.
(My first para wasn’t intended to be too harsh but was a clottish attempt to link T-87’s title references to Spaniard Louis Brunel’s films and episode 1 of Fawlty Towers).
Gee Justy, now you have made me want one just to experience it for myself. It seems that I am running out of cars that I completely despise. 🙂
The 1962 restyle to mimic the look of a Ford Anglia was interesting. I would love to read transcripts of the conversations between stylists (?) and management. Thanks for the detailed history, especially the final “long tail” decline. The 3 wheelers seemed like a good fit for postwar Britain, and then became a part of the culture, but the 4 wheelers in Greece, as well as the Anadol connection, were new to me.
I’ve been a passenger in on of the later versions. The owner kindly gave me a lift, and I don’t recall it feeling “odd”. I’ve been way more scared on two and four wheels,as driver/rider and passenger.
P.S. As a wee lad I remember a comic book rabbit who drove a Bond. A quick search yielded no results, but he’s out there somewhere….
Great overview of the rise and fall of what was simultaneously a legend and a joke.
Although slightly off topic, the Invacar was actually designed and made by Greeves Motorcycles, AC made their own later design for the same contract
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invalid_carriage#United_Kingdom_Ministry_of_Health_contracts_(1948-1978)
Also don’t forget the legendary Only Fools and Horses van.
I find it hard to see the point of the Kitten. Once you’ve graduated to 4 wheels and lost the tax advantages of 3 wheels, why not get something that actually has the right to call itself a car?
Around the time the Kitten was about to be introduced, Car magazine had an article on the Kitten with a sidebar about a man who’d been a happy Reliant owner for years and had a Robin at the time. He said, “The Robin doesn’t compare to the Kitten—what a car that will be!”
Struck me as a textbook example of having low standards.