Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Have you owned a Robin Reliant?





Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,612
Quaxxann
It's Reliant Robin, not Robin Reliant.
 




Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,673
Location Location
You've got to be either elderly or very, very odd (or an "enthusiast") to have one of those. I can see no logical reason whatsoever for choosing a Reliant Robin as your vehicle of choice, they are ridiculous.

I quite often pass the same one coming down the A23 between about 6 and half 6 in the evening on my way home from work, with some old codger hunched behind the wheel doing about 40mph.
 






Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,612
Quaxxann
The Clarkson review: Reliant Robin

Remember the rolling Robins? Well, I’ve a confession to make

By Jeremy Clarkson Published 11 January 2016
Hatchback | Jeremy Clarkson | Classic cars | Top Gear | Reliant | Amazon Prime | Robin

Reliant-robin.jpg

Reliant Robin,
available used only TO JUDGE from the letters I get and the remarks in the street, it seems the most memorable thing I did on Top Gear was a short segment about the Reliant Robin. You may remember: I drove it around Sheffield and it kept falling over.
Well, now’s the time to come clean. A normal Reliant Robin will not roll unless a drunken rugby team is on hand. Or it’s windy. But in a headlong drive to amuse and entertain, I’d asked the backroom boys to play around with the differential so that the poor little thing rolled over every time I turned the steering wheel. Naturally, the health and safety department was very worried about this and insisted that the car be fitted with a small hammer that I could use, in case I was trapped after the roll, to break what was left of the glass. Not the best idea ever, because I distinctly remember seeing the hammer in question travelling past my face at about 2,000mph during the first roll. After that I invited the health and safety man to eff off home, with the hammer in his bottom.
Since then I’ve used similarly doctored and similarly hammer-free Reliant Robins in countless games of car football during our live shows. And as a result there’s probably no one on the planet who’s rolled a car quite as much as I have.
It makes me sad, if I’m honest, because rolling a Reliant Robin on purpose is a bit like putting a tortoise on its back. It’s an act of wanton cruelty. When you see it lying there with its three little wheels whizzing round helplessly, you are compelled to rush over and put it the right way up.


Rolling a Reliant Robin on purpose is a bit like putting a tortoise on its back. It’s an act of wanton cruelty.


I feel similarly aggrieved when people — and everyone does this — calls it a Robin Reliant. That’s like saying you worship Christ Jesus or that you drive an Acclaim Triumph. Or that your favourite Fifa presidential hopeful is Sexwale Tokyo.
I’ll be honest with you. I really like the Reliant Robin. I know that Del Boy did his best to turn three-wheelers into a national joke. And I know Jasper Carrott went even further — the *******. But the truth is that the Reliant Robin has a rorty-sounding 848cc engine and the sort of snickety gearbox that makes you lament the passing of the proper manual.
Plus, it’s an absolute hoot to drive, partly because it’s light and nimble and partly because passers-by are genuinely fond of it. It’s like going about your business in one of the Queen’s corgis. Mostly, though, it’s a hoot to drive because you know if something goes wrong, you will be killed immediately. There’ll be no lingering and agonising spell in hospital. No priest with his last rites. One minute you’ll be bouncing up and down wearing a childlike grin and the next you’ll be meat.

RR.jpg


In fact, I like the Reliant Robin so much that when Richard Hammond, James May, Andy Wilman and I formed our new production company, I rushed out immediately and bought one as a company car. Interestingly, the other three did exactly the same thing. So now we have a fleet sitting in the executive car parking spaces at our offices and we love them very much. Especially the fact that they cost us less than £15,000. That’s £15,000 for four cars.

Of course, they’ve all been fettled to suit our tastes. May’s is an ivory white estate model that is standard in every way, right down to the chromed overriders. Hammond’s is a lovely chocolate brown with whitewall tyres. Wilman’s is finished in racing green and inside is fitted with a wooden dashboard and lambswool seat covers — as befits, he says, the chairman of our enterprise. Mine — a coupé, naturally — is finished in winner blue and is fitted with an Alcantara dash and quad tailpipes. Minilite wheels complete the vision of sportiness.
A lot of people think we have bought the cars purely as some kind of weird publicity stunt but, actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Because we really do use them on a daily basis. Or, to be honest, we try to use them . . .
My first attempt had to be abandoned, because the engine decided that tickover should be about 5500rpm. Which meant that in fourth gear I was doing about 80mph without putting my foot on the accelerator. I say “about”, because the speedometer wasn’t working. For an accurate reading I’ll have to wait for a letter from the speed camera people.
Hammond’s has no functioning fuel gauge and he would therefore like to apologise to everyone on London’s Cromwell Road for running out of petrol the other night while turning right into Earls Court Road. Apparently the chaos he caused was quite spectacular.
Wilman’s hasn’t actually gone anywhere at all because as he tried to put it into reverse, the gearlever came off in his hand. I’m not sure what’s wrong with May’s. He tried to explain but after four hours I nodded off slightly.


JC.jpg


We didn’t give up, though. And the other night I went all the way from our old offices in Notting Hill to our new offices, appropriately enough, in Power Road, in Chiswick, west London, and then — get this — all the way back to a party in Chelsea. Where the car spent the night, because its starter motor had broken.

Hammond said he’d come to the rescue, but annoyingly his ignition barrel came out as he turned the key, and Wilman was of no use because the gearlever popped out again when he went for first. So I rang May, who turned up in his Ferrari.


While there is a knob on the dash that says “Heater”, it doesn’t seem to do anything. The only other knob says “Choke”. Pull that and immediately the whole car fills with petrol fumes


Anyway, on my trek across London I learnt many things about my Reliant Robin. First of all, to get my right shoulder inside, I have to drive with the window down, which makes life a bit chilly. And there’s not much I can do to rectify that issue, because while there is a knob on the dash that says “Heater”, it doesn’t seem to do anything. The only other knob says “Choke”. Pull that and immediately the whole car fills with petrol fumes.
But despite the cold and the likelihood of it suddenly becoming very hot, the Reliant Robin is brilliant to drive. The steering is extremely light, possibly because there’s only one front wheel to turn, the acceleration is great, for anyone who’s used to, say, a horse, and in a typical London parking bay it’s so small and looks so lost and lonely, you are tempted to give it a carrot or some other treat.
This is what makes the Reliant Robin such a joy. My Volkswagen Golf is a car. The Porsche Cayenne I used over Christmas and will review next week is a car. You drive a car. But the Reliant Robin is not a car. It’s not even three-quarters of a car. It’s more than that.
It’s sitting in its parking space outside the office now, in the rain. And I’m worried about it. I hope it’s OK and isn’t missing me. Owning a Reliant Robin is like having a family pet. Yes, it’s a nuisance sometimes, and, yes, it can be stubborn and unreliable, but it scampers when you go out together, and if you play with its differential, it will even roll over so you can tickle its tummy.


Reliant Robin 850 specifications


  • PRICE: £1,463.78 when new 40 years ago
  • ENGINE: 848cc, 4 cylinders
  • POWER: 40bhp @ 5500rpm
  • TORQUE: 46 lb ft @ 3500rpm
  • ACCELERATION: 0-60mph: 16.1sec
  • TOP SPEED: 85mph
  • FUEL: 60mpg at 50mph
  • ROAD TAX BAND: Free (classic car exemption)
  • RELEASE DATE: 1975
 
Last edited:


daveinprague

New member
Oct 1, 2009
12,572
Prague, Czech Republic
My ex brother in law (RIP) had one of the things. He was over 20 stone. He gave me a lift once from Boundary Road in Portslade to my house in Portslade Old Village.
We didnt make the double corner coming into the village. At least due to his weight, my side was easy to get out of. The embarrassment factor was huge.
 


GOM

living vicariously
Aug 8, 2005
3,222
Leeds - but not the dirty bit
You've got to be either elderly or very, very odd (or an "enthusiast") to have one of those. I can see no logical reason whatsoever for choosing a Reliant Robin as your vehicle of choice, they are ridiculous.

Because of 3 wheels you could drive them on a motorcycle licence
 




Del Fenner

Because of Boxing Day
Sep 5, 2011
1,431
An Away Terrace
I had two friends who owned a Reliant Robin.

The first only had a motorcyle license, drove it exactly like a motorcycle, and soon came to grief in a front garden when cornering.

The second drove more sedately, but when doing a 180 degree turn at the entrance to the Grasshopper pub on the A25 at Westerham, rolled it and broke his arm.

I laughed like a drain on both occasions.
 




GOM

living vicariously
Aug 8, 2005
3,222
Leeds - but not the dirty bit
Just get a motorcycle then.
Nothing justifies getting a RR, unless you're trying to be a bit eccentric.

In the early days they were a cheap way of getting into cars if you did not have a full driving licence. You could also transport more in them than you could a motorcycle, a la Del Boy.

I certainly don't advocate them, nor have I ever had one but there was a logical reason why people bought them.
 




Shropshire Seagull

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2004
8,477
Telford
Just get a motorcycle then.
Nothing justifies getting a RR, unless you're trying to be a bit eccentric.

Yeah but, taking your bird out on the back of a motorcycle was great most of the time - but in the depths of winter the warm comfort of an RR meant she could still wear her mini skirt and low cut top and not freeze to death or get soaked to the skin.

I worked for Redhill Motors in Lewes during the 80's and we serviced the RR where it was affectionately referred to as "Resin Rocket" or "Plastic Pig" due to their non-metal body shell.

They did a 4-wheel model called the Kitten too.
 








Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
61,673
Location Location
Yeah but, taking your bird out on the back of a motorcycle was great most of the time - but in the depths of winter the warm comfort of an RR meant she could still wear her mini skirt and low cut top and not freeze to death or get soaked to the skin.

I worked for Redhill Motors in Lewes during the 80's and we serviced the RR where it was affectionately referred to as "Resin Rocket" or "Plastic Pig" due to their non-metal body shell.

They did a 4-wheel model called the Kitten too.

Anyone who actually managed to get a bird whilst owning a Reliant must have had a cock like a babys arm.
 




Saladpack Seagull

Just Shut Up and Paddle
Because of 3 wheels you could drive them on a motorcycle licence

Which is why I had one briefly in 1983 (alongside my motorbike). Never tipped it over, but the gearstick had a disconcerting habit of coming loose at awkward moments! Wouldn't like to drive one in today's traffic - hit anything else and it would fall apart like a circus clown's car!
 






Hornblower

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
1,707

Forgive me father for I have sinned.
I owned a Bond Bug in the mid seventies. It was actually quite a lot of fun and the ladies liked it. The main problem with it - as I discovered when ferrying our portly drummer to a rehearsal - was that it would drag on the ground when cornering hard. Also reverse and first were very close and as a result I drove the little plastic beauty into a wall. Happy days.
 





Paying the bills

Latest Discussions

Paying the bills

Paying the bills

Paying the bills

Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here