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My 1957 A35 "Black Pig"
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Nic Jarman



Joined: 05 Oct 2008
Posts: 1031
Location: Stoke by Clare, Suffolk

PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice photo but I miss the pants. Good luck with your trip.
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One year of ownership with this little car, and shock horror, I decided to sell it and buy this:



Although I love driving the A35, the main reason was because I didn't really want to use it through another winter as the salt last year really took its toll on the underside. The Reliant has a galvanised chassis and a glassfibre body which would be much better suited to wintery conditons.

Unfortunately my insurance company refused to insure the Reliant because it's a 1992 - if it had been made two years earlier it would have been ok.

So for now I'm soldiering on with the A35, but on the lookout for a pre-1990 Reliant with a galvanised chassis. I think my ideal fleet at the moment would be a Reliant for bad weather, the nice A35 and a Limeflower Wolseley 18/85 "Landcrab" for shows Smile

Anyway, I took these today, the car has been in daily use pretty much the whole of the last year and it's very reliable now, I can hop in and drive anywhere with confidence, as long as I have the time. I'm off to North London for a classic meeting tonight in it.





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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 822
Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is pure curiosity, but why wouldn't your insurance co. insure the newer Reliant?
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MVPeters wrote:
This is pure curiosity, but why wouldn't your insurance co. insure the newer Reliant?


Well it's on classic insurance, and due to my age (19) they only consider cars made before 1990 to be classics (20 years old) so they wouldn't quote me on anything newer. It was a shame, because that Reliant was a very well sorted and original example, one elderly owner, no fibreglass damage, 45,000 miles and stacks of reciepts for work carried out. Oh well.
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Plastic pigs eh??? maybe have a go at emulating, or beating, this fella:

http://swns.com/reliant-fanatic-owns-28-iconic-three-wheelers-261414.html

RJ Smile
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Roger-hatchy



Joined: 07 Dec 2007
Posts: 2135
Location: Tiptree, Essex

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now what a coincident, he was on look east last night.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-11627763

An Uncle of mine had one in the 50's, closest he ever got to having a car.
Didn't have a car licence anyway. had one for a motor bike and Traction engine. Very Happy
He wasn't too keen on it as he found it claustrophobic and went back to his Motor bikes.
Supposed to be economic cars though.
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw that too, what a great man!

Roger, 80 mpg is normal for one of these! Very Happy
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A friend of mine bought one a couple of years ago and gave me a shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. The acceleration was very good (perhaps not too surprising given its weight) but even more surprising was the steering. It felt superb. It had the speed of response of a go cart and was a real pleasure to drive if you didn't push it too far on the corners.

My friend said that his had an optional high ratio axle which also made it pretty good on motorways too.

Peter
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ajlelectronics



Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 168
Location: Gloucester

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are interested, I have a 1985 Rialto estate that was my first restoration project for sale. It is wanting to be recommissioned after standing for 12 months, but it if you wanted it, I could get that sorted in a couple of weeks.

It was resprayed in Citroen metallic blue. Interior completely retriimed even down to the headlining. Material was £25 a square metre then!

Rear door was weak around the hinges and has been properly repaired. Not aware of anything wrong with it, except the fuel feed pipe has a sharp bend in it that had creased it. That sometimes results in fuel starvation. I do have another pipe, but not got round to fitting it.

Pictures available if you would like them.
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ajlelectronics wrote:
If you are interested, I have a 1985 Rialto estate that was my first restoration project for sale. It is wanting to be recommissioned after standing for 12 months, but it if you wanted it, I could get that sorted in a couple of weeks.

It was resprayed in Citroen metallic blue. Interior completely retriimed even down to the headlining. Material was £25 a square metre then!

Rear door was weak around the hinges and has been properly repaired. Not aware of anything wrong with it, except the fuel feed pipe has a sharp bend in it that had creased it. That sometimes results in fuel starvation. I do have another pipe, but not got round to fitting it.

Pictures available if you would like them.


Hi there, where abouts are you located?
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ajlelectronics



Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 168
Location: Gloucester

PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard H wrote:


Hi there, where abouts are you located?


Oi do be in Glarster moi dear.

Not too far from you really, couple of hours I would say. It's 2 and a half hours to Bromley from here.

((Edit) Didn't read properly to see you are in Sarfend! ) That might be three hours then, but should you want it, I am sure we could find a solution!

Found some pics of what it looked like when I finished it. email me at acc at spews co uk and I will send them to you. Will take some fresh ones at the weekend perhaps, as it is not immaculate paintwork anymore!
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Keef



Joined: 13 Jan 2008
Posts: 371
Location: Sheerness Kent UK

PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard H wrote:
on the lookout for a pre-1990 Reliant


The chap who used to do some gardening for us had this lovely example. :-



Smile
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pigtin



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1879
Location: Herne Bay

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
Plastic pigs eh??? maybe have a go at emulating, or beating, this fella:

http://swns.com/reliant-fanatic-owns-28-iconic-three-wheelers-261414.html

RJ Smile


The Reliant is very under-rated engine-wise. The final 850cc all alloy engine is a nice piece of engineering and superior in many ways to the BMC 'A' series. I believe it was expensive to produce but necessary, to keep the weight of the car below 7.5 cwt for tax purposes.
I have an 850 Kitten engine and gearbox in my Austin Seven Special (see avatar) and it is lively and very reliable. Being a mixture of Plastic Pig and Austin I could only call it... The Pigtin Special.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was pleasantly surprised by my drive in a Rialto but I must disagree with Pigtin regarding the 850 engine.

Back in 1970s I had an 850 Kitten saloon. I was pushing it quite hard one day when the engine lost power and started making nasty noises. When I dismantled it there was a triangular piece of cylinder liner rattling around in cylinder #3. I fitted a new liner and put it down to bad luck but then I bought a Kitten van "for spares or repair" and when I investigated its engine it had an almost identical triangular piece in its cylinder #3.

My conclusion was that this engine was fragile.

Peter
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pigtin



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1879
Location: Herne Bay

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you are right about the fragility Peter. I just don't use the Special hard enough for it to show up. They did use to tune them for 750 racing but they used the 600cc which might have been lower stressed and the liners thicker.
They had increased the size of the engine from 600 to 700 then to 750 and finally to 850 so that might explain it.
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