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…anyone owned one ? Driven one ? What are they like to drive ?
At the grand old age of 48 years old I finally see the beauty and appreciation.
I’m not in the market for one I like my 300bhp toy to much, though family car could be fun 😂
Any funny stories about them and please post.
No pictures of Del trotters allowed !
I'll be first to say.... don't you mean a Reliant Robin?
Never driven a robin reliant, but I have driven a Reliant Robin, for a grand total of about five miles in the early 90’s
Scary.
Quite nice engine though
I’ll be first to say…. don’t you mean a Reliant Robin?
Does my bloody head in when people say robin reliant!
You wouldn't say Focus Ford would you....
Nothing else to add as I've never driven one, but me and a few mates did turn one onto it roof when we were kids! Sorry, if it was yours.
Legal to drive on a motorcycle license. My uncle drove Reliant Robins & Kittens all his adult life, never took his car test. Reliant also made the Scimitar and the Bond Equipe.
Slightly related. I once hitched a lift on the M1 in a Bond Bug. Driver rolled it from the outside lane to the hard shoulder. Nine stitches in the head for me. I would only buy one to marvel at.
I'm vaguely tempted as a sort of bike transfer machine...reckon it would be a hoot. Had a mate who used to drive them and put a bigger engine in them...didn't always go to plan as a couple of his attempts had the engine in the back and it meant the cabin got rather hot.
One of the officers in the Air Cadets had one...we'd always enjoy moving it and putting it in a really awkward place - from memory it was light enough for 4 teenagers to lift and move...
Now this is pretty cool. I Robin I could see myself on 🙂
Bloke I worked with at warehouse summer job had one, and let me one quiet night shift, drive it around the site. I think I spent the entire time thinking "How is this either safe or legal on actual roads?"
Not for me!
Remember my uncle having to chain his 3 wheeler Robin down when the high winds were about
Reliant also made the Scimitar
Princess Anne drove one, you know.
Sick.
Even got shopping trolley castors on it to stop it tipping.
Reliant also made the Scimitar
My dad used to have one. 3 litre V6 engine, I grew up wondering why other people's cars didn't sound as nice as ours... but then I also grew up thinking it was normal for your dad to spend at least two weekends a month working on the car, and for there always to be something that needed fixing on it!
Pfft, if I was in the market for a three-wheeler it would have to be one of these bad boys (made by the same company)...
I prefer to blot my parents ownership of one when I was kid from my memory, but now you've just gone and brought those nightmares back to life 😡
I think their only redeeming feature is how little is left of them when they catch fire.
My uncle drove Reliant Robins & Kittens all his adult life, never took his car test
Kitten was a 4-wheeler though wasn't it? A few mates drove Robins when we were teenagers, the main attraction was that you could drive them on a motorcycle licence. Nobody ever wanted anything to do with them once they'd passed a car test, I reckon that speaks a bit to their inherent qualities. I had an Airfix model of a Bond Bug when I was a lad, but that's as close as I've ever come to having a 3-wheeler.
As a kid four of us went in one over the tops (Holme Moss, Chinley) to Buxton to go climbing. It took a while.
I can't help thinking how much more pleasant the world would be if everyone drove around in one.
family car could be fun
Until you have an accident.
Some old cars are fun but there's no way I'd drive one regularly.
On a somewhat related note, morgan have unveiled their new one recently...
My Mom had a Reliant Regal - the forerunner to the Robin.
It worked but was pretty basic. I recall pulling up at traffic lights and looking, longingly, at the motorbike next to us (GPZ900RR) and realising his engine was bigger than ours :o)
The Regal was 650cc of awesomeness but it got us around and we never even came close to rolling it over.
I'm not really a Clarkson fan, but I did think that this segment was one of his better efforts
My uncle had one. Really difficult in any kind of snow, also a bit of a problem on farm tracks or those little-used lanes with grass in the middle.
Back around 2015/16 Morgan had a really nice electric prototype of the 3 wheeler called the EV3, had a proper steam punk look about it, then it vanished 🙁
We stuck the body work back together on one with gaffer tape after it had been blown over up in Shetland.
They've just launched a new 3 wheeler and I'd imagine an EV version is definitely in the works.
Entered thread to mention the Morgan but someone’s beaten me to it. New one looks very appealing
matt303uk
Full MemberBack around 2015/16 Morgan had a really nice electric prototype of the 3 wheeler called the EV3, had a proper steam punk look about it, then it vanished 🙁
They were talking about different powertrain options for the Super3 so it may well still be on the drawing board.
The Morgan EV3 was allegedly scuppered by the drivetrain/battery manufacturer that they had signed up with not being able to supply them at the last minute.
I have been seeing the new 3-wheeler prototypes driving past my house for quite a few months. They don’t sound as interesting as the V-twins.
The reason the EV3 sticks in my mind is we went to an EV event in Great Malvern in 2016 and Morgan said they'd have it to look at and even be taking people out in it, then they didn't turn up 🙁
Was still a nice day out 🙂
Does my bloody head in when people say robin reliant!
You wouldn’t say Focus Ford would you…
Yeah agreed, but in the 70s/80s everyone called them Robin Reliants!
Entered thread to mention the Morgan but someone’s beaten me to it. New one looks very appealing
I watched Henry Catchpole's Youtube thing about it last night. You can spec rugged external pannier bags with a bottle holder. The Morgan person in the film was laughing that it's the first external cup holder made in over a century (but costs over £700 iirc).
I've driven a plastic pig.
It used to belong to a mate. She drove it on a bike license as she couldn't be arsed at the time to take her test.
They may not look very fast but even at 30 I was terrified.😂
Also used to live near a guy that had a Bond Bug with a Fireblade engine in it.
He actually did a pretty good job of it (custom cars were his thing) and it sounded absolutely brilliant.
Well done Davesport,that's the first film that I thought of when I saw this thread title.
A few people had Robins at the place where I first worked,they were spectacularly shit and dangerous in equal measures.One lad even had a weird three wheeler powered by a Villiers 150cc two stroke,we deliberately used to make him stall it so he had to open the bonnet to kick start it 😜
I once saw three Robins in one morning,all crashed and rolled over at the same spot in a field.They had been blown across a corner that had black ice on it.🤣
They missed a trick not putting one in Transformers 7.
Ref 'Clarkson' up there a similarly memorable segment was the Peel P50 one (notably available in Forza Horizon alongside the Reliant Supervan)
They may not look very fast but even at 30 I was terrified.😂
Also used to live near a guy that had a Bond Bug with a Fireblade engine in it
There was a brief report in a car mag years ago about a Robin that had been stopped on a motorway doing well over the speed limit. Apparently the police couldn't ascertain what engine was in it because the engine cover was melted shut.
I was following one once when I was on a motorbike. There was a very strong and gusty side wind blowing and the front of the Robin was lifted by a gust of wind and dumped about 2 feet towards the white line. Cue lots of wobbling from myself and the
Reliant and a rather brown-trouser moment.
I had a Mk1 Scimitar in the early 80s. It was heavy, slow and did about 17mpg. There was always something that needed fixing. The steering trunnions used to get seized up and it leaked in the rain. I once had to decline somebody a lift because the rear seats were in about 3" of water. Most of the running gear was either Ford or Triumph. When I cleverly found that the front brakes were from a Triumph TR7 and saved quite a bit buying TR7 pads I experienced the scariest brake fade ever on the lanes from Bingley to Ilkley.
I think this is the Bug I was talking about but not 100%.
It defo had a chequered flag rear end on in though so chances are pretty high.
https://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/threads/old-age-aargh-bond-bug-fireblade-engined-spridget-nice.126522/
I had a Mk1 Scimitar in the early 80s
There were always stories about them going on fire because of sketchy wiring/electrics.
Bet all that fibreglass burned well.😉🙃
My father in law had one in Norfolk, when i first met my wife, one of the scariest rides i have been in crossing the raised dykes of the Fens in a 45mph cross wind... had bailer twine for door handles!
When it conked out, their dog loved it so much, they kept it as a dog kennel.
A mate of mine had a Reliant Robbin. He got it after a climbing accident meant he couldn’t ride his bike anymore (no car licence). It used to go like absolute stink down narrow country lanes. Truly terrifying as a passenger.
Allegedly, Top Gear had to work quite hard to get their car to roll - adding weight to the roof, messing with the diff, etc.
A chap down the road from me has a Reliant Rebel which is actually pretty cool. This is not his, his is in need of quite a lot of love. It was hand sprayed by the previous owner with glass in & wheels on with very little in the way of masking up.
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… had bailer twine for door handles!
It often feels that every other car I travelled in, during the 80s and 90s, had things like bailer twine holding the doors shut. My eldest daughter recently told me how difficult it is to start modern cars - do you put your foot on the brake or clutch before pressing the button and how does she connect her phone, etc. I tried to describe a 'choke' to her, and how difficult it might be to start a strange car using one, when not all the cylinders fired from cold, etc.
What I haven't bored her with are the various faults that you'd find on used cars - the fact it would cut out around certain radius r/h bends; or how to get in when none of the doors worked; or how you shouldn't press the 'diff' button because that actually locked all the wheels into a forward position; or how the turbo takes around two minutes to kick in and steers the car into the 3rd lane of the motorway unless you fight the steering wheel; or.... ad infinitum. 😀
I tried to describe a ‘choke’ to her, and how difficult it might be to start a strange car using one, when not all the cylinders fired from cold, etc.
Ahh, memories...
I almost bought a Quasar - a 2-wheeler with a Reliant engine. I'd discussed specification, cost and delivery with Malcolm Newall but I got transferred in my job and everything was up in the air as a result so I never completed the purchase.
Shame Scotroutes - always fancied one of them. How about an ecomobile now you are rich and retired?
I’d forgotten about the Quasar, very cool.
Kitten was a 4-wheeler though wasn’t it?
Yes it was indeed, but still legal to drive on a motorcycle license apparently.
When we were about 20 year old bikers we used to drink in the bikers pub in town (the News Room in Warrington). One of the big scary Hells Angels who used to drink there rode some great big 'Back Street Heroes' style chopper all the time, but also had a plackie pig (as you could drive it on a bike license). It was rattle-can sprayed matt black (obviously)
He was the size of a house. I don't know how the hell he got in it, but he used to fill it like Hightower in Police Academy
We're into page 2 and no one have mentioned the king of three wheelers, the AC Invacar Model 70, yes the same AC as in AC Cobra.
Yes I do watch HubNut's YouTube channel
It often feels that every other car I travelled in, during the 80s and 90s, had things like bailer twine holding the doors shut. My eldest daughter recently told me how difficult it is to start modern cars – do you put your foot on the brake or clutch before pressing the button
Does the poor girl only have the one foot?
how the turbo takes around two minutes to kick in and steers the car into the 3rd lane of the motorway unless you fight the steering wheel
Renault 5 GT Turbo, amirite?
One lad even had a weird three wheeler powered by a Villiers 150cc two stroke,we deliberately used to make him stall it so he had to open the bonnet to kick start it 😜
That would be a Bond Minicar. I knew someone that had one. e-start but also had a kickstart under the bonnet. Chain drive to the front wheel :o) Utterly brilliant !
Does the poor girl only have the one foot?
It's more that her friends have all been puzzled about why some cars need the clutch pressing, and some the brake. It's all so confusing! (It even says on our dash 'Press the brake while pressing the start button' or similar.)
Renault 5 GT Turbo, amirite?
No, Metro 6R4.
I wish. This was some second hand crappy Escort Turbo Diesel that had possibly previously been two cars, judging by the problems. My wife never found those handling characteristics because she never got the turbo to kick in, because it took so long. Sluggish, sluggish, sluggish, aaaaahhhahahh terror, the Escort cannae take it Captain...
There were always stories about them going on fire because of sketchy wiring/electrics.
Bet all that fibreglass burned well.😉🙃
My dad's caught fire on a motorway when I was less than a year old. He was a member of the Scimitar Club (RSSOC?) and had heard all the horror stories - he always carried a fire extinguisher, my mum ran up the bank carrying me to safety and by the time the fire brigade arrived he'd managed to put out the flames under the bonnet. He totally re-wired the car himself after that and it had no more electrical problems, but still used to overheat in slow traffic on hot days.
I remember a lot of trips to the local car spares place and ordering parts from Graham Walker... the car eventually died when one of the front suspension arms collapsed from rust and dumped the whole front corner of the car on the ground. Sad day.
Blinkin heck,thanks Davesport, just googled it and I can't remember it being that cool 👍.
It was so light though,we also used to spin him around the wrong way 🤣🤣
My dad used to tell me about the one his friend's dad had and used for taking bins of mackerel from St Ives to Newlyn.
When his mate would borrow it the passengers would take turns to bounce in their seats until it tipped or bounced off a hedge.
My grandma's live in lover had a selection of robins, he didn’t have a car licence, only the bike.
I remember being in several of them, they were ok, quite basic by modern standards, but not terrible by 1970s standards.
They had window wipers and a heater, that made them better than a bike for 6 months of the year.
I remember my dad telling me he was doing 80 up the M6 and a robin crawled past him, that must have been flat out.
Wouldn’t want to drive one now, but my memories of them are basically happy ones.
Edited to add:
Apart from the lunatic from my mums church, who had a reliant robin, with no doors on it. Also, it had to be held in gear when using second.
And no friggin seat belts in the rear.
One of the few times in my life when i felt genuinely terrified.
There's a Reliant often parked in the work car park. I think it's a Kitten...its deffo got 4 wheels.
Does my bloody head in when people say robin reliant!
You wouldn’t say Focus Ford would you…
Yeah agreed, but in the 70s/80s everyone called them Robin Reliants
Trying to think of other examples where we actually say it like this.
E-Type Jag
3 Series BMW (although BMW 325🤷♂️) And 5, 7
Series III Landy (although Land-Rover 88)
I'm out of ideas.
See, what you really want is this:
I had a Kitten which was great fun to drive. The turning circle was so small I didn’t need to do hand brake turns.
Then I dropped in a 3.5 litre V8 and had some real fun.
Out of all the cars I have owned it’s the one I would love to have back.
I was an MOT tester in the early eighties at one of the few garages in the west midland which could mot them.
I spoke to the customer and asked him pull his car to the front of the pit while I fetched the t bar Which allowed you to drive the car over the pit.
As I was fetching said t bar I heard a crunching sound as the guy drove his plastic pig into the pit.
As I recall if you drove one on a bike license you had to blank reverse off otherwise it was eligal.
My first job (YTS actually) was working in the Reliant dealer in Barnstaple.
Absolutely horrible things to work on. Half the inside had to come out before you could work on the engine.
Seem to remember doing a lot of cylinder head gasket work on them.
The real eye opener though was the first crash damaged one we had in, chopped the front body work off and rivetted a new one in its place, load of filler, some paint and good as new!
Didn't drive many but they were more stable than you think.
Still wouldn't have one for anything other than curiosity!
Oh yeah and they were pretty quick too
JB
Mum had a blue Robin as stepdad didn't then have a car licence. She drove us to holidays in the mountains of Wales in it despite the brakes being dire, but it was the 70s so us kids just rattled around in the back, seat belts, what seat belts.
ISTR seeing the underside of the fibreglass so perhaps the interior wasn't lined?
I always fancied one of these. But you could be paying £4000+ for one.
Top speed 82mph 😯
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invacar
Reliant also made the Scimitar and the Bond Equipe.
Page 2 and nobody has mentioned they also made the bodies:
Anyway, my uncle has driven them for years, he's in some obscure [s]far eastern[/s] French (Aixam) thing now but had Robins and Rialto's for years. Could cock it's leg if he was trying but the instability isn't quite as bad as folk make out.
Reliant Sabre
It’s more that her friends have all been puzzled about why some cars need the clutch pressing, and some the brake. It’s all so confusing! (It even says on our dash ‘Press the brake while pressing the start button’ or similar.)
It’s an additional safety feature, is all, so you don’t start the car in gear, or in the wrong gear, it just depends on whether the car is manual or auto. I get caught out all the time, because I’m often moving fifteen or twenty-odd cars from inspection to storage, of many different makes and models, so it’s easy to get it wrong. BMW’s won’t let you put the car into Drive if the driver’s door isn’t fully closed, that has confused me on more than one occasion!
It’s more embarrassing when you go to change gear in an auto, having just driven a manual, and stomp on what you think is the clutch pedal… 🤭
It’s an additional safety feature, is all, so you don’t start the car in gear
Thank you CountZero. I know this, because I have been driving for a long long time. However, trying to explain it to a know-all 18 year old is beyond me, so I resort to sarcasm and mockery, and boring descriptions of the motoring problems that she doesn't have to deal with. I ally should buy her a Robin and leave her to work it out. 😀
My dad had a Scimitar GTE, Ford V6 engine out of a Granada/Capri, rest of the running gear was Austin Rover what possibly could go wrong? The door lock broke and no spares available so it was unlocked for 6 months, the propshaft broke in deepest Wales, left it lying in the road, my dad walked to the nearest phone box and phoned the RAC for a pickup truck but they said they had to send a patrol man first to ascertain whether it was drivable, cue him hitting the receiver with it Basil Fawlty style to show them that it was in his hand rather than attached to the car, oh how we laughed!
I mate mate use to race them in a series on the stock car tracks around south east back in the late 90 / 2000's. He even made a streched one which he raced for a while till it went up in flames! lol.
Had great fun with them bloody simple things, rember we stood one on end in his garden and decorated it as a christmas tree one year lol
It’s more that her friends have all been puzzled about why some cars need the clutch pressing, and some the brake.
Do they not teach "depress both" any more?
This was some second hand crappy Escort Turbo Diesel
Ah, I don't recall such a thing. What was that, MkV vintage?
Ah, I don’t recall such a thing. What was that, MkV vintage?
Something like that.
Do they not teach “depress both” any more?
I think they only teach learner drivers how to start and drive whatever car the instructor has. I've described her lessons as being taught how to pass a test, NOT how to drive. It was maybe always the same. Anyway, I'm diverting the thread.
One of my friends bought a farm years ago that had a Scimitar gently rotting away in a barn. It wasn't there last time I was down there - I must ask him what happened to it.
I saw the remains of one down my main road after a police chase back in the 90’s, it was happily parked but got hit and wow a lot of pieces of fibreglass all over the road you’d hardly recognise what It was tbh.
I did nearly have a bond bug as a kid but my dad was against it due to the crap handling.
Having a normal trike and a tadpole trike, I can tell you that two wheels at the front (tadpole) is most definitely the way to go. Morgan please. I too did however marvel at the bond bug as a kid.
Davesport
That would be a Bond Minicar. I knew someone that had one. e-start but also had a kickstart under the bonnet. Chain drive to the front wheel :o) Utterly brilliant !
I had Bond Minicar convertible when I was a teenager. Underpowered with 197cc Villiers, 3 speed. It had a pullstart lever in the cockpit, and a perspex windscreen. The engine turned with the front wheel. There was no front brake, no rear suspension, and no doors. It weighed just over 300lbs.
The clutch plates were warped and it used to burn out frequently so I carried a bag of corks. It was ok one up, but two up needed a push start. I went through a period of selecting girlfriends for their sturdy legs and sprint ability rather than looks or other attributes. Fortunately it also had a hand throttle so we could start it with the throttle locked open (early cruise control?) and leap in.
My party trick was driving along on two wheels which led to its demise. I rolled it with my mate in it, then it caught fire while we were under it. As bulletproof teenagers that seemed hilarious to us.
My mate was so impressed he bought the remains, and he had a heap of fun in it too.
I went through a period of selecting girlfriends for their sturdy legs and sprint ability rather than looks or other attributes.
Brilliant! 😀
That would be a Bond Minicar. I knew someone that had one. e-start but also had a kickstart under the bonnet. Chain drive to the front wheel :o) Utterly brilliant !
Mate at school had one for hooning around the fields in. Great fun, then he got old enough to use it on the road. Didn't last too long. We went down a snow covered road in Abingdon and hit a small traffic island (little more than a big kerb) that had lost its sign in a crash a couple of days before. The front wheel/engine assembley kicked back and collapsed the front bulkhead. Never moved again...
That Bond thing reminds me of a "car" I used to see in the early 90s driving about. It looked halfway between that and a Reliant Robin but was single seater, I think it had a handlebar on a boom like a sit-up recumbent bike, rather than a steering wheel and may even have had a twist throttle. It was baby blue with a white top.
I think they only teach learner drivers how to start and drive whatever car the instructor has.
Not unreasonable - there are different starting setups around now (for no good reason, IMO) and it does tell you in the handbook how to start it.