Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

While searching Amazon for GRP repair kits I stumbled upon http://www.amazon.com/Restore-Reliant-Regal-Step---Step/dp/1845840046/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390327381&sr=8-3&keywords=isopon+p40

Oh my...

I'll bet there's been a Reliant enthusiast or two that have had the same reaction to Gordon Lund's guide for Elans. Car nuts are not rational people. We're really not.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I get it!
I had a Regal and a Robin. I had near death experience in the Regal. Story is a bit of a hoot when in company after a few jars.
Look how much interest there is on old mopeds. Look on EBay. Old Nsu's, Raleigh?s, etc etc. Not just the FS1E's and Casals. You won?t get an old moped for much under ?450 that is complete. They are in fashion as are quirky cars.
I get as much fun out of doing the restoration and research and the people you meet along the way.
Passes winter over and keeps your head going. I am proud to say I would quite happily do a Regal, Robin or Bond bug. Then there is the nostalga.

Mike

And... I think I might buy the book. I am intrigued that it is said to be well wriiten.

My merory is stirred. A pale bule (brush painted) Regal got me away from motor bikes in the winter snow. How good was it going to work, out of the weather, in a nice warm cab. Even changed the gearbox and rebuilt the engine on the spare kitchen table. Next best thing to a sidecar kneeler outfit of you are 17 and you get your mate to hang out of the passenger door on left hand bends. Until the door dropped off. The driver one dropped off in Blackpool in a gust of wind. Then the fibre glass had to be got out.

Mike

I had no jack for mine, just a wheelbrace and a milking stool

Brilliant fun, chucking it around on wet roads gave more than a frisson of excitement as it was 50/50 whether you could induce it to drift (cant really call it a power slide!) or whether it would roll, also when the tyres gripped again it would frequently roll, one night we had it over several times.

A few energetic mates moving from side to side in the back in unison could even cause it to roll when driving in a straight line.

I used to watch them racing, they would go clockwise on an oval circuit and the biggest fattest guys were the quickest, being RHD they counterbalanced the roll moment and had far more traction out of the bends and speed through them, one huge guy rolled and then the Reliant started twitching like in its death throes, blow me down if he didnt manage to right the thing without getting out of his harness

No Income tax , no VAT..........

And the man that got stopped doing 104mph down Wrotham Hill (near Brands Hatch)

I'm really getting a hoot out of these post's!! Never knew there were so many micro car enthusiast's! And not one of the better IMHO!

Among my too many projects I have a Berkeley!

Kurt.
26/3754

And don't forget that the Boot / Trunk Handle on the Late S3 and Early S4 were off the Reliant Regal Van !!!!

AHM wrote:No Income tax , no VAT..........

And the man that got stopped doing 104mph down Wrotham Hill (near Brands Hatch)

The engines were very light and seriously tuneable and were used for years to propel single seaters in the 750mc races, some racers would put one back in a Reliant for road testing, cheaper than dyno runs, I got seen off at the lights by one once, it popped a wheely and was spitting flames out on the over-run, sounded superb as well.

My very first "car" was a 1955 Reliant three-wheeled convertible. This had the Austin seven side valve engine, a "crash" gearbox, and the bodywork was aluminium. I could drive it on my motorcycle licence and I used to go to school in it. It was great because I could take three mates out with me and we could all keep dry(ish) with the top up. Enthusiastic cornering would always result in one rear wheel coming a foot off the ground, which was quite alarming to the unitiated.

And in case you don't believe there ever was a Reliant convertible, here is a photo of 17 year old me in it. It was called the "Regal" - a less regal conveyance would be hard to imagine.

Mike

My first car was a Ford engined Morgan F4 three wheeler, which I could drive at 16. Sold after rebuilding with new chassis members to one of the designers of Concord, who still had 40 years on it last time I met a friend of his.
Whist I rebuilt the Morgan I had a Reliant which went through gearboxes and axles. Sold this to an actor for his wife, he was later a car dealer on Eastenders.
I think three wheelers teach you to drive, but I shudder to think of the risks.

My Dad had a couple when I was very small. A red one with light colour interior & then a light blue one. I remember us being overtaken by an errant hub cap...

Ideal for a Dad who at the time only had a motor cycle licence & needed to ferry a young family around.

I photographed this one last week- it said "Rialto" on the front. Presumably an up-market(!) later model?

Bring back the Bond Bug!

Tim

My 3 wheeler experience was with a 300cc Isetta named "Freda Blob"
Freda, like Mikes car, got me out of the rain & off motorbikes.
Great fun to drive except when a corner was taken faster than she wanted to.
When an Isetta lifts up on just 2 wheels an unexpected & rapid change of direction happens.
Fortunately this makes the car plant itself firmly back on all 3 wheels, albeit somewhere other than where you were planning to be.
Freda revved well & went faster than her designers planned her to but the distress caused by the subsequent vibrations sometimes prompted her to divest herself of her carburettor.
I chose to ignore a persistent engine oil leak & one Winter's night whilst she was taking me up a longish climb in the Mendip hills the lack of oil caused a major piston seizure.
This resulted in the cylinder parting company with the rest of the engine only to come thumping back down onto the crankcase. The piston decided to give up the fight when it hit the side of the resulting hole in the crankcase & it left the scene of the crime.
When this all happened the whole of the back of the car gave a sudden jolt skywards & it came to a sudden silent halt in the darkness. I quickly climbed out of Freda to see what had happened when I heard the tinkling sound of metal on tarmac.
The moonlight illuminated a piston, gudgeon pin, two pushrods & two pushrod tubes rolling down said hill..
I managed to collect all of the bits, even though they were scolding hot.
Friends gave me a lift to the pub where new year's eve was seen in & the problem of a broken Freda was forgotten until the next day.

Replacement 2nd hand Isetta engines were cheat to buy back then; thank goodness!

Oh to be young again