Practically Classics Forum

To most people, beyond being a means of transport, a car (And that is closely related to the age of the car), if it is anything, is a status symbol. I can think of someone, who has a Maserati and clearly has no idea (Probably still thinks a bath is for storing coal and has wire around the legs of the kitchen table, with chickens under it). I suspect that if Reliant Robins were aspirational products, he would have one of them. He is far from alone. How many garages are full of junk, with no room for the car and how many garages have had a window and a few courses of brick put in place of the door At one time, being a normal person (And I am not referring to sexuality here) was regarded as a good thing but today I'm far from convinced

Martin Evans wrote:if Reliant Robins were aspirational products

You mean to say that they're not? I never had the balls to run a three wheeled, Economy Range Reliant as everyday transport, simply because on those occasions when I've owned them I've frequently forgotten that there was a wheel shortage and found myself on two wheels at times, which is OK and completely controllable for anyone with any kind of feel to their driving but looks bad from the outside. But the kittens were always kept clean and waxed, though using polish was a no-no as the paint was that rubbish to start with and I didn't want to wear it off. The Rebels, on the other hand, were gel finished to start with and the last one of those - RIP LKS*** - ended up looking flat as a pancake because the new owner decided to use a jetwash on it, so removing the surface waxes and several years worth of damned hard work. She also managed to destroy one of the last ever split new, factory replacement Galvanised chassis by using a Morris Marina's boot as a brake. I have mixed feelings about that.

I always thought a Kitten would have made a good runabout, especially the estate. You never saw many (At least around here) and in my earlier days, I drove Minis as runabouts (Tried to find a good estate, when I was buying but there was nothing doing). A Quaife diff would be good in a Kitten. I wonder if the rear axle is the same as a BMC axle

A friend was so impressed, when the Kitten came out, that he bought shares (Not quite Victor Kiam). I think the Kitten suffered poor sales, as the Mini was a lot cheaper and handled better (Even though the Mini rusted faster). It has been suggested that the name was not butch enough and I am sure that would put off todays image concious stuffed shirts. Let's be fair, if alledging that Victoria Beckham helped to design a mobile handbag, is a selling point, it deosn't say much for the buying public. Car adverts really say it all

The axle is unique to the car, which is why some have had axles from Robins fitted, but shares no parts with anything BMC. It's a tough axle though, which is why a few builders of modified Bedford Rascals have given up on their stock units after the third or fourth broken diff and swapped to a Reliant one instead.
Having owned many minis and kittens, I can say hand on heart that a kitten will outhandle a mini, especially in the wet where the rearward weight bias works in its favour. Minis have plenty of mechanical grip, which is what they do best, but in terms of handling prowess and the ability to steer on the throttle, the kitten takes some beating which was the main reason how, in the 12 or so years I competed in the Scottish Autotrader Series in one, our team were never beaten by the minis, not once. The only cars which ever pipped us in the finals were the classic Lotus Elans and even they didn't manage it the following year as we all let some air out of our back tyres to minimise wheelspin on the sharp bends and steep climbs involved.
On a circuit, the Loti would have wiped the floor with our factory stock kittens though I did embarrass a few on local tracks in LTF, my red estate which had 60+bhp in place of its original 43 thanks to a properly balanced and blueprinted engine running a FRC and big valves with A-series cam followers. That car would pull up the gentle upward section of A82 along Loch Lomondside in the overtaking lane at well over the speed limit on 7,800 rpm in third and it made the most glorious howl from its exhaust as it did it. Many of the other modified Reliant engines failed because they were running far too cool, so suffered with snapped cranks and piston skirts that picked up on the liners below the water jacket, causing smoke and bad noises. I had the radiator properly blanked off so that all of the air came from the vents under the bumper, it ran a 92 degree thermostat and 50% MPG-base coolant with distilled water in the system. When the present owner of the car broke that engine by failing to notice that the oil pressure relief valve was leaking (he took my pressure gauge out as he felt he needed a clock in there...), it had covered about 130,000 miles since I'd last had it apart. Why on earth did I sell that one eh? Apart from the fact that it had a manual gearbox.

Funnily enough, when I ran LTF as a daily right up while work insisted that I could no longer transport students around in it, I did wash it occasionally though because the (Pimento Red, one of the worst affected colours) paint suffered from the usual osmosis-related spots, I never used any wax, let alone nasty damaging polish so it looked awful but went like a thing possessed. Of course the MK3 Golf that followed it into daily service was just as economical, almost as quick and declared safe for my fussy employers' purposes. I should have taken an alternative post on rather than selling the kitten.

As you are mentioning kittens John, I saw a blue/white one EAB44S earlier today.

What Terry typed:

As you are mentioning kittens John, I saw a blue/white one EAB44S earlier today.

What Terry (probably) thought as he typed it:

FFS Baldy, quit with the Reliant-related patter!

Ah yes, that one is known to the Reliant kitten Register. (lower case "k" deliberate as that's what it says on the back door). It should be all one colour though, which would suggest that someone still didn't get around to repainting the blue door, unless of course she painted the other door blue to match or has fitted a different body by now.

It is blue on the bottom half and white on the top half. it was in motion or I would have snapped you a pic

Interesting, that was white apart from a blue driver's door and bonnet last time I saw it. I guess the lass whose car that is must have broken out the Dulux and done it properly. I also lose track of time as that may have been 2012.

It was being driven by a bloke and the paint looked fairly flat but it was on the road I would much rather see a "well used" car being used than something shiny that never comes out of the garage.

Terry I don't know what would happen if my old girl actually managed to be moved and worked on in a garage.
(probably think it had died and gone to heaven )