The second world war had a devastating effect not only on 3-wheelers but the entire motoring industry world wide. The lack of materials caused many problems for manufacturers. Sheet steel was at first supplied only to companies who had export orders, though a small percentage of this was allowed for home markets.  As a result most vehicles of this period had aluminium shells and with the fear of the reintroduction of the 'Treasury rating' road tax, many companies designed and built small bodied vehicles that would use less steel and other materials. Fuel was also still rationed and so the need for mini-cars and bubble-cars was very much so in demand.

One of the first mini-cars was the 3-wheeled Allard Clipper built by Sidney Allard.  Although production was limited these 3-wheelers, powered by a 346cc Villiers engine, had a lightweight reinforced plastic body. lt was also fitted with the new Siba Dynastart unit, which replaced the flywheel magneto.The Dynastart combined electric starter motor, dynamo and cooling fan all into a single unit and became invaluable to the 3-wheeler mini-car industry.  In 1949 Laurie Bond began the production of a Bond mini-car. This was introduced when petrol rationing was very much in force and any other form of transport was both scarce and expensive. The 3-wheeled Bond 'Mk A' was fitted with a 125cc engine, and although very basic in design, lacking virtually all refinements and no suspension the car was fitted with a aluminium body.

A letter in the'Yorkshire Post'1949 read;

"I have just got to London from Preston with the wife,the dog,and the weekend luggage...200 miles at an average 31.4mph. It cost us 2 gallons of petrol and 7 penny worth of oil ..total four shillings and nine pence".

(The Yorkshire Post 1949.)

This quotation summed up the concept of the Bond mini-car industry and the car itself was to prove a great success. As rationing died away, June 1951 saw a new Bond model, the 'Mk B'. This vehicle had suspension incorporated into it and then in 1954 a four seater version was available. Bond continued its development producing Bond 'Mk C,D,E,F and G in September 1961 The Mk G  was the last line of the mini-cars and was powered by a 250 cc, 4 speed engine. The idea of Bonds being slow in the past was shattered in August 1965 with the introduction of the '875' model. The 875 was fitted with a 875cc Hillman Imp engine which gave enough power to push the needle, with ease, off the 90 mph speedometer. ln 1969 Bond was brought out by the Reliant Motor Company who discontinued all the existing Bond range, in favour of their own sports 3-wheeler marketed under the Bond marque as the Bond Bug.

After the second world war many large German companies suffered from the disarmament of their country, and by entering the motor industry provided work for thousands. Two of these companies were Messerschmitt and Heinkel who along with the Italian lsetta, all found a market in Britain. The Messerschmitt introduced it's 3-wheeler 'KR175' in 1953, and was built and designed by lng. Fritz Fend. (Professor Messerschmitt was only concerned indirectly.) The seating was tandem and steering by handlebars, powered by a 175 cc two-stroke engine.  The Heinkel was introduced in 1954 and was designed and built by Ernst Heinkel.  However after only four years of production the design was sold to Dundalk Engineering in the Irish Republic, and in 1962 it was made in Croyden with the Trojan name.  This vehicle had a large front opening door and was powered by a 175 cc four-stroke engine.  The lsetta was made under licence in France, Germany and England with the original being manufactured in Milan, Italy. These 3-wheelers did not sell well until 1954 when B.M.W obtained a licence to build them and fitted their own four-stroke engine. These were manufactured until 1962.

The Suez crisis in 1956 brought another demand for 3-wheelers and light 4-wheelers as the price of petrol soared.  One vehicle to fill this demand was the Frisky introduced in 1959. Designed and built by Captain Raymond Flower for the Meadows engine manufacturers, the 3-wheeled car was powered by a 197 cc engine and gave a petrol consumption ot 75 mpg.  In 1960 a Frisky Family 3 'Mk 2' model was introduced with the choice of a 197cc or a 244cc two-stroke engine.  This was upgraded again in 1966 to 325 cc in the Frisky 'Prince', though it was produced in very limited numbers. Like many 3-wheeler manufacturers Frisky also produced a 4-wheeled sports car and family coupe which between them held a number of records.  Frisky however stopped production of their vehicles in the 1960's and apart from specialist 3-wheelers, Reliant Motor Company were to remain the only main three-wheeler manufacturers in Great Britain for a number of years.

As mentioned earlier the Reliant Motor Company was formed in 1935 when Mr T.L.Williams brought the manufacturing rights from Raleigh. After moving to Tamworth, Williams started to build the first prototype vehicle in his back garden, which he completed and licensed on 1st January 1935. This vehicle was a 3-wheeled 7 cwt van powered by a 600 cc Jap engine. Its design was similar to the Raleigh Karryall van, and a year later a 10 cwt version was produced.  lt was during a visit to the 1937 Commercial vehicle show that Reliant acquired the supply of the Austin 7 engine for their vehicles and continued to use them until 1939 when Reliant copied the Austin 7 engine. In 1963 they were replaced by Reliant's own die-cast alloy 600 cc four-cylinder engine. With the onset of the second world war, Reliant continued to produce vehicles until early 1940 when their attention was then turned to machining parts for the various ministries.   At the end of the war Reliant had machined over one and a half million parts for the war effort, and in 1946 started to reproduce vehicles.

In 1952 T.L.Williams decided to modify the body of the Reliant van to accommodate four people, and so in 1952 the Regal 'Mk l' was exhibited at Earls Court. The Regal 'Mk 1 ' was a 3-wheeler powered by a 7 hp engine and the introduction of the four seater aluminium body gave Reliant an immediate advantage over Bond. The price of the'Mk l' was £352. With the introduction of the 'Mk 2'in 1955, experiments with glass-fibre were first shown with the hard top, bonnet lid and rear end made from it. The'Mk 3' in 1956 was a complete one piece glass fibre moulding fitted on to an Ash framework. Over the following years Reliant continuously modified and improved the Regal with the'Mk 4'in 1958, 'Mk 5' in 1959 and the'Mk 6' in 1960. With the Regal 3/25 in 1962 a major step forward had been taken with the introduction of a unitary construction body of re-enforced glass fibre. Polyester Resin was moulded in two major units (outer and inner.) and then bonded together and bolted to a steel chassis. A year later Reliant developed their own 600 cc overhead valve unit which was Britain's first flowline production light alloy motor vehicle engine. In 1968 the 750 cc engine was introduced, and Reliant's production was such that the fifty thousandth 3/25 model was delivered and a year later Reliant took over the Bond motor company. In 1973 a new 3-wheeler was introduced; the 'Robin'. This vehicle showed ccompletely different styling (by Ogle) and was available as a saloon, estate or super saloon. These first 'Robins' were only produced until early 1975 when the 'Robin' received more minor changes and a larger 850 cc engine with a S.U carburettor. In 1981 another new model the 3-wheeled 'Rialto' was produced followed by the'Robin LX' in 1990 and then another Robin in 1999.  The 1990's however were a tough time for Reliant which saw the company going into receivership several times and after moving premises in 1999, they stopped producing 3-wheelers in December 2000 after 65 years of producing 3-wheelers.

Although Reliant has ceased production the 1990's, especially in the UK, saw a mini boom of 3-wheelers for leisure purposes based as "kit cars". The vehicles produced by Reliant were always four seater family 3-wheelers stemming back from the needs of the early 1950's motorist. Today companys such as Grinnall, BRA and Triking (to name just a few) have all emerged that create two seater 3-wheelers strongly based on the original Morgans. These are also joined in the United States by companies like Corbin Motors who produce electric 3-wheelers for commuters.   It seems therefore that even some 230 years later since Cugnot's steam vehicle, the 3-wheeler isn't dead, its just biding its time until society suddenly realises that it needs them again.

Elvis Payne. Copyright January 2001

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