My uncle used to complain that driving in winter in his was awful because the front wheel had to battle through the mound of snow that wasn't cleared by 4 wheel vehicles. Better than a motorbike though I am sure!
What a lovely tribute to the Reliant Robin. Your joy at driving that little car was palpable, and great to have some common myths debunked! A lot of people forget what a difference these cars made to the lives of thousands in the UK in the 70s and 80s, with their low running costs and no need to have a full driving licence! Terrific video!
I remember back in the 90's when a friend (a bit older than me) got his license & his dad got him a Ford fiesta (F reg I think). He used to drive it like a mad man (1.1 litre engine - but pretended he was in a rally car) took about 20 secionds to get to 60mph so when he was at that speed he would tend to maintain it). One day when i was a bit mad with him cos he'd decided not to pick us me up I was walking home (obv didn't have a lift) & came across a car wreck soon was evident it was my friends car though totally unrecognosable). What happened a reliant robin was turning in & my friend (speeding in his Fiesta judging by the 50 foot plus skid marks) crashed into the Robin int the side of it. The fiesta was completely written off - the guy in the Robin opened his boot pulled out a roll of masking tape & taped up the side part of the body which had torn almost in half... then drove off (after swapping insurance details etc), Fiesta had to be recovered with truck. My logic, understanding at the time thought it should have been the other way round!
Great to see somebody actually do a truthful review of the Reliant for once, having owned and abused a few, i can agree with you completely about how much fun these are to drive. So many people (usually those who have never driven one) are quick to dismiss them for falling over which is not the case, yeah you can roll one if you try hard enough but they will usually slide about or lift a wheel and lose traction first! i'd love another but too many projects already lol. Thanks for being honest and keep showing the underdogs 👍
My dad got one of the early models, so he had a cheap second car. He spent an entire year in the 80's fixing it all, servicing the engine and gearbox, cleaning and rustproofing the entire chassis. A lady pulled out on him on the way back from its trip to get an MOT, and half the 'nose' just disintergrated in the 'bump'. No one hurt, but it then sat and rotted in the garden until we moved house. That was the end for 'Dad's plastic pig'...
I lost out on a Bond Bug, and bought a 1976 Robin 850. Had 4 years of reliable fun motoring and sold it for a profit lol. Will be looking for one to keep in the UK for our trips back home, great car. Also owned a Trojan 200 bubble car back in the day. Great video
Bought a Mark V1 Reliant Van in 1969 for £30 after getting soaked on my Lambretta one night. Brilliant, drove it on a motorcycle licence, cheap tax and good mpg. Part exchanged a year later for a 3/25 Van and drove that for a year. They had a sharper, more difficult clutch than a car but after 5 lessons I passed my car test. The local Reliant Owners Club on a Sunday, used to have an all hands on deck servicing for owners production line. Firstly the fibre glass engine access cover behind the carpet adjacent to the drivers legs was cut round to give a much larger access to the distributor, points and spark plugs. It was then fibre glassed back and allowed to set at the end of the service......
Brilliant video Ian. I had a 850 super Robin registration GMB 776N and a motorbike not car licence in 1990- my first car - I had no idea how to drive it and it popped out of 2nd gear which made cornering tricky! Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks 😂
To Andy Bootles. And what a glorious colour! I went with a friend from Scotland , to buy a Robin he wanted. It was bright blue. So much more a statement than the duller colours now
Wish I had known you were there Ian, live 15 mins away! Would love to have met you. Never a Reliant, but had the pleasure of piloting a mates Bond Bug many years back. Manged to keep it upright!
I actually like the revised styling of the late Robin with the Corsa headlights - it looks pretty appealing, in my eyes. You can see how Reliant did this on a budget when you see the interior layout - it hadn't changed that much in thirty years, and I guess they didn't have the money to update it as well. Thanks for doing a serious, thoughtful review of such a misunderstood car.
Not only that, It was the first idea Andy Plumb made which would go into production. There were some interesting prototypes made which didn't go into production.
A mechanic, local to me, had a '72 Regal that cornered really well. When you opened the boot, he had an entire tool chest in the boot. It was totally planted. RIP Podmore.
Won't find me knocking the Reliant 3 Wheelers Ian....I bought my first back in 1979 (only had a motorbike licence then) it made so much sense for the worst of the weather, I cringe a bit now thinking how I drove mine had the inside rear hopping many a time!....Never got it on it's roof! Great stuff thanks!
My neighbour had a reliant robin and rolled it. The front wheel went in a pothole going downhill. You only needed a motorbike licence to drive one back then.
I think Ian enjoyed that drive. The best looking three wheeler is still the Bond Bug, but wasn't there an Lotus Elan replica based around the Reliant engine?
I owned a regal supervan while i only had a bike licence. It was great fun to drive and a darn site dryer than a bike. They didn't make it with syncromesh on 1st gear, in mine, 2nd was about 50% wirn and 3rd 75% wirn, but with that delightful little gearbox it was no problem with double de clutching, i could even do clutchless gearchanges! That little car tought me how to drive 😊
I've always had a soft spot for Reliant Robins like the classic Mini & VW Beetle. I wonder if towards the end the new company should have revived the Reliant Kitten alongside it with the way the market was going? Could have been an interesting low cost rival for Smart and other small hatches...
They did look into it but I think a four wheeler may have fallen foul of crash regs than the three wheeler didn't need to meet. Also, they were not cheap! Low volume meant they were pricey.
I would take the Austin 3 Litre. Over the years I owned 3 of them and how I wish I still had one. I also owned a couple of Bond Minicars, but not a Reliant although I did drive one for a short time.
it was fairly common back in the late 20th century for motorcylists to get their first driving experience in a Reliant as a step towards a car...as a mid /late 70's biker youth myself i attempted to step up to driving this way in the early 80's but even after a number of driving lessons i realised i was unsuited to a car like vehicle...the only 3-wheelers i could have owned are a bike and sidecar or a trike...i stayed on motorbikes for my entire life selfishly...reaching around a million kilometres by now...and i still ride locally despite becoming an OAP...i just hardly go out in Winter anymore...i wish i'dve been a little less incapable though...theyd've sold another Reliant then...not that it would've saved the company unfortunately...at least i got to drive a Robin once across London 40 years ago
At 19, I bought a Robin after being rain-soaked day after day riding to my first job on my motorbike. Drove it on my bike license and essentially taught myself to drive, absolute danger on the road for at least the first week. Thinking back, I cringe - madness to allow driving a car on a motorbike license simply because it has three wheels.
My ex brother in law had one of these. It was back in the early 80's and he was a biker so could drive this on his bike licence. He gave me a lift once and went round a roundabout on two wheels while laughing at my terrified face! Needless to say that was the first and only time i went in one.
In the book made by one of the company's designers, Andy Plumb, book called tipping point you can find a very modern look of the Robin where it looks like a modern car from the 2020s
I used to have a Reagle 21e when i still only had a bike licence and it was fun, used to go round corners on two wheels just for a laugh and to see the looks on pedestrians faces but not once did it feel like it was going to go over. I read somewhere that top gear had added weights on their robin so it would roll.
In the early 70s I worked with a young guy who installed a "turbo" on his reliant van. He removed the air filter and rigged a heater motor fan on top of the carburettor. Needless to say it was useless, which was probably a good thing.
Coming from the antipodes, I've never seen one of these. But my impression is that they make the Trabant seem sophisticated. I'm not knocking the Reliant at all. I'd love to have a drive in one.
At one point in the late seventys early eights they had a race group just for three wheelers remember it being covered on world of sport mad as a box of frogs😇😇
Makes me think of the little rabbit, learning from his mother to cross a street. “When you see a car coming, make yrself small as possible and sit still BETWEEN the two lights you see coming towards you “….. poor thing
The main reason they managed to keep going for so long was that you could drive one on a provisional driving license,no need to take a test. Also classed as a tricylce so motorcycle tax.
Tel you what, Ian. With it's single front wheel and single wiper, if the Robin had hand controls and an automatic transmission, I could see it being considered more like a posh multi-seat Invacar! The Robin is rather decadent by comparison though - it even has a rear window wiper! No wonder you find it so much fun to drive - and if you haven't rolled TWK in any of the spirited driving she's had, then why would a Robin roll over? As you say, apart from a few cosmetic changes, she's still basically the same beasty as she was 30 years before the model you drove. Reliant's modus operandi may have been "if the recipe still works, why change it?" I get their reasoning - hey, it worked for the Mini - but not every car gets into movies and ends up with a huge fanbase from which the Mini became an icon and just grew exponentially in popularity. The Robin had some pretty small parts - Jasper Carrott's stand-up act, Only Fools and Horses and Mr Bean episodes.....and the Robin wasn't exactly lauded as the hero either. Even the blue Robin in Mr Bean got tipped over....long before a certain Top Gear host made it a seeming feature of the vehicle. They're a cool little vehicle, mate. Still fairly practical. Still fairly economical. Gotta be considered a classic for sure. We don't see them at all in New Zealand, so I hope they've got a good following in the UK.
Many years ago I attempted to push start a Reliant Robin and my mate who was with me asked if I needed a hand to push - as I was already running flat out with only a few hundred kilos of fibreglass in front of me I said that would not be necessary!
I had a 1969 Regal, probably the most "exciting" car I ever owned, However, having said that I never had any accidents and it never even came close to rolling over.
Always wanted a go in one of these, purely for the hilarity value. Very harsh to class them as a car though as they're really a covered motorbike in their intent. And yes, Top Gear did crap on them but if you read stuff like Richard Porter's book on the show they had to add an awful lot of weight to the front to make it flip! I believe the stalks are actually Mk1 Fiesta items, not Metro!
If I ever go there that's the car I most want to drive. IMO the Mk1 Robin was a far nicer looking car than this. It's a shame so many have been destroyed in short circuit racing.
Is the tailgate a Reliant part? Looks like it’s off a Vauxhall Nova to me. Edit - checked that and not a Nova unit. Maybe the rear end just looks like one in general to me. 🤷🏻♂️
When my brother was little, whenever he saw a 3 wheeler he would wind the window down and shout 'PLASTIC PIG!!' at the top of his voice. Sadly he died at the end of November. There are a few still on the road around us and my sister, mum and I have taken to shouting at them now, it does make us smile remembering his antics.
Those newer Robins where actually quite tough for what they were, a school friend of mines dad from Felinwynt had 2 of them between 1988 when I went there and 2000 before I moved away. The first one was a Blue fairly new one for the time in 88 . Somehow it ended up wrapped round a Porsche of some kind on his way to work at Verwig school. The Robin had a couple cracks in the body somewhere that totaled it, which was a shame as you could hardly tell there was visible damage. The Porsche on the other hand looked like it hit a wall at 80 mph and they shoveled most of it up off the road . The one he replaced it with was a lot older and started getting some fiber glass fatigue cracks in it. The memory I have of that one is his late Dad being outside with this red Robin, cutting bits out of a red plastic bucket and fiber glass resin gluing them on the cracks . I can tell you the comment not to make to a proud Robin owner is " wouldn't it be better to cut the best bits off the Robin and glue them on the bucket". Poor old Ed was not seeing the funny side, and CerI and his brother were trying not to laugh in front of their Dad !. Take care.
I don't know of anyone that owned a Reliant and slagged it off. They were fairly easy to DIY repair and maintain. As an A to B vehicle they were cheap and reliable and made for a rather jolly first car. I think the love for them is still evident, it's a pity that more were not made. Happily though, quite a lot of them still exist. My favourite was the regal van, camping gear loaded in the back and setting a course for north Wales, happy days. You would have to have owned one to understand its appeal.
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
After I passed my driving test I drove a Reliant Regal 21E quite a lot. It was a great little car and it taught me a lot more about driving than the minis a lot of my friends drove would have taught them. For them a corner was something you steered around, with the Reliant you had to get everything right, speed, entry, braking, line and so on. These are skills that I was able to take advantage of throughout my life. The people who make fun of Reliants are those who have never used them.
My younger sisters hubby had a late 60's Reliant Regal , he used to really make it shift but as a passenger i was expected to act like i was in a racing sidecar and launch myself into the direction of the corner to hold down the inside back wheel as moving ballast . Btw that's like a luxury version of Twc . I haven't seen you enjoy driving that much in a while .
I tipped my mum's Regal onto the village green coming back from the pub in about 1974. We managed to get out and right the car after a bit and eventually it re-started and got it home. Only needed a wash! Now that's reliability.
I remember Sam Glover put crossply tyres on his Robin, to deliberately limit the grip and make it easier to slide round corners. Apparently that's an established fast-driving technique in a Robin!
I once drove a Regal van. Ride was appalling and you were conscious that there was only one wheel at the front so I was a bit careful on cornering but I agree they are far far more stable than some would have you think. What did for them in the end was said to be the closure of the mines. It seems coal miners were on motorcycles mostly so liked a Regal/Robin/Rialto for winter motoring to work to keep warm and dry. Of course you could drive one on a motorbike license
My mum had two Robins, I used to like driving them in town; 0-30mph were really nippy. A bit less fun at 65mph on the motorway, but still okay. I remember writing off my mk5 Cortina on leave and borrowing mum's Robin to travel back to RAF Wattisham, it was so much fun to get the inside wheel up in the air on the constant-radius airfield perimeter track, although the rear passengers weren't too happy about it 😂
I don't know how you took one onto a motorway because it was breaking the law to do so, There were signs at the entrance to motorways saying no three wheel vehicles.
@@zog97xy I don't remember that. The signs DID say no Invalid Carriages. I questioned HubNut about him taking his Invacar on a motorway, and he stated that the later more powerful models had been given permission. I doubt that any policemen nowadays would know the rules in any case...
When these were fist made, a motorcycle licence gave you a B1 licence. (This is the category for 3 wheeled vehicles under 450kg) thus 'motorcyclists' could buy a car without having to pass a car test. Back in the day there were a lot more people that took their driving test on a bike as their first step to independence rather than a car like now.
I think it was more or a right of passage to motoring - There were a lot more people in late 60's and 70's that had motorcycles as their 1st motorised transport. Then when they wanted a car they could drive a 3 wheeler straight away with their original licence. As cars became more common as 1st vehicle there was no need for a 3 wheeler with all it's limitations compared to car. Remember these 3 wheelers were a niche segment even then. More common in the West Midlands where they were made (Tamworth)
@@erik_dk842 No. The provisional licence cost virtually nothing and could be used for both cars and motorcycles. The difference was that you could ride a motorcycle on your own whereas with a car you had to be accompanied by a fully licenced driver until you passed your test. When I was young in the 1970's the motorcycle test was very easy. I don't remember there being any driving schools for motorcycles like there were for cars.
I grew up in the U.K before moving to Canada. I remember my Dad saying something about if you drove a Robin or other similar car on a bike license only ,one rule was it wasn't allowed to have a reverse gear . Is that right or was that a rule they just turned a blind eye to in later years ?
Worth remembering that it WAS all about weight - the tax.class for tricycles was limited by weight, hence the fibreglass body, alloy engine and much more. Many motorcyclists used them as winter vehicles but, as you say, the market faded away and reliant with it I did once manage to tip one at 45 degrees by driving tight circles in a car park. The owner was not impressed as I wound down the drivers window, stuck an arm out and shoved it back into it's wheels
It would be absolutely awesome if you did manage a trip to Missouri to drive Aging Wheels's Reliant Robin and some of the rest of his fleet. I know it's very unlikely, but it'd be a dream video, right?
Ian and Robert would first have to conquer being separated by a common language. I still chuckle thinking of the interview when Ian asked Robert how he found the Figaro and Robert understood the question as meaning how he had come across it instead of what he thought of it.
I have two Rialto estates. One has the rare 2.75 diff. Never been brave enough to establish its top speed. Often attract friendly comment. You need to retain a sense of humour to get the full enjoyement out of ownership, particulary when they are 4 decades old and maybe a tad tempramental. Mine sometimes likes to sit down in heavy traffic on hot days after a long fast run, be pushed to the side, attract attention and pity then drive off as if nothing happened. Maybe its the E10 and valve saver cocktail I make it drink. Maybe time to experiment with thicker carb spacers and/or a ducted cooler air flow. Every journey is an advanture but so far always returned home under its own power. Wonderful willing engines have a red top(ex Kitten) in an 1938 Austin Seven special.
Well, one of the three things I predicted earlier were sort of mentioned, but, that aside, there were at least two Reliants around here, one a hearing aid beige Rialto that last I saw passing by smelled like it was running very rich, and a late Corsa-eyed Robin like this one, I think the same colour too, pottering about to & from the supermarkets, so they're still out there, not having been rolled for telly or stripped naked for motor trike projects...
Thanks Ian. I really enjoyed this. I hope they add the Citroen 2CV to the list so I then will gladly travel from Ireland to drive this, along with the Hillman Imp,Morris Minor and Marina.
Great vid thank you. Think the main reason the old catalloy cruisers died out is the people that originally bought them drove them on a motorcycle licences, they are now sadly dying out.
Thanks for a nice review Hubnut. These cars are totally unknown in Australia, apart from being space shuttles or persuaded to fall over. The engine is the same as you had in the Fox? I liked the look of it - very like Triumph's little engine as you noted, though in mirror image. Cheers.
I owned a 1975 Robin when I was 17, used it in the winter to get to work, rather than the motorbike.
My uncle used to complain that driving in winter in his was awful because the front wheel had to battle through the mound of snow that wasn't cleared by 4 wheel vehicles. Better than a motorbike though I am sure!
I remember that scenario. Sometimes it was easier to have front wheel in the left track and osr in right.
I had a Regal, Robin and Kitten in the 70s. Drove the 3 wheelers on a motorcycle license
What a lovely tribute to the Reliant Robin. Your joy at driving that little car was palpable, and great to have some common myths debunked! A lot of people forget what a difference these cars made to the lives of thousands in the UK in the 70s and 80s, with their low running costs and no need to have a full driving licence! Terrific video!
Four of us a tent and supplies drove from Manchester to Wales for a weeks holiday in the 80s in a N reg robin -Happy days and fond memories
I remember back in the 90's when a friend (a bit older than me) got his license & his dad got him a Ford fiesta (F reg I think). He used to drive it like a mad man (1.1 litre engine - but pretended he was in a rally car) took about 20 secionds to get to 60mph so when he was at that speed he would tend to maintain it). One day when i was a bit mad with him cos he'd decided not to pick us me up I was walking home (obv didn't have a lift) & came across a car wreck soon was evident it was my friends car though totally unrecognosable). What happened a reliant robin was turning in & my friend (speeding in his Fiesta judging by the 50 foot plus skid marks) crashed into the Robin int the side of it. The fiesta was completely written off - the guy in the Robin opened his boot pulled out a roll of masking tape & taped up the side part of the body which had torn almost in half... then drove off (after swapping insurance details etc), Fiesta had to be recovered with truck. My logic, understanding at the time thought it should have been the other way round!
Great to see somebody actually do a truthful review of the Reliant for once, having owned and abused a few, i can agree with you completely about how much fun these are to drive. So many people (usually those who have never driven one) are quick to dismiss them for falling over which is not the case, yeah you can roll one if you try hard enough but they will usually slide about or lift a wheel and lose traction first! i'd love another but too many projects already lol. Thanks for being honest and keep showing the underdogs 👍
Pure Hubnut loveliness :) Imo the 70s version design is far more pleasing than the later ones but I'm a 70s model myself.
My dad got one of the early models, so he had a cheap second car. He spent an entire year in the 80's fixing it all, servicing the engine and gearbox, cleaning and rustproofing the entire chassis. A lady pulled out on him on the way back from its trip to get an MOT, and half the 'nose' just disintergrated in the 'bump'. No one hurt, but it then sat and rotted in the garden until we moved house. That was the end for 'Dad's plastic pig'...
Aw!
❤ both my grandfather's drove 'em. Yes, I'm a Yorkshireman.
I lost out on a Bond Bug, and bought a 1976 Robin 850. Had 4 years of reliable fun motoring and sold it for a profit lol. Will be looking for one to keep in the UK for our trips back home, great car. Also owned a Trojan 200 bubble car back in the day. Great video
It's a shame that they can't make the Reliant Robin as an electric car, now. If the price was right, it would be an ideal entry-level E-vehicle.
But they'd restyle an electric version as 'boutique retro-chic' and sell them to bored rich bods for £65,000. Sigh.
@@EleanorPeterson Have a look at the Twike 4 and 5. Essentially an attempt at redesigning the Bond Bug. but it costs £50,000.
Ian, I love that your enthusiasm here made you go ever so slightly scooby-doo at the end. As fun as ever, please don't stop.
Great video Ian. Looks a fun car to drive. I noticed the rear vision mirror was missing.
Bought a Mark V1 Reliant Van in 1969 for £30 after getting soaked on my Lambretta one night. Brilliant, drove it on a motorcycle licence, cheap tax and good mpg. Part exchanged a year later for a 3/25 Van and drove that for a year. They had a sharper, more difficult clutch than a car but after 5 lessons I passed my car test. The local Reliant Owners Club on a Sunday, used to have an all hands on deck servicing for owners production line. Firstly the fibre glass engine access cover behind the carpet adjacent to the drivers legs was cut round to give a much larger access to the distributor, points and spark plugs. It was then fibre glassed back and allowed to set at the end of the service......
Brilliant video Ian. I had a 850 super Robin registration GMB 776N and a motorbike not car licence in 1990- my first car - I had no idea how to drive it and it popped out of 2nd gear which made cornering tricky! Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks 😂
I have always liked the look of this generation of Robin.
To Andy Bootles. And what a glorious colour! I went with a friend from Scotland , to buy a Robin he wanted. It was bright blue. So much more a statement than the duller colours now
That's genuine heartfelt enjoyment, no mistake :) Lovely.
Great sounding engine-we need more really light cars with small power(and with engine management they would be so economical)
Fantastic detail, Ian.
I have the 1994 Rialto estate Love it
Wish I had known you were there Ian, live 15 mins away! Would love to have met you. Never a Reliant, but had the pleasure of piloting a mates Bond Bug many years back. Manged to keep it upright!
Alas we were flat out filming all day!
I actually like the revised styling of the late Robin with the Corsa headlights - it looks pretty appealing, in my eyes. You can see how Reliant did this on a budget when you see the interior layout - it hadn't changed that much in thirty years, and I guess they didn't have the money to update it as well. Thanks for doing a serious, thoughtful review of such a misunderstood car.
Not only that, It was the first idea Andy Plumb made which would go into production. There were some interesting prototypes made which didn't go into production.
These were and are so much fun especially in the snow, it makes its own track so keeps off the ice. Such happy memories 😊😊😊
I remember in 70 s looking out of my bedroom window ,on to dual carriageway and one of these ,reliants was sliding on its side 😂
My husband had them in the 1970s we drove every day miles on holidays
A mechanic, local to me, had a '72 Regal that cornered really well. When you opened the boot, he had an entire tool chest in the boot. It was totally planted. RIP Podmore.
Absolutely Lovely
another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
Friends dad had an B reg Realto 2, use to go all over Cumbria in it. 4 kids, 2 adults and a dog. Great fun! Love the 3 wheeler's.
Won't find me knocking the Reliant 3 Wheelers Ian....I bought my first back in 1979 (only had a motorbike licence then) it made so much sense for the worst of the weather, I cringe a bit now thinking how I drove mine had the inside rear hopping many a time!....Never got it on it's roof!
Great stuff thanks!
My first car was a 1962 Regal with the side valve engine. Had great fun driving it. Sold it to someone who was going to fix it up.
My neighbour had a reliant robin and rolled it. The front wheel went in a pothole going downhill. You only needed a motorbike licence to drive one back then.
You need one in the collection, to share the TVVC feeling with the family 😃
"This feels frankly awful".
Also:
"What an amazing little car!" 😊
If delboy can drive a 3 wheeler then they must be cool 😎
I think Ian enjoyed that drive. The best looking three wheeler is still the Bond Bug, but wasn't there an Lotus Elan replica based around the Reliant engine?
I owned a regal supervan while i only had a bike licence. It was great fun to drive and a darn site dryer than a bike. They didn't make it with syncromesh on 1st gear, in mine, 2nd was about 50% wirn and 3rd 75% wirn, but with that delightful little gearbox it was no problem with double de clutching, i could even do clutchless gearchanges! That little car tought me how to drive 😊
I've always had a soft spot for Reliant Robins like the classic Mini & VW Beetle. I wonder if towards the end the new company should have revived the Reliant Kitten alongside it with the way the market was going? Could have been an interesting low cost rival for Smart and other small hatches...
They did look into it but I think a four wheeler may have fallen foul of crash regs than the three wheeler didn't need to meet. Also, they were not cheap! Low volume meant they were pricey.
The exhaust leak is a feature to get you stoned to the point where you don't mind driving the Robin. :)
I would take the Austin 3 Litre. Over the years I owned 3 of them and how I wish I still had one. I also owned a couple of Bond Minicars, but not a Reliant although I did drive one for a short time.
I've driven a 3/25 Supervan and a Robin years ago and didn't manage to roll either of them. And yes, they're absolutely hilarious!
it was fairly common back in the late 20th century for motorcylists to get their first driving experience in a Reliant as a step towards a car...as a mid /late 70's biker youth myself i attempted to step up to driving this way in the early 80's but even after a number of driving lessons i realised i was unsuited to a car like vehicle...the only 3-wheelers i could have owned are a bike and sidecar or a trike...i stayed on motorbikes for my entire life selfishly...reaching around a million kilometres by now...and i still ride locally despite becoming an OAP...i just hardly go out in Winter anymore...i wish i'dve been a little less incapable though...theyd've sold another Reliant then...not that it would've saved the company unfortunately...at least i got to drive a Robin once across London 40 years ago
At 19, I bought a Robin after being rain-soaked day after day riding to my first job on my motorbike.
Drove it on my bike license and essentially taught myself to drive, absolute danger on the road for at least the first week.
Thinking back, I cringe - madness to allow driving a car on a motorbike license simply because it has three wheels.
The only thing, is ONE air vent on the dashboard, isn't ENOUGH
My ex brother in law had one of these. It was back in the early 80's and he was a biker so could drive this on his bike licence. He gave me a lift once and went round a roundabout on two wheels while laughing at my terrified face! Needless to say that was the first and only time i went in one.
Reliant may be about to make an unexpected comeback
In the book made by one of the company's designers, Andy Plumb, book called tipping point you can find a very modern look of the Robin where it looks like a modern car from the 2020s
Didn't early Robins have a problem with steering brackets failing? Seem to remember a TV investigation in early 80s about it.
I used to have a Reagle 21e when i still only had a bike licence and it was fun, used to go round corners on two wheels just for a laugh and to see the looks on pedestrians faces but not once did it feel like it was going to go over. I read somewhere that top gear had added weights on their robin so it would roll.
They did all sorts. Welded the diff, one rear wheel bigger than the other among other things.
I want this so bad. It’s awesome
Great fun but the squared off version looks better in imo
In the early 70s I worked with a young guy who installed a "turbo" on his reliant van.
He removed the air filter and rigged a heater motor fan on top of the carburettor. Needless to say it was useless, which was probably a good thing.
Coming from the antipodes, I've never seen one of these. But my impression is that they make the Trabant seem sophisticated. I'm not knocking the Reliant at all. I'd love to have a drive in one.
My granddad had one fun little car 🚗.
At one point in the late seventys early eights they had a race group just for three wheelers remember it being covered on world of sport mad as a box of frogs😇😇
Excellent outro...do I detect Miss Hubnut in the music profile??
Still enjoying my 'triangle of doom' mug
Cordialement,
Thanks. Music is not by us I'm afraid.
Makes me think of the little rabbit, learning from his mother to cross a street. “When you see a car coming, make yrself small as possible and sit still BETWEEN the two lights you see coming towards you “….. poor thing
I drove that car back in 2022. I don't remember the Pioneer stereo or the gearbox being useable.
Haha forgot these had Corsa B headlights
The main reason they managed to keep going for so long was that you could drive one on a provisional driving license,no need to take a test. Also classed as a tricylce so motorcycle tax.
Tel you what, Ian. With it's single front wheel and single wiper, if the Robin had hand controls and an automatic transmission, I could see it being considered more like a posh multi-seat Invacar! The Robin is rather decadent by comparison though - it even has a rear window wiper!
No wonder you find it so much fun to drive - and if you haven't rolled TWK in any of the spirited driving she's had, then why would a Robin roll over?
As you say, apart from a few cosmetic changes, she's still basically the same beasty as she was 30 years before the model you drove. Reliant's modus operandi may have been "if the recipe still works, why change it?" I get their reasoning - hey, it worked for the Mini - but not every car gets into movies and ends up with a huge fanbase from which the Mini became an icon and just grew exponentially in popularity. The Robin had some pretty small parts - Jasper Carrott's stand-up act, Only Fools and Horses and Mr Bean episodes.....and the Robin wasn't exactly lauded as the hero either. Even the blue Robin in Mr Bean got tipped over....long before a certain Top Gear host made it a seeming feature of the vehicle.
They're a cool little vehicle, mate. Still fairly practical. Still fairly economical. Gotta be considered a classic for sure. We don't see them at all in New Zealand, so I hope they've got a good following in the UK.
Possible to modify the front to fit a extra wide front tire?
Many years ago I attempted to push start a Reliant Robin and my mate who was with me asked if I needed a hand to push - as I was already running flat out with only a few hundred kilos of fibreglass in front of me I said that would not be necessary!
You NEED that 👍👍
If it was good enough for George Roper, it's good enough for me
Sporty gearshift? it appears to have a short and precise throw.
I had a 1969 Regal, probably the most "exciting" car I ever owned,
However, having said that I never had any accidents and it never even came close to rolling over.
Always wanted a go in one of these, purely for the hilarity value. Very harsh to class them as a car though as they're really a covered motorbike in their intent. And yes, Top Gear did crap on them but if you read stuff like Richard Porter's book on the show they had to add an awful lot of weight to the front to make it flip!
I believe the stalks are actually Mk1 Fiesta items, not Metro!
Yup. Stalks are definitely not Fiesta though. They're early Metro.
So ...how do yoy change the front wheel , if you get a flat tyre ? Or is it a solid rubber tyre , like on a forklift ?
It's a bit of a pain. Normal tyre.
👏👏👏👍💯🔝🥇 simphaty of reliant robin😊
You need a Robin in the fleet 🫣
If I ever go there that's the car I most want to drive.
IMO the Mk1 Robin was a far nicer looking car than this.
It's a shame so many have been destroyed in short circuit racing.
Top Gear did admit to a little bit of fiddling with the handling.
Is the tailgate a Reliant part? Looks like it’s off a Vauxhall Nova to me. Edit - checked that and not a Nova unit. Maybe the rear end just looks like one in general to me. 🤷🏻♂️
Ian you have a strange sense fun if you think that’s fun to drive 😂, but yeah a triangle is pretty hard to topple over.
I'd daily drive that
When my brother was little, whenever he saw a 3 wheeler he would wind the window down and shout 'PLASTIC PIG!!' at the top of his voice. Sadly he died at the end of November. There are a few still on the road around us and my sister, mum and I have taken to shouting at them now, it does make us smile remembering his antics.
RIP, stay strong comrade
I remember shouting this! Along with mates and older brothers! Thank you
Those newer Robins where actually quite tough for what they were, a school friend of mines dad from Felinwynt had 2 of them between 1988 when I went there and 2000 before I moved away. The first one was a Blue fairly new one for the time in 88 . Somehow it ended up wrapped round a Porsche of some kind on his way to work at Verwig school. The Robin had a couple cracks in the body somewhere that totaled it, which was a shame as you could hardly tell there was visible damage. The Porsche on the other hand looked like it hit a wall at 80 mph and they shoveled most of it up off the road . The one he replaced it with was a lot older and started getting some fiber glass fatigue cracks in it. The memory I have of that one is his late Dad being outside with this red Robin, cutting bits out of a red plastic bucket and fiber glass resin gluing them on the cracks . I can tell you the comment not to make to a proud Robin owner is " wouldn't it be better to cut the best bits off the Robin and glue them on the bucket". Poor old Ed was not seeing the funny side, and CerI and his brother were trying not to laugh in front of their Dad !. Take care.
I don't know of anyone that owned a Reliant and slagged it off. They were fairly easy to DIY repair and maintain. As an A to B vehicle they were cheap and reliable and made for a rather jolly first car. I think the love for them is still evident, it's a pity that more were not made. Happily though, quite a lot of them still exist.
My favourite was the regal van, camping gear loaded in the back and setting a course for north Wales, happy days. You would have to have owned one to understand its appeal.
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
I'd say reliable with a modicum of mechanical sympathy , in my youthful hands I was often repairing , favorite trick was blown head gasket , oil pump went , leaf springs on rear snapped !and hundreds of small problems .But sure was fun when not working on it
After I passed my driving test I drove a Reliant Regal 21E quite a lot. It was a great little car and it taught me a lot more about driving than the minis a lot of my friends drove would have taught them. For them a corner was something you steered around, with the Reliant you had to get everything right, speed, entry, braking, line and so on. These are skills that I was able to take advantage of throughout my life. The people who make fun of Reliants are those who have never used them.
You were clearly loving the drive. It's great that you keep an open mind about cars
The parcel shelf lifts up when you open then boot!
It is officially more advanced than my 2014 Škoda Citigo
Laugh is this looks like its got a bigger boot than some of the modern super minis.
@@procta2343 Nevermind the superminis, some of the bloated faux by fours too.
What a fantastic little machine! I’ve always wanted a go in one. I’ll have to head on up there soon!
My younger sisters hubby had a late 60's Reliant Regal , he used to really make it shift but as a passenger i was expected to act like i was in a racing sidecar and launch myself into the direction of the corner to hold down the inside back wheel as moving ballast . Btw that's like a luxury version of Twc . I haven't seen you enjoy driving that much in a while .
TWC was out on New Year's Day!
I tipped my mum's Regal onto the village green coming back from the pub in about 1974. We managed to get out and right the car after a bit and eventually it re-started and got it home. Only needed a wash!
Now that's reliability.
@@HubNuthad a blast watching that!
I remember Sam Glover put crossply tyres on his Robin, to deliberately limit the grip and make it easier to slide round corners. Apparently that's an established fast-driving technique in a Robin!
I once drove a Regal van. Ride was appalling and you were conscious that there was only one wheel at the front so I was a bit careful on cornering but I agree they are far far more stable than some would have you think.
What did for them in the end was said to be the closure of the mines. It seems coal miners were on motorcycles mostly so liked a Regal/Robin/Rialto for winter motoring to work to keep warm and dry. Of course you could drive one on a motorbike license
Gotta love the Plastic Pig!
I don't see a PCSO anywhere?
And you could cut off the back roof, add a partition wall with a rear window and then you have a useful Pig Up
My mum had two Robins, I used to like driving them in town; 0-30mph were really nippy. A bit less fun at 65mph on the motorway, but still okay. I remember writing off my mk5 Cortina on leave and borrowing mum's Robin to travel back to RAF Wattisham, it was so much fun to get the inside wheel up in the air on the constant-radius airfield perimeter track, although the rear passengers weren't too happy about it 😂
"0-30mph were really nippy" - love it
I don't know how you took one onto a motorway because it was breaking the law to do so, There were signs at the entrance to motorways saying no three wheel vehicles.
@@zog97xypossibly just a dual carriageway, many call them motorways as a catch-all term despite having different legal mechanisms
@@zog97xy I don't remember that. The signs DID say no Invalid Carriages. I questioned HubNut about him taking his Invacar on a motorway, and he stated that the later more powerful models had been given permission. I doubt that any policemen nowadays would know the rules in any case...
When these were fist made, a motorcycle licence gave you a B1 licence. (This is the category for 3 wheeled vehicles under 450kg) thus 'motorcyclists' could buy a car without having to pass a car test. Back in the day there were a lot more people that took their driving test on a bike as their first step to independence rather than a car like now.
Was the motorcycle license that much cheaper than a car one?
I think it was more or a right of passage to motoring - There were a lot more people in late 60's and 70's that had motorcycles as their 1st motorised transport. Then when they wanted a car they could drive a 3 wheeler straight away with their original licence. As cars became more common as 1st vehicle there was no need for a 3 wheeler with all it's limitations compared to car. Remember these 3 wheelers were a niche segment even then. More common in the West Midlands where they were made (Tamworth)
That was its main USP.
Many had a bike license as it was much cheaper - no driving lessons and a fairly easy test.
@@erik_dk842 No. The provisional licence cost virtually nothing and could be used for both cars and motorcycles.
The difference was that you could ride a motorcycle on your own whereas with a car you had to be accompanied by a fully licenced driver until you passed your test.
When I was young in the 1970's the motorcycle test was very easy. I don't remember there being any driving schools for motorcycles like there were for cars.
I grew up in the U.K before moving to Canada. I remember my Dad saying something about if you drove a Robin or other similar car on a bike license only ,one rule was it wasn't allowed to have a reverse gear . Is that right or was that a rule they just turned a blind eye to in later years ?
Just the tonic I needed. The glee Ian has driving a reliant robin round a car park is infectious!
That is one happy HubNut! The Reliant clearly met the "Less is More" description.
Worth remembering that it WAS all about weight - the tax.class for tricycles was limited by weight, hence the fibreglass body, alloy engine and much more. Many motorcyclists used them as winter vehicles but, as you say, the market faded away and reliant with it I did once manage to tip one at 45 degrees by driving tight circles in a car park. The owner was not impressed as I wound down the drivers window, stuck an arm out and shoved it back into it's wheels
It would be absolutely awesome if you did manage a trip to Missouri to drive Aging Wheels's Reliant Robin and some of the rest of his fleet. I know it's very unlikely, but it'd be a dream video, right?
Oh absolutely.
Ian and Robert would first have to conquer being separated by a common language. I still chuckle thinking of the interview when Ian asked Robert how he found the Figaro and Robert understood the question as meaning how he had come across it instead of what he thought of it.
I have two Rialto estates. One has the rare 2.75 diff. Never been brave enough to establish its top speed. Often attract friendly comment. You need to retain a sense of humour to get the full enjoyement out of ownership, particulary when they are 4 decades old and maybe a tad tempramental. Mine sometimes likes to sit down in heavy traffic on hot days after a long fast run, be pushed to the side, attract attention and pity then drive off as if nothing happened. Maybe its the E10 and valve saver cocktail I make it drink. Maybe time to experiment with thicker carb spacers and/or a ducted cooler air flow. Every journey is an advanture but so far always returned home under its own power. Wonderful willing engines have a red top(ex Kitten) in an 1938 Austin Seven special.
Absolutely brilliant video Ian ❤👍what a beautiful car love it I don't know why top gear did that destroy cars reputation like the marina brilliant
I have driven this very car, and that's the reason why I just bought one 🎉
Well, one of the three things I predicted earlier were sort of mentioned, but, that aside, there were at least two Reliants around here, one a hearing aid beige Rialto that last I saw passing by smelled like it was running very rich, and a late Corsa-eyed Robin like this one, I think the same colour too, pottering about to & from the supermarkets, so they're still out there, not having been rolled for telly or stripped naked for motor trike projects...
It’s mad to think these were so recently on sale. Presume euro Ncap etc was about to kill them off
They didn't have to worry about crash regs due to the light weight.
Thanks Ian. I really enjoyed this. I hope they add the Citroen 2CV to the list so I then will gladly travel from Ireland to drive this, along with the Hillman Imp,Morris Minor and Marina.
Absolutely brilliant fun, my friend has a trike on a reliant under pinnings, including chassis
Great vid thank you. Think the main reason the old catalloy cruisers died out is the people that originally bought them drove them on a motorcycle licences, they are now sadly dying out.
Thanks for a nice review Hubnut. These cars are totally unknown in Australia, apart from being space shuttles or persuaded to fall over. The engine is the same as you had in the Fox? I liked the look of it - very like Triumph's little engine as you noted, though in mirror image. Cheers.