Pity your in Essex - you could have had my old 4 door Modus for free - needs a front spring / some tyres / electric windows fixing - plus side it does 70 to 80 to the gallon
Just putting it out there..... Great Livery, decent MPG, Fibreglass outer shell so will never rot...Whats not to love.....You're welcome
Ah, the memories come flooding back... I had one of these abominations as my first company car. I kid you not. Had it on opposite lock once, around Parliament square of all places and put it through a privet hedge near Hampton Court to avoid rolling it. It was already up on two wheels and on it's way over, it was the only way... the hedge was separating the main road from a service road with shops and there was also a grass verge before the service road, so little harm done and the hole in the hedge soon grew back. I soon got fed up with lateral wheelies though and and bought my own Sunbeam Imp Sport. Much more like it...
Too kind... blush... The final straw was when I ended up driving on two wheels for a hundred yards or so. The suspension was almost non existent, so it had Pirelli Extraflex tyres fitted as some sort of compensation. These had sharp, square shoulders that wanted to follow any ridge in the road and a poorly repaired trench in the road pushed he car across against a hedge before I could react and the inside wheel climbed the hedge. It was like something out of an 80s Bond film with me driving along balanced on two wheels, waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic to be able to jink right to plonk it back down. That certainly put my heart rate up. It wasn't all bad. It was light enough to be quite lively and with one front wheel the steering was very light and direct. The exhaust note was pretty fruity as well, so with a light and accurate gear change, it actually felt quite sporty and fun.
My grandad who lived off Holderness road in Hull had a beige robin reliant. He and my nan only used it once a week to do the shopping. I think in the 5 years from new, he had only done something like 600 miles. My uncle, who was sacked from the army for recovering artillery shells from the range, polishing them up and selling them at the German market he was stationed near, asked to borrow the reliant for a few weeks as he was looking for a job. Given my Uncles history, they should have been cautious, even more so as he lived on the Bransholme estate. 5 months later they got it back in a right old state and almost falling apart. It also had three and a half thousand miles extra on it. When asked, my uncle said he had been travelling to work in it everyday. What he didn't tell them was that he had been using their robin reliant as illegal mini cab and when he wasn't driving it personally, he was renting it out to other illegal cabbies. Why you would get into a cab that is a robin reliant is beyond me but people did. So every time I see a robin reliant, it does make me chuckle.
Ahhh mamories In the early 80's my mate Roger bought an early 70's Chevy Impala with electric roof. One particular night he had been to a local village pub in a mates Reliant Regal Van. On the way back Sam rolled his van and the roof collapsed. As it was back then all survived without a scratch and the tipped it back over and drove it back the same night, necks bent due to the lower roof. Roger was (still is) a bit of a nutter. The next morning he pulled up at my parents house where I was still sleeping. I heard my mother shouting: Stuart get up! that nutter's here, tell him to get his car off my garden. He had driven straight over her rose bushes onto the from lawn. I asked him what was happening, he said jump in we're going to Sam's - 300 yards and we were at Sam's, I could here Sam's mam shouting: Sam that nutter is here! Roger had a tendency to act like one of his patients - from leaving school with A levels he had first become a dustbin man, then a Psychiatric Therapist. When out on day trips with patients he found it sometimes better to act like a nutter so people didn't realise he was in charge. So, on this particular day as Sam opened the door Roger was foaming at the mouth and slavering, shouting 'Sam Sam, get a saw, has your dad got a saw. He was handed an old rusty panel saw and immediately stared attacking Sam's Regal van on the driveway. He sawed under the windscreen at the pace of a proper mentalist, around the van at the same level and proceeded to tip the entire roof onto Sam's mothers front lawn. Sam said now what Roger, as the last pieces of flailing slaver dripped from Rogers face, 'NOW WHAT!?!?' Roger shouted disbelievingly, NOW WE GO CRUISING TOGETHER!!! So a day ensued with me and Roger in his open top Chevy (about 22 foot long) driving around York with Sam in his half a Regal Van cruising along behind. Fun times...
Roger is still as mad now and still lives just down the road - has a Series 1 E Type Roadster now and still has several bikes. He's Building Control Officer for York Council now.
It's amazing where people end up. My best mate in the 6th form ended up on the board of Aviva. Retired now...
