Gawd, why do I do these things? Seemed a good idea last night, when I agreed to buy a Reliant Robin for fifty quid. It's a "Super"; W reg; estate sort of shape; Trotter's yellow; no MOT, but reasonably tidy; 45,000 miles on the clock. Was it my imagination, or did I read that they are now surprisingly sought after?
OK, you can stop laughing now.
No really, that's enough.
Look, I don't care, I'm not listening.
Bastards!
So what do you call a Robin with twin exhausts?
A wheelbarrow....
I think that was a Skoda joke.
I'm just watching a Robin rear axle on Ebay going for more than I'm paying for the whole car, so it doesn't look as though I'll have much trouble turning a profit. Seems some bits are snapped up by trike builders.
Nah - Skoda has one too many wheels at the front for that.
Willy Eckerslyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
How was your head this morning? Bit hung over, were we?
It was your imagination.
Shan't.
Isn't.
Won't stop us.
Yup.
JPEGS, we need JPEGS, man!
I'm pleased to note that I'm not the only one who makes silly purchasing decisions when pissed - I managed to buy a new Chinese dirt bike on ebay last night. My pissed buying was a tad more expensive, though ;-)
The worrying thing is, I hadn't even been drinking. Much.
Ah well, at least it'll be useful for making my kids behave - or would threatening to take them to school in it be a criminal offence these days?
Monday. I'm collecting it this evening, so will report back with all the gory details next week. Apparently the engines are sweet little alloy jobs good for putting in hovercrafts and the like.
JPEGS, we need JPEGS, man!
pity you need a bike license to drive one these days. could always change the engine in it for a 2L then watch the looks on the street boy racers at the green traffic lights. :)
I do have a spare Range Rover V8 engine sitting in the garage... Traffic lights are a bit thin on the ground in these parts though. I can't think of any multi-lane ones nearer than about 30 miles!
: Seemed a good idea last night, when I agreed to buy a Reliant Robin for : fifty quid. : It's a "Super"; W reg; estate sort of shape; Trotter's yellow; no MOT, : but reasonably tidy; 45,000 miles on the clock
Get it going - you might be surprised. I bought a Rialto a few years ago, just to see what it was like, and it's a hoot to drive. Nice and nippy (40bhp, two fifths of bugger all mass) and feels even faster. Handling is fine as long as you don't try and brake hard and steer hard at the same time - but then a four wheeled car will also bite you if you try that. Pushed in normal driving it loses the back end first.
Which W is it? If it's the old bulbous shape the aerodynamics aren't great - the later ones from Rialto onwards have rather more front downforce at speed.
I reckon my Rialto is almost as much fun to drive as the 2CV, and in many respects it's a better car. "Not rusting" is a hell of an advantage, and the Reliant engine is a wee gem.
Ian
Willy Eckerslyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Sorry - lemme get this straight.
You bought a Reliant Robin... sober...?
I think they'd take the kids straight into care, then put you on some national register or other.
bongo rule ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.co.uk_) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
No, you don't.
Will do, when it arrives on Weds.
It comes in it's shipping crate, so I'll be documenting all stages of the construction and road testing.
Not no more, you need D1 on your license
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "bongo rule" saying something like:
Bollocks.
Grimly Curmudgeon ( snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEgmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
You've always needed them to drive one.
Not true I've seen women drive them as well
I am not sure that you do.
The original idea of the Robin was that it had 3 wheels and was kept under a particular weight (7cwt I think) so that it could be taxed as a motor tricycle rather than as a car, which saved a lot of money.
A quirk in the regulations meant that you could then drive one if you didn't have a car licence, but you did have a full motorcycle licence. But you didn't *need* a bike licence. You always could, and I believe still can, drive one with a car licence.
Jim
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