Best thing for a Reliant Robin

finally, a question even less interesting than whether britney trims her
pubes or not.

 

Glad to be of service!

T i m

 

SO how old are you again?

 

Hehe, 53 last month.

However, said Uncle (with Regal) had Dads old Lambretta LD150 and was
the type who didn't mind helping an inquisitive 7 year old build
go-carts and the like. I clearly remember helping him push his Regal
back into the drive when he first got it (and was driving it on a bike
licence) until the reverse blanking plate 'just fell off' (well,
between MOT's it did anyway). ;-)

T i m

 

It must have changed sometime in the late '60s. I recall my father
having a Reliant with no reverse gear and later fitting one when the
law changed.

 

Blimey, see other post. I recall my father changing his Reliant and I
am pretty sure I'd not recall anything much from 1963.

 

<VBG>

 

T i m wrote in uk.rec.motorcycles:

Ahh,the memories. My first 'car' was a Reliant Regal Supervan III.
None of yer crap, mind. It was the top-of-the-range 21E (so called, I
believe, because it had 21 extras which included self-parking wipers,
rubber mats and wing mirrors).

 

Champ wrote in uk.rec.motorcycles:

Not quite. They have a reverse facility, but I wouldn't call it a gear
(it's driven by the starter motor).

And not all of them have it. My reverse gear is my feet (or my wife
pushing from the front if there's even a hint of an incline).

 

There's posh! Sfunny isn't it, if you are old enough to remember when
things like self parking wipers (let alone delayed wipers) were
considered an extra.

I never looked forward to going in Uncles Robin, not because of the
vehicle but the way he drove it. There we were with that buzzy little
engine raring to go and he was in top by 20 mph. ;-(

He got stopped on his way home from his mates and asked why he was
'swerving about and had he been drinking'. He asked them if they would
like to have a go keeping it straight in 'this wind' and they sent him
on his way. ;-)

T i m

 

Heh, I know that but then I used to have one. Much fun was to be had 6
up round the (only) roundabout in Fleetwood on 2 wheels!

 

Going back a few more years, my first 4 wheeler was an ex-gasboard Fnord
Popular 100E van. The wipers were vacuum powered so they went berserk
when you lifted off and died when you gave it wellie. Trafficators that
needed a thump on the door pillar to indicate right and just to make
life a little more interesting it had transverse leaf springs, one at
the front and one at the back. The resultant body roll discouraged any
attempts at cornering quickly.

 

Ooops - the perpendicular pop was a 103E (E494C), not a 100E.
Picture at http://www.ford-popular.co.uk/

 

Didn't early VDubs do similar ... or was their weirdness the spare
wheel pressure powered washer system? ;-)

No chance of someone not seeing them though (as long as they came out
that is).

Real fun and at speeds unlikely to kill you if it all went wrong.

See, mebby it's because I've always been old in the head but I've
never yearned for speed or comfort and was quite happily rattling up
from London to Crewe and back to see my g/f once a fortnight in my Ex
BT Morris Minor Van. I say rattling, it was quite nicely decked out
with the right hand glove box paneled off and bristling with every
gauge that Japanese Co made (name escapes me now) and the 2" layer of
foam in the back made a cozy passion wagon when the respective
families were indoors. 70 mph, 50 mph, easy and cheap to work on.

How on earth did I manage to survive to 53 without aircon, ps,
electric windows or electrically adjustable ashtrays. And didn't
knowing you *were* probably going to die in a crash make you drive
safer?

I still like the Escort based kit car. No computers or expensive
things to 'just die' or let you down and is still starting and running
31 years after it was first put together by Ford (and 20 years after
that was done again by us).

And there is a derivative of the same 1300 engine in daughters Ka.

One decent EMP over London and there will only be a few of us (me and
those on MZ's) still moving. ;-)

T i m

 

I can picture it. ;-)

I was regularly driving my Messerschmitt KR200 for about 2 years (post
Lambretta SX150 and pre Moggy Minor van) and by chance met another lad
of similar age and who lived very locally and who had one (well he had
two and his Dad was a good machine engineer).

So, because he was a good Schmitt driver he made either a brilliant or
bastard passenger, depending on what we were doing or his mood etc.

If you were doing reasonable speeds round the local roads him moving
to the wrong side at the back and at just the wrong time would have
the Schmitt up on two wheels. He was either mental or have huge faith
in my driving skills (and it was close a few times!).

It was something different (even then), economical, practical
(compared with the SX150 and as far as keeping dry and carrying goods
etc) and with him in he back you could have all the thrills you
wanted at 25 mph. [1]

The direct 'yoke' steering meant a different sort of thrills when you
were doing 70mph as the slightest lean on the steering would have you
on the wrong side of the road in a split second.

And then here were the brakes ...

My mate leant his 'spare' Schmitt to his mate who rolled it within the
week. ;-(

T i m

p.s. The electric moke is another form of fun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neorion

[1] I was reading one of the numerous tyre threads here the other day
and I remembered how handy the split wheel rims were on both the
Lambretta and Messerschmitt. Never dreamt of taking a wheel in to
somewhere to change a tyre or fix a puncture, you did it yerself on
the pavement or outside the tyre shop. And unlike many modern scooters
you didn't have to remove half the back end and exhaust to get the
wheel off!

 

Having had to put up with shite that didn't have useful additions I'd
not willingly go back to it. AC, PS, EW are pretty much essentials.

The thought never crosses my mind when I am out bike or car, it may do
afterwards but at the time **** that.

 

Agreed, for many, but I guess it's also partly to do with why you are
on the road in the first place and how much you like yer home
comforts.

If you are going out somewhere posh in yer best frock then something
nice and sophisticated would be good (aircon in the summer etc).
However, if you were of for a days yomping through the mud and the odd
fettle then yer Landy would probably appeal. What if you don't have
the cash for both?

Luckily I don't need to commute or do regular long distances (in a car
or on a bike) so when we go out it's usually to be doing something
(like collecting the bike trailer last weekend) and it's nice to be
able to just chuck it in the back and not worry about the upholstery.
We don't have a posh / new car because 1) we can't afford one, 2) I
would hate to leave anything 'valuable' on the public highway and 3)
we (all) would rather spend what money we have on other things.

FWIW, The PS slips sometimes, I have had to rebuild the offside EW
(welding n that) and the n/s can only be moved from the o/s switch.
Oh, and the central locking has a mind of it's own, along with the
alarm. I never had any of this with the old Sierra Estate because it

Hmm, it crosses my mind sometimes [1] and does more often as I've got
older. However, that doesn't vary much between car or bike cos if yer
numbers up <shrug>.

T i m

[1] Especially as driving standards seem to be dropping.

 

.... and was set on fire?

 

boots wrote in uk.rec.motorcycles:

Heh. My Reliant Regal Supervan III 21E had dual zone heating! The
heating "controls" consisted of a flap in each footwell that was either
open or closed, but at least they could be operated independently!

 

T i m wrote in uk.rec.motorcycles:

And carpets. I replaced the Reliant with a MKI Escort Estate and that
only had rubber mats as well. It was very common then (early Seventies
- I'm the same age as you) that poverty spec cars didn't get carpets.

And electric pumps for windscreen washers were only for the very rich
and sophisticated. I remember my MK3 Cortina was very flash as it had
a foot operated pump for the washers with a ring around it that
operated the wipers when you pumped it. Yet they never seemed to think
about actually putting an electric pump in the car!