Reliant Robin

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1974 Reliant Robin

Reliant Robins are also raced by enthusiasts

The Reliant Robin (often incorrectly referred to as a Robin Reliant) is a small three-wheeled car manufactured by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England. Being a three-wheeler, the Robin can be driven by holders of a B1 category licence or car licence in the United Kingdom, and can be registered and taxed as a tricycle at considerable savings over a conventional car. The single wheel in the front steered, while the engine (also in the front) drove the rear axle.

The most famous, but extremely rare, version was powered by a supercharged Rover V8 engine which was placed in the back of the car. The weight of the engine could cause uncontrollable wheelies, which was commonly dealt with by mounting wheelie bars.

The Robin was first manufactured in 1973 and the final original Robin rolled off the production line in 1981. The vehicle was also produced under licence in Greece by MEBEA between 1974 and 1978. In 1989, Reliant produced a new and totally revamped Robin featuring a new fibreglass body, and increased engine power. This Robin and variants of it were available until February 2001 when Reliant announced the end of production. The final sixty-five Robins designed in 1997 manufactured by Reliant formed a Special Edition known as the Robin 65, featuring leather trim, walnut interior, and a numbered plaque, and sold for approximately £10,000. Manufacturing of the Robin resumed under licence by a company called B&N Plastics in April 2002, but stopped in October of the same year.

Reliant three-wheelers enjoy a special place in British culture, often as the butt of jokes. The Reliant Robin is staple material for comedian Jasper Carrott. However, perhaps two of the best known Reliants in British comedy are actually Reliant Regal Supervans — the dirty yellow van owned by the Trotter brothers in Only Fools and Horses, and the light blue which always ends up getting tipped over, crashed into, bumped out of its parking space etc by an Austin Mini in Mr Bean.

Robins are raced, as shown in the photograph on the right. During races several cars usually overturn. The driver can return the car onto its wheels unaided from inside the car by rocking it and pushing down on the track through the window.

The Reliant Robin (actually a Reliant Regal van) in the television show "Only Fools and Horses" is now a super-charged race car and has won 17 of its 21 races this season at "Reliant Madness" which takes place every sunday at St. Dennis in Cornwall, England. The 4 races it didn't win were because the chassis "couldn't take the pain" of the super-charged V8, according to Nick Wherry, company executive.

In the February 18, 2007 episode of Top Gear, a Reliant Robin was used by Richard Hammond and James May in an attempt to modify a normal K-reg Robin into a reusable space shuttle.^[1] Steve Holland, a professional radio-controlled aircraft pilot, helped Hammond to work out how to land a Robin safely. The craft achieved a successful launch, flew for several seconds into the air and managed to successfully jettison the solid fuel rocket boosters on time. However the car failed to separate from the large external fuel tank and the Robin subsequently crashed and exploded into the ground soon after.

In the UK, the Reliant Robin is affectionately nicknamed the "Plastic Rat" because of its distinctive shape and fibreglass bodyshell.