The Reliant Rebel Story

The Reliant Rebel is a small four-wheeled car that was produced by Reliant between 1964 and 1974. It designed as a conventional small car to help Reliant move away from purely three wheeler production. It was considered a rival to the Austin Mini and Hillman Imp. It was marketed as the smart alternative, because it had a rust-free glass-fibre body, a robust chassis and frugal fuel economy. Many models were produced from 600cc, 700cc, and 750cc with saloon, estate and van variants.

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#bigcar

[jackking]

The Kitten always impressed me.They were not slow cars back then and were very capable.

[shadowsnake]

I actually adore the design of the original Rebel. It's so incredibly practical and compact.

[vintagehype]

Well a less known car . Thanks for the coverage. In india we had the Kitten aka the Dolphin manufactured by Sipani Automobiles Ltd.

[hoppinonabronzeleg]

I remember my Dad buying one early 70's to replace a D registered Mini van we had. It was Orangey red, reg XUG 799J. He replaced it in 1975 with a T reg Vauxhall Viva. I remember it had brown plastic seats, with a rear passenger trim panel that was literally glued on. It constantly peeled back despite my dad's best efforts to bond it back in place!

[tedf]

I had an 'L' reg Rebel van and converted it into an estate car. A very practical load shifter ( I shudder to think of the loads I carried in it...)

[adamweston]

I would have loved to have had a go of the 1600 rebel, sounds awesome!!I'm a 70s kid and I remember seeing rebel's on the road, a girl in my primary school used to be dropped off by her mum in one.thanks for the video, please make more.

[GaryJohnWalker]

Wow, mid 70s and Reliant pinned their future on the 3 wheel Robin. How many middle aged ex-bikers but with no car licence were there by then?

[bobuncle]

I so enjoy these videos. Being Canadian, many of these cars are new to me, and really enjoy these back stories. Keep up the good work.

[bid]

Scimitar owner here, never liked any other designs of Reliant. But interesting vid and thanks.

[grahamnutt]

Am old enough but NEVER saw, let alone heard of, this model 🤔
Good content bud. Thanks 👍.

[geespar]

This is superbly researched and presented, also I never knew about the Rebel, great little car with a very interesting history, would make a lovely classic to own but I would imagine they’re a bit of a ‘find’ now and quite valuable

[notroll]

Pretty courageous choice of name, I'd say. Especially in the 1960s or early 1970s, I'd have expected a "rebellious" Bristish car not to start (cf. Fawlty Towers, "Gourmet Nights")...

[willswheels]

Excellent video! These are quite rare cars, and I think when they were new they weren’t that conspicuous!
I think this was down to price as Reliant did charge quite a premium for their cars, I think the Robin although being a 3 wheeler was more expensive to buy than an equivalent 4 wheeled car of its day like a Mini for example so this may explain the scarcity of the Reliant Rebel and Kitten these days, plus the fact they weren’t really mass produced.

[DAVIDE-bkby]

Bloke up the street from me had one of these for years. I think he still has it

[CharlieFlemingOriginal]

Never seen it before, what a good looking car! to think of the tat BL were making at the time, what a shame this car didn't become an icon.

[andrewstones]

Fantastic video, as always very detailed and well produced. If the car was driven overnight from Turkey to Earls Court then it must have sprouted wings and flew, take it from someone who driven it, you cannot do that overnight! At that time, with the roads as they were, 4 days would be a massive achievement

[FrankypankyV]

Lovely little car, this Rebel. Thanks for posting

[furkankavsur]

You are one of the rare people that can talk about anything and it will still sound intersting

[ericgeorge]

I have to admit I had never heard of the Rebel until watching this!!

[martijnvangorp]

Good job. Your English is lovely. As a Dutchman I don’t need subtitles.