Reliant Archives. 

Living in Tamworth (UK) just 5 minutes away where the Reliant factory used to be until 1999 when it moved to Burntwood means that I have access to a treasure trove of information about Reliant and its past. Indeed it can be traced year by year back to 1935 in my local newspaper “The Tamworth Herald” of which all copies are stored at Tamworth Library.

Reliant are most famous for the Reliant Robin they produced from 1973. Everyone knows what a Reliant Robin is and images of Reliants in TV programs like “Only Fools and Horses” and Rowan Atkinson’s “Mr Bean” spring to mind supplemented with jokes about wheel barrows from comedians like Jasper Carrot  Ironically these programs actually use a Reliant Regal 3/25 and a Regal Supervan III but people tend to think of all Reliant 3-wheelers as “Reliant Robins” or “Robin Reliants”.

I have owned a 1974 & 1975 Reliant Robin , two 1982 Reliant Rialtos and a 1972 Reliant Regal Supervan III. I curently own a 1961 Reliant Regal Mk VI van, a 1970 Reliant Regal Supervan 21E, and a 1974 Reliant Robin Some people may laugh but they are great cars and I was never short of passengers who wanted a lift so they could say they had been in one.

Over the years I have spoke to many people who have worked at Reliant at one time or another and also collected quite a few photographs along the way (Mainly thanks to Derrick Smith). Some photos have even been salvaged out of bins. Not all ex-Reliant employees have good things to say. One told me that the late 1990’s Reliant Robins have more P45 (Body-filler) in them than his old Mk 1 Ford Escourt!

A few years ago I spent my Saturday mornings in the local library digging up old Reliant newspaper articles and also browsed piles of old magazines looking for Reliant Advertisements. The pages in this section therefore may well contain information and photographs that are exclusive to this web site - though I have noticed photos and info from this site appearing in magazines & books unacknowledged.

Whilst researching I also came across an old 8mm BBC film owned by Derrick Smith that was made about Reliant in approximately 1967. I mentioned this to a friend of mine (Mike Redwick Jones) at the Raleigh Safety Seven and Early Reliant Owners club and after contacting the BBC in 1990 they kept a copy for themselves (as they had lost their copy) and converted it to VHS, sending us a copy each. Footage from this video has since appeared in number of BBC programmes.

In 1993 I toured the Reliant factory and took a number of photographs of the Robin LX being manufactured. I was a poor student at the time so only had a little camera so sadly the quality of these photographs is nothing to write home about. I had hoped to tour Reliant again in 2000 following the announcement that no more 3-wheelers were to be made but it seems Reliant no longer cared about people’s interest and I was informed that they were allowing no visits to the site. Reliant made their last 3-wheeler in February 2001. 

Information I have collected about Reliant (and 3-wheelers in general) has found its way into many areas including BBC TV programs, BBC DVDs, Local Radio, newspapers, books and magazines World wide. To all those who acknowledge my work when they use it I thank you. To those who do not - what harm would it do just to put a small thank you somewhere?