Reliant shite rescued today

[anonymous user]

Is that a tiny coach in the background?

[garethj]

I like these, as much as anything for the bonkers idea that Reliant could compete in this market sector on a shoe string budget.

It's probably easier in this sector than others.  Refinement and secondary ride comfort matter less when the roof is off and you can't hear anything above the wind roar.  I'd give an honourable mention to the Caterham 21 and the Ginetta G33 too, but even BL's meagre budget gave much better refinement with the MGF.  For the big players like Mazda or BMW I bet their coffee budget is more than Reliant's tooling budget, but that's why I love an underdog.

[speedy555]

Is that a tiny coach in the background?

It's gone now but was a trojan forward control van with a 3 cylinder perkins diesel in it. Only one left according to the trojan club. I tried to rescue it but was denied.....

There's all sorts of shite here.....3x scimitar, mini van, a30, moggy traveller, vw trike.......all in sad states.

[Bfg]

Are you one of the few who also have an Stevens Cipher.? 

I seem to recall a specialist like yourself having one from Thomas Touw in exchange for work done in restoring his car ?  I was negotiating with him to do some work on his white car and also give him cash for the other car (an accident damaged red one, which his father had bought from a scrap yard).  But, during those talks I discovered he'd given the car to someone else in exchange for more extensive work.  I didn't like that - giving the car away but still asking my advice was underhanded.

Perhaps that was another outfit though, with a similar name ?

 

Whereas I would love a Cipher (despite its many shortcomings) I feel absolutely nothing for any of the SS cars.  If I were to venture along that styling path I'd much prefer a targa topped Fiat or a Lancia. 

 

I did have an SE6A a few years ago, which was in nice condition ..but I sold it (to another chap in Holland) as it was a huge disappointment ..on any road. And its lack of boot space didn't suit my needs.  My friend had an SE5 but that had been bottom-budget tarted up to sell it to him ..and needed a ground up rebuild.  I do wonder though what a well-sorted one would feel like.?  Beautiful cars. 

 

Bfg.

[speedy555]

That was me that did the cipher, yes. Though knew nothing of any other deal on the table, it was just offered to me and I accepted at the time. I didn't like the cipher once done TBH but at least I saved it.

[garethj]

Wasn't there a Stevens Cipher on ebay a couple of years ago?  If I remember it was stripped down and it looked very interesting.  I had a Suzuki Cappuccino when they were new so I have a soft spot for small sports cars.

[Bfg]

That was me that did the cipher, yes. Though knew nothing of any other deal on the table, it was just offered to me and I accepted at the time. I didn't like the cipher once done TBH but at least I saved it.

I thought it might have been you David. Welcome to Autoshite.  No, I wasn't at all suggesting you knew anything of the deal being discussed, and I certainly don't blame you for accepting what came your way., though I do think TT did very well out of you.

 

What happened to the car, I thought you still owned it.?   If it's not too much money (I have sadly depleted resources nowadays) then I'd be interested.  I believe it was the white/black one you rebuilt for Thomas, and you had the red one .. both built by Reliant ? 

 

Wasn't there a Stevens Cipher on ebay a couple of years ago?  If I remember it was stripped down and it looked very interesting.  I had a Suzuki Cappuccino when they were new so I have a soft spot for small sports cars.

Yes, a few years ago now and it was sold cheaply. I was very tempted but at that time had too much on my plate.   ..Mind you I always have too much on my plate.  I'm not a glutton ..just an incurable optimist that I can get on and finish 'projects'.

 

My apologies I didn't mean to hijack this thread.. re. your most valiantly saved SS.  I'll shut up now.

 

Bfg

[speedy555]

I no longer have it. Mine was the green one, and currently resides in Colchester. Quite oddly I'm going there tomorrow to pick up a reliant off him. The red one sold more recently and us in North Yorkshire somewhere.

[garethj]

It was one of the convertibles that was for sale a few years ago wasn't it?  Was it stripped or had it not been built up yet?

 

As a brief diversion, look at this lovely Cipher coupe

 

 

Looks great, a sort of halfway house between a Midas and a Honda CRX

[Vince70]

That Povo SS1 really does look lovely in White, I bet once done up it will be a lovely little thing and being in its purest form can only make it a better car and those wheels do look fantastic.

 

Wasn't it a michelotti design as well so it comes from a good pedigree of sports cars.

[somewhatfoolish]

Was it really Michelotti? An angular/folded paper wedge like that has a flavour of Mann or maybe Towns about it.

[speedy555]

Yes it was michelotti......who died before he finished the design, but some brummie or Tamworthian finished it off for him anyway !!    

 

Michelottis original design was much cleaner, but the injection moulded plastic wings on the car needed all those swage lines in order to keep them rigid.....added to his death before finished and the SS1 is what you got! 

This was Michelottis drawing - and if you think of the wheelarch design its very Triumph 2000, also Michelotti

 

The Cipher was being considered at the same time as a new Reliant sports car, but was dropped in preference to the SS1 even though the SS1 was more costly to produce. TVR then took a cipher and rebadged it and put it in a showroom where it went down very well, until customers found it had a Reliant 850 engine in it, so they dumped the idea too.  Tony stevens who designed it tried to produce them himself, hence the 6 or so built plus a coupe and a Lada samara based version!

 

The green Cipher here was mine, and the white one one I had resrayed.

[Felly Magic]

That Cipher coupe looks quite nice, and fairly practical with the large tailgate with low sill

[speedy555]

Yes - will never be made though. I recently had an email from Tony Stevens about what was basically crowd funding for a few million to try to restart production 30 odd years after the last attempt......The man may be a genius on one hand, but is evidently 2 vouchers short of a toaster on the other. 

Needless to say, I didn't fancy investing....and if I did, my contribution would barely fund the Digestives bill for a week

[UltraWomble]

Well, black bumpers aside I think it looks properly nice.

Bit like a non rusting TR7

 

And lets face it, why would you need to go above 70mph?

[Bfg]

It was one of the convertibles that was for sale a few years ago wasn't it?  Was it stripped or had it not been built up yet?

 

As a brief diversion, look at this lovely Cipher coupe

 

 

Looks great, a sort of halfway house between a Midas and a Honda CRX

 

"This Cipher was constructed in Portsmouth using an 1800 twin Cam Proton (Mitsubishi) engine and power train". 

 

..and otherwise very lightweight.

[Bfg]

I no longer have it. Mine was the green one, and currently resides in Colchester. Quite oddly I'm going there tomorrow to pick up a reliant off him. The red one sold more recently and us in North Yorkshire somewhere.

 

OK thanks.  I'm near Colchester so I'll have to look it up sometime.

 

The green one was the last of the 850's (aside from the incompleted one sold a few years ago) ..and because of it possibly the better finished.  Seemed an odd choice of colour, but I came to like it.   I'd guess quality wise the Cipher wouldn't stand a hope of competing today. It was only just OK in 1980 ..when the anticipated market was that of the Triumph Spitfire and MG Midget which ceased production at that time, neither of which were built very well either.  The Fiat X19 was scheduled to be shut down too, but with the demise of the Triumph and MG the market was left wide open, so production was resumed. 

It then took another nine years before Mazda introduced their little sports car - which had good quality control, looked similar, and sold like hot cakes.    

 

Btw., the 850cc Cipher managed 100mph, given a long enough stretch of flat road ..and it was CAR magazine's  'most economical' for 1980, which I'm sure didn't make Tony popular with BL who sought that accolade for the Metro. 

 

Bearing in mind these cars were specifically targeting low insurance ..so as to attract the younger driver - how does the SS 1300 stand regarding its economy and performance. Is it acceptable.? 

 

Bfg

[somewhatfoolish]

Not really going by the one I had, although its CVH was well knacked and struggled to rev out in 3rd. A 4 speed box in a sportscar in the 1980s? I say no. I'd have another with more gears and CCs though. My deluded masterplan was turfing out the knacked powertrain and fitting a Zetec and a MTL75, but my round tuit quotient never reached high enough. I did fix the heater, fit a non-horrid steering wheel and moved the battery from the front into the boot though; 50:50 weight distribution FTW.