Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[badhuis]

Yes, the famous three wheeler.
An owner suggest a trade where I give him 2 vehicles and I end up with his 1979 Robin van. Most people would shy away from these "cars" but I like to experience all kind of cars and this one, being the van version, might even come in handy when parts need to be transported, scrubs and trees, plus the trips to the dump.

What experiences are there out there? Dangerous? DIY friendly or not? Chassis rot? Hard to recondition the front suspension?
Would love to hear some stories.
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[Ray White]

Please forgive me, but I have nothing good to say about them. A relative of mine had an early one with the Austin Seven engine... and muggins here was often persuaded to work on it as it frequently required work to keep it from the scrap yard.! I hated that plastic pig.

The later ones went better but they are, in my opinion, unsafe at any speed.

Just ask Jeremy Clarkson!

[ukdave2002]

I was recently talking to a 90 year old enthusiast who is half way through restoring his dream car, a car he has been restoring for 25 years.

I diplomatically suggested that he simply bought a restored version of the car, he was adamant that he wanted to continue the restoration himself.

I’m sure you can see where I’m going here, if you want a certain vehicle, and one comes up, just remember none of us are getting any younger.

Dave

[peter scott]

A friend of mine bought a late model Robin and let me have a try at it. It had quite good acceleration and the steering was very responsive. It felt quite sporty, so much so that it was easy to forget what you were in and very easy to lift a rear wheel when cornering.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[alastairq]

With the Reliant, it isn't the vehicle which is unsafe, it's the lack of appropriate driver skills.
For performance, try the Bond 875?

Clarkson's dubious crew couldn't get the Reliant to roll over, as they wanted it to do ,[for the viewing publics' delectation]....so they had to go to extremes with stuff like weights, to get it to roll.
It's shoyt attitudes from the media-for-the-masses, like this, that helped to create the Skoda reputation amongst the non cognoscenti

[There's nothing quite so ego-driven as the British motoring public.]

For rolling over, especially when undergoing a slalom[how often do we do this in everyday driving?] one cannot beat, in my view, the antics of the early Mercedes A Class?

But, who would slag off the products of Mercedes, in the world of the general public?

I'd have Robin van...or, better still, a Rialto van, in a trice!
Being a titewad pensioner living off a very restricted income, the idea of something useful, that returns a healthy 50-plus MPGs any day, and might even be ''tax-free' if I live long enough, is more than enough incentive!
Sure, they have their weaknesses.
Just like every other vehicle I could name!
But, they did the job they were built and sold for.

Which, again, is more than can be said for many other modern automotive examples.

On the economy front, only three tyres to find the funds for!

If one's ''friends'' spout the Del-boy routine at every turn, then they need relegating to the trash can of unreal so-called friends.
Any decent enthusiast can easily take the wee-wee out of any modern vehicle, without exception.

I can, but really, I cannot be bothered.
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Rick]

[Ray White]

[petelang]

I can relate two stories about the Reliant vans. My first proper girlfriends father owned one and sometimes picked me up in it although I tried not to be seen in it, although I was 15 at the time, Del boy had not made them a fashionable icon. It amused me that there were stickers on the quarterlight warning "do not open at speeds in excess of 100 mph". Apparently they were made for Scimitars which used the same window!

An apprentice below me had one and suffered a collision one evening on his way home from work on a long straight stretch at Hainaullt in Essex, hit by an overtaking car that misjudged. It rolled over into the field alongside and Sam got out in one piece, which was a miracle considering how many pieces of the reliant were left scattered in the field. The whole thing had virtually disintegrated around him and as this was pre seat belts, he was thrown out of the wreck. If he hadn't we would surely have attended his funeral. When we went to see it the following day too try and find his belongings it was like sifting through the wreckage of a crasher aircraft?!
Sam subsequently went 4 wheels from thence.
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Daimler Fifteen 1934
Armstrong Siddeley 15 Long 1933
Daimler V8 250 1969

[Ray White]

I always felt nervous driving the Reliant.. On one occasion I had to enter the "box" to turn right and the engine stalled. I went to turn the key...NO KEY!! .

Admittedly, the ignition switch was worn but due to vibration, the key had fallen out onto the floor. Could I find it? Not a chance.

If there is a good point about these potential death traps... it is they are light enough to push out the way when the flipping thing breaks down.

[lowdrag]

Of three-wheelers, I never liked the configuration of one at the front and two at the back. The other way round is far more stable. I've driven a friend's BSA, have driven a Morgan, and just once a Reliant. It was on a business jolly, and the car had a tyre fixed to the bonnet and a tennis ball rolling around inside. In teams, the idea was to set the fastest time found a pre-set course. Points were lost if you lost the tennis ball. Since the other two in my team had done pretty well, it was decided that it was worth losing the ball and try and set a fast time. I finished on the roof.

[alastairq]

I discovered one could do something similar with a Land Rover Defender [military sort...more room for a big-'un than in the softy civilian counterpart]...
since teh military version's speedo grossly over -read, I noted [during my endless hours as a military instructor in them]...that rain water collected in edges of the bonnet grooves [no bonnet mounted spare wheel one these]....

By varying the road speed, it was possible to get the puddle to move backwards or forwards on the bonnet.

Thus, by careful comparison , as an instructor sitting in the passenger seat, I was able to tell the road speed by how far back the puddle had moved. Without having to skutch across to the student driver to glance at the speedo.[They were obliged to comply with JSP800 with regards to their driving standards]

Given that these Defenders were easily capable of 90mph-plus, but came equipped with power steering that was incredibly light, it was no surprise to me that they fell over oh so very easily. Indeed, for the yUK Army , falling over was by far the highest cause of incidents involving these Defenders!

The drivers could turn the steering wheel far too easily....and combine that, with their speed capabilities, and over they went!
Far easier to overturn the Defender than it was to roll a Reliant!!

I reported my Dellow became a three wheeler some months ago, on here I believe.

The Reliant system of one front, two rear wheels was dictated by the need for a load carrying capability.

Maybe not ideal from a road performance viewpoint....although the Bond Bug was the same layout, and had very good roadholding if driven correctly[IE, not by someone born n bred on front wheel drive?}

Do not ignore the efforts of those brave souls who drive/drove Reliant -based 'specials [stripped for lightness and rough terrain capabilities].... on the MCC Long Distance Trials. One or two protagonists [they run in the sidecar class, more or less]...especially in recent times, compete rather successfully too.

Major complaints being, nowt bad about their hill climbing abilities in the 'rough', but a boogah to steer!
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[bjacko]

A Bond Mini came straight through a Halt sign in front of me when I was riding my Vincent Firefly (a 48cc two stroke attached to my bike) but I had no hope of avoiding it and finished up in Withington hospital with a fractured skull. I was only just 17.
In Asia they use thousands of three wheelers and if they roll over they just roll them back and carry on! Cheap and nasty but someone in Australia is going to use them for city deliveries electrically powered, bit like electric Tut Tuts.

[badhuis]

Bit of an update . It is not a 1979 but a 1982 version. Not that it makes any difference (as far as I know), the van is one of the last Mk1 Robins made.

It looks like an estate but is registered in the NL as a van, no rear bench but does have rear side windows. For me this body type is much more preferable than the usual Robin saloon which only has an opening rear window, not a big door like the estate or van.

The chassis is rot-fee, the paint is horrible. The engine does not run and is stuck. There are no brakes. BUT the present owner is a Reliant enthusiast and promised to deliver the van with a spare good running engine and all new brake parts.

Plan is to get it in a running condition and maybe (partly) brush or roller paint it. The wooden rear floor is missing. This is needed because it makes the van actually useful, covering the sloping floor where the estate / saloon has the rear bench. So I will make a floor, where it meets the seats I will make a vertical bulkhead to stop luggage flying into the seats.

What have I got into? I look forward driving this quirky, dangerous three wheeler








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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[Ray White]

Will it come with number plates?

[badhuis]

Yes, they are new, just not attached already. There is also a handbook in Dutch. Got a WSM, parts list and brochures sent digitally so I have all the info I would possibly need.
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment