1975 Reliant Robin restoration by DRIVEN.co

YES it's real. A California Licensed and titled Right hand drive Reliant Robin. A Top Gear Legend or Pluck up your inner Mr. Bean and have a barrel of laughs. SOLD thank you

[marclaw]

These cars put a smile on your face.Made these in tamworth uk.I pass where they were made weekly.

[stephenbibby]

Love it . I had 5 Reliants during the 1980’ s great little cars.

[lachlanbruce]

In Scotland and England we use them in banger racing can’t believe how much your selling that for looks good

[theboystone]

Great cars had a super van in 1973 then a bright yellow robin in 1976 from new went to Scotland no issues 70mpg

[ericedwards]

Worth thousands now especially the only fools and horses trottervan

[jonathancmilne]

Hi the reliant Engine was an all alloy 750cc then 850cc Engine that they designed themselves, My Late father had 7 between 1972-1989 on his motorcycle licence before passing his four wheel test. many holidays spent as a child in the back of a robin! :)

[petewadsworth]

I passed my test on a motorlike that meant i could drive one of these ass well so I got one in 1977.

[drivenco]

Awesome! Thanks so much.  Information is a bit hard to come by here.  I do believe it is running the SU carb now. Runs great after a tune by the local British car shop. I'm finishing up a 72 Regal now. Perhaps you would provide some insight on that one as well?

[Pancho]

Is this car located and/or being driven near John Wayne airport? I swear I saw it on the street a week ago. I went nuts.

[drivenco]

I still have it for sale though I'm not in a great hurry to do so.

[jaggass]

cant believe california let a 3 wheeled car into their state they are the strictest state when it comes to cars. nice to see a robin make it across the pond. iconic cars

[johnhuggins]

A 1974 Reliant Robin van not 1972.The N plate is 74/75.The Regal was still being made in 1972.The Robin a year later.

[albion]

The first regals had a 600cc engine, I had a 1965 model.

[bloodyhell]

Getting an '89 Reliant Rialto soon, that's gonna be anorher Reliant in the 'States. Can't wait to confuse the hood lol

[CARTALKUK]

85mph .... My project will do 140+ mph I did 80 mph on a country road and in the UK there not straight

[billknowles]

Hi Tomo, that's a great Robin in really nice condition but I have to tell you, as a member of the Reliant Owners' Club in Britain, there's some facts not right in your film.
1. We use miles, same as you, hence "MPH" on the speedo. So it's 74k miles, not km.
2. The engine was built specially by Reliant, the only part it shares with the sprite/mini etc is the lucas distributor (and even then, the advance weights are different). The Reliant engine is wet-lined aluminium while the mini/sprite use the cast-iron A-series engine. Some body/brake parts are common to Triumph or Mini. Most parts are readily available from export specialists in UK.
3. Yours is a '75 Robin (see below), Robin was launched in late '73.
4. Unless the engine has been changed later, the pre -76 Robin has a 748cc engine. You can tell by the lower fuel filler, 848s was above the bumper/fender line. Good news is, many enthusiasts regard this as a better engine than the 848 as it is more reliable and revvy. This car was registered as 748cc according to UK government data when it left the UK in 2000 (and, incidentally, doesn't show registered with UK government as exported):
Vehicle details
6 month rate £44.00
12 month rate £80.00
Vehicle make RELIANT
Date of first registration 30 April 1975
Year of manufacture 1975
Cylinder capacity (cc) 748cc
CO₂Emissions Not available
Fuel type PETROL
Export marker No
Vehicle status Not taxed
Vehicle colour RED

[pidgey]

I had no idea there were any of these brought to North America.

[ellenorbjornsdottir]

Hey is this still selling? If I get my hands on it I'd do all kinds of conversions on it (5spd, series electric-gasoline, plow truck, stance or ballast)

[jibjab]

Where do you get your info from?. Reliant Regals were not used by the postal service, MG parts are completely different from Reliant parts. Yes it will do 85mph. Your paint job looks too shiny for a Reliant, being fibreglass they were not very shiny. Good vid though, they are wacky cars. I had 5 in the past. The reason they were popular in the 1970s was that they were classed as a Tricycle, not as a car. That meant you could drive one on a Motorcycle or even a learners licence and the road tax was same as a motorcycle. Lots of bikers used them for winter transport, not having a full car licence.

[danielclift]

unless somebody has fitted the later 848cc engine then this car is a 748cc as it was when new. it was first registered 30 April 1975 and the last tax ran out on it july 1st 2000. got the info from the registration plate number on the dvla website also shows as no export marker meaning the reg number is still registered here in the uk. also the speedo should be in mph if you look ? as it was made in england and we use mph over here not kph. there was a few reliant robin models made this is a mk1 also reliant made a fair few 4 wheeled cars to and the reliant 3 wheeler was made famous more by the tv show only fools and horses than top gear. i have a replica of the only fools one myself hence the profile pic. its a reliant regal also have a reliant rialto 3 wheeler.