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The Reliant Rebel Story
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- čas přidán 30. 04. 2020
- 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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The Kitten always impressed me.They were not slow cars back then and were very capable.
I actually adore the design of the original Rebel. It's so incredibly practical and compact.
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!
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?
Gary Walker I agree it seemed an odd choice, however it wasn’t just the hope of more sales, they were selling them faster than they could make them. They appealed to a certain crowd who were staunchly loyal customers, despite looking odd they were reliable, fairly comfortable for the day, and extremely cheap to run and maintain with cheap road tax and insurance.
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.
Thanks Bob!
Same thing here! Thanks for the great videos.
Me too, eh? (That is such a bad stereotype...)
Eh?🤣 the ultimate canadianism
@@bobuncle8704 Eh isn't a stereotype, we really say it all the time
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...)
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.
Well a less known car . Thanks for the coverage. In india we had the Kitten aka the Dolphin manufactured by Sipani Automobiles Ltd.
Am old enough but NEVER saw, let alone heard of, this model 🤔
Good content bud. Thanks 👍.
Scimitar owner here, never liked any other designs of Reliant. But interesting vid and thanks.
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")...
Wasn't the 60s the time of rebelliousness being popular?
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
What a beautiful little car!
I love your videos! We didn't get a lot of the cars you cover here in the USA, so finding out about them is a real treat. Will there be a Reliant Kitten in my future?
Maybe at some point. I got to see one in the flesh in December as we visited someone who was restoring one. Very cool!
Thats quite a good looking little car!! Great video as always 👍😉
Glad you like it!
@@BigCar2 : It looks a lot like the early '70's Honda civic. Thanks for the gr8 info and videos. Keep up the gr8 work.
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.
Ahhh now to get my Big Car fix! ❤
Good job. Your English is lovely. As a Dutchman I don’t need subtitles.
Bloke up the street from me had one of these for years. I think he still has it
David FE Reliant owners were a special breed. They kept their cars for longer then most, and they came back and bought more Reliants
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
Yeah, probably a few days.
also the rebel never had the 850 engine fitted, the very last rebels were built in late 1973 with the last cars registered in 1974, the 850 engine wasn't developed until 1975 and was launched in the kitten
the rebel never had it officially fitted but its a popular modification to do now
The 850 engine was in the robin first. In 75. Then they produced the kitten. The idea was to make a 4wheel version of the robin.
@@81col actually no, the 750 was launched in the robin in 1973, the kitten was launched in 1975 with the new 850cc engine and then the Robin gained the same engine in late 1975
Enjoying learning about all this interesting European cars 🚙 🚗!
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.
SIXTY-BLEEDING FIVE MILES PER GALLON? We've come only downhill, what an amazing number that even a Honda engine wouldn't reach.
Yes, but it had no power, no space and no convenience features to weigh it down.
My parents had a 1972 rebel estate in the darker blue. It was a replacement for a Regal (Del Boy) van which had been written off in an accident that almost killed me. I would have been 4 or 5 at the time.
I'm shocked at the low production numbers.
Brilliant ! I wouldn't mind one of the vans 👌
This is what a modernized Trabant would have been like!
I recognize the rear lights on the estate (license # KUE 752L), they were used on the Turkish car Anadol (also Reliant designed).
Lovely little car, this Rebel. Thanks for posting
Another fine piece!
You are one of the rare people that can talk about anything and it will still sound intersting
Thanks! My next video will be me reading from the telephone directory.
@@BigCar2 I'm already sweating from excitement
@@furkankavsur7638 😋
@@BigCar2 Sounds good. I not sure if there are many collectors of telephone directories and there are so few about, these days!
Amazng! Cant say i have ever seen one on the road, the styling seems to have taken inspiration from models like the Austin 1100 and Mini. Not sure i would want to try 80MPH in one though.
My family owned a Reliant Regal in the mid 70s, my Dad ever the practical traded in our 1969 Mini Cooper in for it as it was starting to suffer from rust. I think the thought of three wheels fiberglass corrosion free bodywork lower cost in road tax was too much of a temptation for him.
When he brought it home as a "surprise for us!" my Mother was shall we say less impressed at his new purchase Haha.
Nice one.
Stay well
Darren (:
Or the 100mph + that the 1600 would have done. I wonder what it's 0-60 would have been.
Just looked online, there were about 20 left on the road a couple of years ago.
I've driven a robin at 80 no issues. And pretty quick round a corner. No signs of lifting a back wheel.
That's a really nice looking car. Pretty cute actually.
My parents went through a Reliant phase, including a Supervan, Rebel & culminating in a Kitten (with alloy wheels no less).
I have to admit I had never heard of the Rebel until watching this!!
That's a British car that I've never seen or heard of before! Thanks for bringing it out to wider attention. A very enjoyable video except for "delete" statement. It really tweaks my OCD when you hear people saying they have deleted their catalytic converter or some such!
There was a Reliant service centre at the back of a house I lived in years ago, it was always amusing watching one bloke carrying an entire body shell across the yard. They didn't have to worry about leaving them out in the elements much.
Interesting seeing all the cars I never knew. Thanks
We had the Reliant Kitten with a 700 cc engine I think, in India in the 1980’s. It was called the Dolphin and there was also an “Estate” version. Brought it by a company called Sipani based in Bangalore. And they developed a 4 door version of the Dolphin and called it the Montana. These were good cars. Fibre glass bodied which meant they would not rust and fall apart.
Standard Motors in Madras brought in the Rover 2000 at first in the 1980’s. Then in the 1990’s the Sipani chaps brought in the Rover Montego.
Sadly Sipani Automobiles just could not sustain themselves and just folded and became defunct.
Was this built under license or imported? I’m surprised that they imported the sister of a car that’s considered a butt of a joke in England, but not the Scimitar. The Kitten would have been a good basis for a small sports car, like the Frogeye Sprite, and just as cute. If they got the Ford Crossflow, it’ll be a missile for its size. It was the British equivalent of the 289ci Small Block Ford.
@@chrishenniker5944 the reliant kitten was sold as the Dolphin in India. It came as a hatchback and as a marginally longer station wagon. It was assembled under license in India by Sipani Automobiles Bangalore. It was tiny and amazingly agile. It was a real favourite for the rallying scene. It’s Finre glass body was such a cool thing. Lightweight. Zero rusting etc. But in the face of its competition, the super reliable, fuss free Maruti Suzuki SS80, 800 cc car, which was backed by a massive country wide dealer and service network, the poor little Dolphin just wilted. Take a look at the info on this wiki link. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipani
@@shankarbalan3813 I though it was under license. Shame they never built the Scimitar under license with a Rover V8 or Buick V6, it could have been India’s Camaro.
@@chrishenniker5944 yes it was made here under licence as I’ve mentioned in my note of today. And yes indeed the Scimitar would have been great. But India in those days was in the throes of the protectionist socialist economy. There was no place for fancy cars. A car was a serious luxury item. And the primary purpose of a car then was people movement and family mobility and functionality, not form. We were very communistic in those days because of our political masters and their leanings. Of course, they themselves were above these rules but the common people had to toe the line.
@@shankarbalan3813 I bet the car scene was very dull during those days. I bet there was nothing fun or exciting about it. No leadsled Ambies, or gasser Padminis running blown Fiat Twin Cam mills, say.
The reliant rebel kinda reminds me of Japanese kei cars like the honda N360/Z360
You should check out the Kitten. A friend had one. It was...small
You should really do a Scimitar episode. That’s a story worth telling.
I'm sure I will at some point.
I was surprised to see this in my recommended for some reason. i was wondering how I hadn't seen it before but it is new. when I first got into cars a couple of years ago I wanted a Reliant Kitten as my first car. The Rebel is the predecessor of course. Pretty good car I think. Problem is there aren't that many and I believe they were expensive new. Oddly there is one still laying around in front of the reliant factory in a picture or documentary I saw from the 90s.
I just brought a rebel estate, needs work but fun to do.
I like your video! If I have an idea of a car story, you'll have the choises to make videos! So in my opinion,that's a good work for you!Thanks Big Car!
Reliant Rebel is my favourite Reliant and by far the most underrated. In my opinion, it is more stylish and far more spacious than the Kitten. I am always on the lookout for one I could afford, but the car is rarer than a three-eyed hooker these days!
A decent little car, of which I'd never heard. If only they'd included a hatch - though you could say that about so many 60s cars. Thanks for posting.
Another informative and interesting video. Thank you. I'm pretty certain that we were able to buy Jowetts in Australia, but I don't think Reliants were sold here. I suspect that our vast distances might have made finding customers a bit of a challenge, especially for the small engine three wheelers. Hats off, though, to the small car makers who managed to stay in production in the face of competition from BMC, Rootes, Ford and Vauhall, etc. After over seventy years of production we lost Holden to the bean counters at GM recently, so even established makes are not a safe bet.
You're welcome David!
I had a kitten and a supervan 111 and yes I would have them again in a heartbeat
I know they're very light . Went with friends for a night out in the west end , couldn't get it to fit in a tight parking spot so we picked it up and dropped it in the gap .
A bit less than 500 Kg I think.
A few years ago I saw a 1967 Rebel at the British Auto Jumble in the Netherlands. It was the only example imported here. It is still roadworthy and driving around.
www.flickr.com/photos/91728279@N06/26852814260
3:55 The Reliant Scimitar. It is mandatory to note that "Princess Anne had one, you know".
Brilliant! Will you ever do the story of the TW9?
I'm pretty sure I I saw some of these cars back in 1974 (at the age of 8) when returning to the UK after living in W.Germany for 4 years. But it is a distant memory indeed!
Love your videos. Are you considering making a video on the Toyota Publica? Not a very well known model but it is the predecessor for both the Starlet and the Corolla.
Nice One and brings Back Bad Memories - mine must have been a Friday Afternoon Special! Aka Reliant Refuse Receptacle¥ Xxx
Mate of mines mum had one of these in the 80's then a Kitten after that😎
Very nice video, and i never ever have seen one on the road
Wow. This is incredibly funny the rebel in the thumbnail is one me and my father restored
Awesome!
@@BigCar2 thanks, took lots of work
@@lyndon5715 I bet it did. Great job!
Love the channel, could you do a vid on the Reliant Scimitar, always had a soft spot for them.
I'd like to do it as well, but not sure when.
Hi mate. One day could you do the story of the Opel manta please. My dad had a Opel manta 1.9 berinetta and he loved it. Thanks. Love your videos mate keep them coming they are fantastic
Love the videos, Mr. Big Car! Can you do one on the Smart Car?
DER VERRÜCTE SPATENWAHNSINNIGE Smart would be a great subject for Big Car.
Maybe in the future.
@@andrewstones2921 Agreed
@@BigCar2 Thank you!
Interesting stuff. Enjoy your videos, keep up the great work.
Can you do one about the once famous but nearly forgot Fiat X1/9? :)
I likely will at some point.
@@BigCar2 cool! 😙🎶
Superb car; I had two of them. My first one I got for a thousand quid, the owner also supplied an envelope of receipts totalling around six grand, including engine mods, suspension mods, and welding, lots of welding.This should have been a warning sign... I thought if I could keep her for at least one year, at least I would have owned an X1/9.
I held on to her for three years, beautiful, good handling, babe magnet car. Dodgy electrics and seat trim prone to splitting but rust being the main problem, sadly. I bought a second one in good nick, but when the rust started to appear I got rid to a good owner, and as far as I know she is still alive.
I'm 6'5 and had to take the roof off to fit in the X/19, fun drive weather permitting.
Maybe also do the Fiat 128.
According to how many left, there's just 101 of these remaining that are currently registered on a sorn or are on the road.
14 Vans
43 600cc models
30 700cc models
14 750cc models
Add in the ones that have been hidden away in lockups that aren't on a sorn, plus ones in other countries and the total is probably around 150 - 200 left in existence.
To my knowledge I only saw 1 reliant rebel in my life which was a k plate green van with cream coloured steel wheels back in early 90s , saw plenty of Kittens though which have sadly gone the same way as now a very rare sight
Keep up the good work, love the videos.
Great video, cant remember seeing one either,
Superb video, thanks.
Great vlog as always!
Thanks Torgeir!
Can you imagine that little car with the Ford 1600 engine in it? It would have been mental
Indeed! And probably dangerous.
Never seen a Rebel in real life and didn't know about them until I started following Hubnut. Think that they really look good considering when they were made, especially like the estate, little bit like a Giardinetta!
I've half an idea that the Rebel was actually a bit roomier than the Kitten that replaced it. (?)
Shape looks more square I suppose.
I wish I had been born in 1964, and I would now be aged 59
Very informative. I don't think i have ever seen a Rebel. Could you do a future car story about those fibreglass 3 wheeled invalid carriages?. I think they were invacars??
OMG - actually remember those! Available in one colour only 💠 or virtually identical shade 😊.
The Thunderslay Invacar... in glorious 'Ministry Blue' :D
@@leftpastsaturn67 As driven by HubNut!
I seriously looked into this a few months ago, but it got sidelined.
Very interesting Andy, the side and rear treatments are reminiscent of the Morris 1100 and later Austin 1800, but I guess those themes were in the minds of most designers of the day.
Thx for this informative video, I saw Scimitar's in Australia but whether just courtesy of British immigrants or available for local sales I don't know.
Glad you liked it John!
Probably privately imported. Even if Reliant looked at the Australian market at the time, they would have been unlikely to scale the tarrif walls in place and assembling locally would have also been difficult unless a local partner was identified. Goggomobil managed to work the concept.
The Reliant Robin was the most successful Reliant but i think talking about how the Reliant 3 wheelers kept the company going for so so long would be an interesting thing to talk about.
It would, but for some reason Reliants don’t seem that popular.
@@BigCar2 I see. The thing is there isn't that much interesting history behind the car company itself compared to everything else. The most interesting part of the Reliant story is the very underserved reputation which revolved around the car for decades as a result of unreasonable hate of the car's exterior design. The amount of misinformed people about the car's stability easily reaches tens of millions.
That's what i would like to see mentioned. Not all three wheelers because it's all about the Robin.
At car shows the most common question i get asked is if they roll over. Not because of the three wheels but because it's a Reliant Robin.
Ibishu Pidgeon got four wheels too just now.
Great video as usual. Would love to see I video on Proton/Lotus.
To my eyes, I see echoes of the Rebel's styling in the Nissan Pao .
How on earth have I never known about the Reliant Rebel until now? !!!??
A 160GT powered one would have been lethal in the wet on 70's tyres but huge fun.
Please do the bigger Reliants, The Sabre and Scimitar
Scimitar Vid?.
Probably at some point.
@@BigCar2 Yes please!
@@BigCar2 Yes please! Include the Sabre too.
WOW! Great stuff ... I have never heard of or ever seen a Rebel. What a neat looking car too. As an ex Ogle design manager I should be ashamed ... And I am.
Cool Car 😀
Consider making a zastava yugo video,but please don't roast it like others since it wasn't that bad. Keep up the good work.
E za video o Yugiću mora bit netko sa naših prostora, čak i da pokušaju, stranci jednostavno nemaju ni izvore za sve promjene u proizvodnji koji su se dogodili.
Aleksandar Čavić I love the videos of cars that were not loved in their day. Maybe in the UK or USA the Yugo was like that, not loved and hence not maintained and valueless which resulted in poor reliability and worsening reputation. I drove one once, it was a decent enough car at the time that I drove it, but they were so cheap in the UK that they were virtually given away when a few years old.
@@andrewstones2921 it was a cheap car and its only goal was to put yugoslavs on wheels...so quality was dubious...but back at that time fiats,seats,skodas were no better at all.
Glam Stachee's 1980s nostalgia lounge English please
That fateful decision to stop production of all other models and products, just to satisfy demand for Reliant Robin was to be the ultimate undoing of Reliant. It was a short-sighted, penny-wise decision that corralled the company into a slim product profile and ultimately to its demise. They would have been better off expanding production capacity, even if they had to take a loan. As the British public became wealthier, Reliant Rebel would have grown in popularity (an alternative to Mini) and served as an excellent compliment to the Scimitar. Instead, Reliant corralled itself into a situation where its bread and butter was limited to only three wheeler vehicles which quickly became unpopular and unfashionable in the 80s. The rest is history....
The reliant Scimitar will always be their greatest achievement, its still a desireable classic, and reliable.
Princess Anne helped with the marketing.!
In 1968 we had one of these in p/x at our Garage, and I can honestly say it was the worst car I have ever driven to this day. No wonder the owners only kept it a year - 50 mph was deafening, not just engine noise, rattling from everywhere as well; the doors were so light they flapped - 70mph? - for the brave or suicidal. If you think you've got the worst car in the world, drive one of these - it will cheer you up!
In 2019 I drove one 100 miles a day for work. More than 45mph and the car wasn't happy
I've only ever seen one Reliant. I visited Granada, an island that later became famous for other issues than vanilla production. It was in 1980, and there was a derelict Rebel van behind the Public Works building, along with a lot of other derelict vehicles, about half British and half American. It's a car I had never seen before, but one of the workers confirmed it was a Reliant Rebel. It was apparently provided by the British around 1970 as foreign aid. They'd drive all the donated vehicles until something they couldn't figure out how to fix, or a needed part was to expensive to buy. Then it was out behind the garage as a parts vehicle. Britain donated six of them, and none of them lasted more than a couple years. It wasn't just British foreign aid either. The US donated ten Ford F250 4WD pickups in the early 70's to help with road work. Those were far too complicated for Grenadian mechanics to fix, and parts, when they could get them, were far too expensive to buy, so they were all in the parts yard too. The only thing they kept running consistently were Toyota pickups, about as simple a truck there was, and perfectly adapted to Caribbean needs. So, in case you were wondering where your foreign aid money went, part of it is out back behind the garage in Grenada. :-)
Wow this really was rebelling against what they have done in the past :)
a Bond Bug maybe soon?
One of the most quirky cars on UK roads ever.
Maybe
I loved the Scimitar, probably because I had 2 Capri.
A small number of Carmel produced in Greece by Attica, based on Israel's Carmel (based on British Reliant). Btw, it would be nice to see a video about the Opel Omega/Vauxhall Carlton story!
I'm not qualified to find any errors in the Wikipedia article, but FYI the video description text box still has the EXP link in it :)
Thanks for catching that - I've updated it!
Yes. More on obscure British stuff, please. Jensen Motors?
I did think of the Jensen Interceptor the other day. Probably the coolest name for a car.
@@BigCar2 Yes I'd love to see a video on the Interceptor with its Mopar 440ci monster engine.
My Dad had a Regal years before I was born. He broke it up parts but was left with a bare shell and no way to get rid of it. So he burned it, said it smouldered for days.
Built in Turkey? That's interesting. It shows that building cars abroad to save production costs is nothing new.
That was only the 3 pre-production cars though right? The car was probably developed in Turkey like the Anadols. The Fox and I think the Ant were developed in Greece.
Surely the story of the Reliant Robin will follow.
It will have to at some point!
Another CZcamsr has a four wheeled Reliant. I can't remember whether it was a Rebel. Oh, I went back and saw that it was a Reliant Fox. That car struck me as very "plasticky" and not a full fledged car. These pictures make the Rebel appear to be a great economy car and I wonder why it wasn't made and sold in greater numbers. Just when I thought I had seen every car ever made, along comes another one I see for the first time!