Reliant Motors Guides, Photos and Videos

Reliant was a British car manufacturer, traditionally based at Tamworth in Staffordshire, England.

Reliant Motor Company was a large manufacturing company which mainly produced vehicles for niche markets such as small three-wheeled vehicles and sports cars, Reliant was best known for the three-wheeled Reliant Robin, but produced a variety of vehicles over 60 years, including popular sports cars, convertibles and commercial vehicles. Around half a million Reliant vehicles were produced, and were sold in at least nine countries. For a period from the 1970s to the 1990s, Reliant was the UK's 2nd biggest British-owned car manufacturer behind British Leyland.

To make their low weight vehicles the company decided to produce bodyshells from fibreglass in the mid 1950s, from this Reliant became a pioneer in fibreglass design, technique and developments. Reliant would produce much more than vehicle related fibreglass though such as kitchen tops, train bodies and jet ski shells. In the 1970s Reliant were the largest producer of glass fibre in Europe.

The only part of Reliant Motor Company LTD that still operates is Reliant Partsworld, which produces spares for Reliant vehicles.

When the Raleigh Bicycle Company decided to discontinue the manufacture of their three-wheeled vehicles in 1934, their Works Manager T. L. Williams and a colleague, E. S. Thompson, felt that the days of lightweight three-wheelers were not over. They decided to build their own vehicle in Williams's back garden at Kettlebrook Road, Tamworth. The homebuilt design closely resembled the Karryall van previously built by Raleigh, and the prototype was licensed in January 1935. It was a 7 cwt (356 kg) van with a steel chassis, powered by a 600 cc single-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels through a 3-speed gearbox and chain drive. The body was a hardwood frame with aluminium panels attached to it, in the manner of the time. With the motorcycle front end, mounted in the open, in front of the bulkhead, it was essentially a motorcycle fitted with a box body. The initial prototype had handlebars for steering although after several trials with small local companies, this was changed for a steering wheel.

The work moved to a disused bus depot on Watling Street in Fazeley. On 3 June 1935, the first Reliant was delivered. Powered by a single-cylinder air-cooled 600cc J.A.P. engine, the driver sat centrally on the vehicle astride the engine, much like a motorcyclist. The single-cylinder engine left the Reliant underpowered. In March 1936 a two-cylinder, water-cooled J.A.P. engine and an increase to 8 cwt (407 kg) gross vehicle weight (gvw) was released. The driver no longer sat astride the engine and the vehicle gained more conventional forward-facing seats in the front. The first improved 8cwt twin cylinder model was delivered on 16 March 1936.

In 1938 the Reliant Motor Company started to use the 747cc four-cylinder 7 hp Austin side-valve engine as found in the popular Austin Seven. The first four-cylinder Reliant was delivered on 12 March 1938. The Austin Car Company then announced their intention to cease production of the 747cc Austin Seven engine. Williams was always enthusiastic about making Reliant as self-reliant as possible. He was keen that the company did not buy parts that it could make 'in-house'. Austin sold all the 747cc engine tooling and manufacture rights to Reliant. Reliant therefore commenced to manufacture this engine. Although appearing very similar to the Austin engine, the level of commonality between Reliant and Austin remains unclear; the Reliant side-valve engine was a 747cc four-cylinder unit built using smaller-scale manufacturing techniques than Austin. The Reliant crankcase was sand-cast rather than die-cast.

During the Second World War Reliant machined parts for the war effort. In the post-war years, three-wheeler development continued. Reliant introduced a slightly modified van called the Regent. Visually similar to an oversized motorcycle, the first Regent was completed on 13 March 1946, ten years after the first twin-cylinder van.

The Regent grew to a GVW of 10 cwt and was better equipped with sliding windows in the doors, rather than canvas side screens. Two larger models were produced, a 12 cwt Regent and a Prince Regent. In 1953, the Regent continued to be built alongside the Reliant Regal. The Regent was eventually replaced by the Regal Mk II 5cwt van in 1956.

In 1952 a four-seat car version was launched, initially with an aluminium body, but panel by panel the company substituted glass fibre, as the company's understanding of the material improved and the price of aluminium increased. By 1956 the bodywork of the (by now) Mark 3 version of the Reliant Regal had changed completely to glass fibre, the first generation of vehicles were Mk1 to Mk6 with each one getting improvements and slightly different styling, the car was originally powered by the Austin Seven engine but when production ended on that design by Austin Motor Company, Reliant bought the design and redesigned it with improvements giving the 750cc engine 17.5 hp which was a big improvement over the 7hp of the original Austin design. Reliant were one of the last companies to produce a sidevalve engine design with production of the Reliant 750cc engine ending in 1962.

By 1963 the all new Regal 3/25 had its body completely made of fibreglass. On previous generations of the Regal the body was fibreglass, but the floor was made of hardwood that was bolted together. The engine was Europe's first mass-produced lightweight overhead valve aluminium alloy engine and the UK's first British overhead valve all-alloy engine, initially 598cc on the Regal 3/25 but later upgraded to 700cc on the later Regal 3/30.

At the same time Reliant were working for other countries to design vehicles for home-grown production. Vehicles would be sent over in kit form for the countries' own workforce to assemble. Reliant would first design the vehicle to the countries' or companies' requirements. The first was the Anadol in Turkey, which was based on a mix of Ford parts and a custom chassis. The Anadol began as a 2-door saloon, then a 4-door saloon, followed by commercial pickup and van versions. The pickup carried on production until the early 1990s.

Another vehicle of this sort of start was the Sabra also based on Ford running gear and engine. A 2-door coupe or convertible for Autocars Co. was designed for Israel. Reliant was so impressed with the design they sold it in the UK under the name Sabre, also to help Reliant's company image expand beyond a 3-wheeled micro-car maker. The car sold poorly against competitors such as Triumph and MG.

Later Reliant bought a prototype design for the replacement Daimler Dart which would later become the Scimitar Coupe and later would become the best-selling sporting estate – the Scimitar GTE.

To power the Scimitar GT Coupe and Sabre, Reliant turned towards Ford of Britain and were supplied with the Zephyr 6 and Consul 4 engines. The Coupe GT could be purchased with either the 2.5 litre or the 3.0 litre Essex V6 engines. Later, 3.0 GTE's were fitted with the "Essex" V6 engine and gearbox. On the 3.0 V6 GTE the back axle ratio changed depending on the use of either a straight 4-speed gearbox or one with an overdrive unit.

Reliant bought out Bond Cars in 1969 after Bond had gone into liquidation. Reliant purchased Bond after wanting to enter Triumph dealerships. Bond's equipe sports car already had this agreement, but sadly Triumph entered British Leyland and this deal ended. It is said that Bond was Reliant's main competitor in 3-wheeled vehicles with the Bond Minicar and the Bond 875, but Reliant vehicles outsold Bond in huge numbers with a much larger production and dealer network. Reliant did use the Bond name for the 1970s Bond Bug, which was a Reliant prototype originally named the Reliant Rogue, a sporty 3-wheeler designed by the Ogle designer Tom Karen. The Bug used a shortened Reliant Regal chassis and other mechanical parts, but many of the new parts such as the front swing arm were a brand new design that would also be used on the new Reliant Robin of 1973. The Bond Bug came in 700, 700E and 700ES models until replaced by the 750 model and production ended.

Reliant built 4-wheeled versions of their 3-wheeled stablemates – the original was called the Reliant Rebel, which had three-quarters of the rear chassis design of the Regal, but Triumph Herald front suspension and standard Austin Seven steering. The engines were the same 600cc and 700cc as the Regal but with higher compression and more torque because of the extra weight the Rebel carried over the Regal. The last model came with the 750cc version when the Mk1 Reliant Robin was introduced. The styling of the Rebel was intended to make the car look unique so it did not seem like a 4-wheeled version of the Regal; the Rebel came in saloon, estate and van models.

The Reliant Kitten was the 4-wheeled version of the 1970s Reliant Robin, designed to replace the Rebel and featuring the 850cc version of Reliant's own engine, which was introduced in 1975 (with the Reliant Robin gaining the engine shortly afterwards). The design this time featured very heavily on the Reliant Robin with only the nose of the design being different, having square headlights and a black panel around them – this was done mainly for cost-saving reasons so the parts from both vehicles could be shared for production.

After Reliant Kitten production stopped in 1982, the rights were sold to Sipani Automobiles in India who made the vehicle near-exactly the same, but with the name Sipani Dolphin. Later the vehicle became a 4-door hatchback called the Sipani Montana. The car was built well into the 1990s with exactly the same Kitten mechanicals. Reliant exported engines they had built for their own vehicles in the UK.

Complete article available at this page.