£1000 Challenge
Reliant Robin
1990 RELIANT ROBIN
THE STORY SO FAR Miles driven 102
Total mileage 64,591 What’s gone wrong Nothing – but it doesn’t like stormy weather
RICHARD GUNN Most of the CCW team have sampled the Reliant Robin, but I’ve never had a compelling enough reason to borrow it. Competition for the little three-wheeler’s keys is incredibly – some might say even inexplicably – intense.
But at last, I had the perfect reason; it was the local Three Counties Dog Rescue Show. And I have a threelegged dog. What better way to take her there than in a vehicle with the same number of appendages as she has? Not even editor David could deny the triadic beauty of my plan.
Before setting off from the office car park on the Friday evening before the weekend show, I posted a picture of my options parked together – my Rover 216 SLi, Fiat Panda Selecta and the Robin – on social media and asked which one people thought I should choose. The Reliant got a surprising lot of love, but someone did point out that it wouldn’t be advisable in heavy rain, strong winds and on a dual carriageway or motorway at rush hour. Unfortunately, this being Britain in summer, it was absolutely pouring down, very gusty, and I had the A1 to contend with at the same time that everybody else was fleeing Peterborough’s workplaces.
It was quite the baptism by weather. This replica Dick Turpin ( you’ll understand the reference if you’ve ever seen Good Omens on Amazon) was far less happy on the Great North Road than its infamous namesake who also held up traffic on the same route 300 years previously. The main problem was just how quickly the windows steamed up, even with the fan on full (courtesy of an Austin Allegro switch – one of many interior bits borrowed from British Leyland’s finest, I gleefully noted). That limited visibility was pretty unnerving, especially in the face of huge trucks joining on slip-roads.
Fortunately, the day of the dog show dawned dry and sunny. Riba, my tri-pawed English Setter, was initially rather dubious of her automotive equivalent, but was coerced into climbing onto the blanket-covered rear seat by a few strategically-placed treats. I would have put her in the back load area, but there were far too many spares and tools in there.
David had forewarned me about how the Robin’s leading single wheel configuration made missing potholes impossible. He was right. Some of Stamford’s cobbled streets weren’t that much fun, either. But once out on country lanes, the Reliant became, dare I say it, almost enjoyable. It pottered along at a lively enough pace, and the cornering was nowhere near as bad as a repeatedly upended Jeremy Clarkson would have you believe. With the windows down – granted, one of them because the handle had fallen off, but still – it was quite the pleasant amble through rural Rutland and Lincolnshire.
My overriding memory of entering the dog show car park was just how much merriment I seemed to be provoking among bemused spectators as
I attempted to avoid the unsurfaced track’s ruts.
Riba recovered her composure and went on to win second prize for the Best Golden Oldie and came first in Best Rescue. The day’s big surprise was that even the Robin scooped an award after accidentally being entered in the Most Loveable Mongrel class. It came – yes, you’ve guessed it – third. Go Team Tripod!