Why Ride in the West Midlands When You can Drive

The Black Country, a place with coal so prevalent it comes up through the earth’s surface.  The coal helped to power the Industrial Revolution and brought people and industry to the English West Midlands.  The coal on average ran in a thick vein 30 feet in diameter through the towns of Oldbury, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Bilston, Dudley, Tipton, and West Bromwich (home of Robert Plant and inspiration for “Black Country Woman” from Physical Graffiti).   Most men found work as miners or in the many foundries that sprang up in a fast forward drive to progress.  That progress saw the rise of smoke stacks billowing out the advancements of industry which added more black to the Black Country in the form of soot.  One such factory to take root in the West Midlands was the automobile manufacturer Reliant.  

 

Reliant, interestingly enough was born out of the Raleigh Bicycle Company.  For many years Raleigh built a three wheel vehicle until ceasing production in 1934.  In 1935 two Raleigh employees felt the era of three wheel cars was far from over so they built one together.  The machines didn’t exactly resemble a car, rather some type of strange motorcycle.  The company was able to bring their prototype to production in 1938 only to be sidetracked by the war when they shifted production to support the armed forces.     

In postwar Britain the Reliant Company came back and the assembly facility in Tamforth made a variety of cars with the usual body styles.  Most Reliant cars came with the standard four wheels but one car, the Regal came with three—two in the rear, one up front.  The unique and unconventional design had an unintended advantage.  Because the machine was a three-wheeler it could be classified as a motorcycle and thus benefited from inexpensive taxes.  It also meant that the Regal could be driven by anyone because it did not require the standard motor vehicle license.  This made the “car” immensely popular with the coal miners and others in the Black Country because while they did understand coal and soot they tended to misunderstand the driving test.  Most miners did not hold a driver’s license.   

The Regal was in constant production from 1953 to 1973 and at a time when cars were getting bigger and meaner Reliant decided to go one step back and in 1974 revealed the Robin.  The Robin was just another Regal, another three wheel shoebox with a plastic body and a 750 cc engine.  Reliant used so much plastic and built so many Robins the car was the second-best selling plastic car in the world, behind only the Chevrolet Corvette.  For many years Reliant was the UK’s second largest car company.

Most contemporary video clips of Robin’s in action tend to show them rolling over onto their sides while turning or making quick lanes changes.  In fact, a study conducted by the British insurance industry noted that Reliant Robin drivers were the safest on the road.  The car was in continuous production until 2001.  The Reliant Company, always teetering on insolvency finally failed in 2002.  The cars were a staple of life in the West Midlands.  They were also the first car for many young drivers.  

The “plastic pig” as it came to be known has been unfairly treated.  History will show the Reliant company was rather innovative in the use of daring design, composite materials, and lightweight construction with the idea to build machines that everyday people could afford. 

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Reliant also made this little beauty, the Scimitar.  This is the 1984 SS1.