Reliant Rebel

[Yoss]

For some reason I really want one of these. Don't know why but I've become a little obsessed. I'm sure it's not a good idea but they're stuck in my head now good and proper. 

I know @coalnotdole has a few of them and indeed I think it is mainly his fault that I find myself in this predicament as I drove one of his at a local AS meeting a year or so back. It was only round a field but it was great fun (and I broke the interior door handle trying to get out which I still feel bad about). I realise going out on a real road with real cars might make the fun go away but rational thinking left the station long ago. Anyway Mr @coalnotdole doesn't seem to frequent here that often which is why I thought I'd tag him here so he might see it as he is definitely the right person to talk to about these things. If anyone here knows of any other contact details for him I'd appreciate those. 

 

There currently only seems to be one for sale anywhere and it is this one. It went up on the Car and Classic website about three weeks ago so it may or may not still be for sale as they are notorious for keeping old ads up long after the cars have sold. 

These are the only two pics in the advert. It's been off the road since 1987 but has had some recent work done and the engine runs. It looks a bit of a mess but the fiberglass all looks straight and shut lines as good as these normally do. It's at a Reliant specialists in Worcestershire who seem to have a good reputation. I haven't had the bottle to ring up yet. I keep telling myself I've got to put a new gearbox in the Triumph and  the Favorit needs a wing and some rustproofing and really don't need more work. Strangely, I wake up every morning having completely gone off the idea, realising how daft it is but as the day goes on I start coming round again. And by the evening I really want one again. This happens every day. 

I'd rather have one that's ready to use but I keep coming back to this. I'm not exactly spoiled for choice. 

I've been scouring the Internet for any information I can find trying to put myself off the idea. Certainly most of the contemporary road tests have little good to say about them but at the same time people who own them now seem to love them. But I like the idea of a car that only weighs 500kg. I currently have one that weighs about 850kg and I love that but this would be taking it to whole new level.

Spares availability seems good. Most of the front suspension is Herald (which is the good end of a Herald, the back end was a bit dodgy) as are the brakes and most service parts are readily available on ebay, plus there's a couple of specialists, more for the three wheelers, but the back end is the same. 

So if anyone knows of any others that might be for sale or who can talk me out of the whole stupid idea with personal horror stories that would be even better. 

 

 

[doug]

Just got my latest Kitten Register magazine yesterday and there is a 1974 Rebel van for sale in it. No price, always a bad sign. If interested I can PM the sellers phone number.

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[Yoss]

Yeah, why not. Any other details, location, condition, colour (not that that matters with cars this rare, just curios) etc... 

Do you have a Kitten then? 

[doug]

Yes I have a kitten. Never had it on the road. Bit of a project that has over-run on time and funds.
There are also 3 kittens in the newsletter for sale.
The rebel van is in Essex and seems to be an abandoned project. I will PM contact details.

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[Skut]

A 60s bread and butter car that chassis aside doesn't completely rot to oblivion has a lot of appeal. Rot is so time consuming to fix that anything that limits that time and money pit activity is a win. 

I'd imagine they're very noisy but soundproofing is not rocket science and being rwd they must be a marginally easier engine transplant fodder then equivalent fwd. The front end design is quite appealing. Ogle styled innit? 

[LightBulbFun]

Ohh I look forward to this  

I quite like reliants as a whole so it will be cool to see you get one  

(also Lucas L572 rear lights FTW LOL)

also wow they only weight 500Kg? didn't realise they where that light, they must be pretty rapid!

does make me wonder what became of this one

On 1/24/2020 at 4:11 PM, 500tops said:

Cheap Rebel

 

 

Reliant rebel project - MOT and tax exempt,
https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/reliant-rebel-project-mot-and-tax-exempt/1364478511?utm_source=com.google.android.apps.docs&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_android

Price: £ 450

 

 

 

(which was/is amusingly registered as a 3 wheeler!)

[Richard_FM]

These seem in the shadow of the kitten.  The body of the rebel looks near unique compared to the other small reliant.

[ETCHY]

I always rather liked the Rebel, the styling IMO still looks good. To be honest I prefer it to the Kitten as the proportions look better to me.

 

[Richard_FM]

20 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I always rather liked the Rebel, the styling IMO still looks good. To be honest I prefer it to the Kitten as the proportions look better to me.

 

Ogle started with almost a clean sheet of paper for the rebel with only the doors & windscreen bring the only bodywork shared with the Regal.

The kitten shared a lot more bodywork with the robin which is why the looks are compromised some what.

[Yoss]

55 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Ohh I look forward to this  

I quite like reliants as a whole so it will be cool to see you get one  

(also Lucas L572 rear lights FTW LOL)

also wow they only weight 500Kg? didn't realise they where that light, they must be pretty rapid!

does make me wonder what became of this one

(which was/is amusingly registered as a 3 wheeler!)

There now seems to plenty of people on here with fiberglass bodied 3 wheelers but not 4 wheelers (except Dollywobblers Fox, I just remembered!) 

I saw that one on the ebay thread a few weeks ago but again, a lot of work needed. I'd like a working one really, don't mind a tatty body as long as bits aren't falling off. I really should wait until I've sorted my Triumph and Favorit then I could take on a project but I shouldn't have three cars needing work. But if the right one comes along... 

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, Richard_FM said:

These seem in the shadow of the kitten.  The body of the rebel looks near unique compared to the other small reliant.

 

56 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I always rather liked the Rebel, the styling IMO still looks good. To be honest I prefer it to the Kitten as the proportions look better to me.

 

I actually really like the look of the Kitten estates, I think they look much nicer than the Robin especially on those alloys some of them came with (and they all use 4" PCD, same as a Mini, so there's plenty of reasonably priced options out there). But the Rebel is more me. I think it would go well  with my Triumph, the way the headlights are slightly recessed they look sort of similar. And I love the dash on the Rebel. 

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, Yoss said:

There now seems to plenty of people on here with fiberglass bodied 3 wheelers but not 4 wheelers (except Dollywobblers Fox, I just remembered!) 

dont forget @Mrs6C's bond equip's  (and @barrett's Austin 7 kit car)

(and your Routemaster would have had a Fibreglass bonnet and emergency exit window IIRC, if that counts!  )

[Yoss]

Yes, there was more fibreglass in the RM than in a whole Rebel/Kitten. Bonnet, grille, most of the front wing, seat backs... 

[plasticvandan]

Joe mason is someone I knew very closely back when I was a heavy relianteer,I would suggest you don't go for that one,unless you have a massive wallet.join the kitten register and pop a wanted advert in.

i used a rebel van as my daily for a few years,and despite having had nearly 40 Reliants of all types,it was the most high maintainance car I've ever owned,I was forever working on it.spares are getting hard to find,some are unique to the rebel.regal spares have shot up so common parts have risen as well. Most of the reliant specialists have either shut,moved on to other things or died,leaving a few to claim the monopoly.very little is being made new now outside the scope of consumables,reliant parts world,the last remnant of the company,now well clear of their ten year commitment to supply parts for the last Robin and aren't remaking parts when they run out,Rebel parts supply has been poor for decades though.

They are a fairly easy car to drive,mine had the later 750 box and an 850 engine,that said the gearing on them causes nosebleeds over 50mph.

chassis can and do rot badly,as do door frames,bank on £150-200 for a good used pair if they are rotten.

will advise if you have any questions,or just watch from the sidelines if you prefer.

[DBrown67]

Parts for 700cc engines are getting hard to find now but you could drop an 850cc engine in no bother and fit a later box with all synchro. Regal/Rebel didn't have synchro on 1st. As said the metal door frames can rot badly and replacements are very hard to find nowadays. Never owned a Rebel but currently own a Regal saloon. Once the carpet is fitted round the engine bulge in the car it's relatively quiet. Not by modern standards of course but nothing like you'd expect. A conversation can be had without raising voices no problem.

Trouble is a lot of Rebels and Kittens have been hacked about by people wanting to fit much bigger engines or bike engines and then get frustrated.

I notice Plasticvanman mentioned the gearing... is it possible the Rebel van had a different diff fitted to the saloon? I know the Regal van did, dunno about Rebel. That could have been the issue.

[Yoss]

Thanks for those two 'voice of reason' replies. It wouldn't be an everyday car and whilst I've never had any Reliants I am a serious Triumph licker of the saloon car kind (big and small). They're not the same but they are of the same era and quite similar (I think) so I think I'm quite familiar with the mechanics. I have been studying pictures of chassis on t'internet. Reliant engine looks like mine but further away. Except it's alloy, I wish mine was. 

My Triumph 1300 is also noisy, much noisier than a standard one. Mostly as the gearbox is currently noisier than it should be. There's a chain of gears that goes down the back of the box linking the clutch to the gears themselves (it's a FWD, the engine sits on top of the box). I think one or more of those is shot because when I dip the clutch it goes away and when I bring it up, even sat in neutral, the noise comes back. It's always been noisy and its been from John O'Groats to Lands End three times amongst other things but I think it's getting worse now and I should do something about it. 

But that's only part of the noise. It also has twin SU's with K&N's, a bespoke exhaust stiffer front suspension and poly bushes where they are the same as a Dolomite (nobody caters specifically for FWD's). This all ads up to quite a noisy car so I'm used to that. 

I also use a Skoda Favorit as an everyday car so I'm not starting from a very high baseline. It would be unlikely to do any motorway work even if I was going to an event, there's always an alternative and it would effectively be replacing a Routemaster with a cruising speed of 40mph. But a small lightweight noisy car for buzzing round town or drives in the country sounds fun. 

Ok, so I should look at the Kitten Register. Trouble is I might end up with a Kitten. Though it might be easier to sell that idea to Mrs Yoss. 'Look, it's a Kitten'. How could she object! 

So yeah, please feel free to interrupt, it's what I need. I know it's best to take my time and not just go for the first one that turns up but at the same time not many are going to turn up. We'll see. 

[Yoss]

See what I mean. They have a similar sort of style I think. The Triumph is mine. 

 

The Rebel was introduced in 1964, I think, and the Triumph '65, though it is essentially a shrunken 2000 from 1963 so I don't know if there was any copying going on. 

[Richard_FM]

I do know that reliants use triumph parts mostly from the herald.

Elvis Payne has a good site for various restoration projects but all on the 3 wheelers.

[Yoss]

6 hours ago, doug said:

Just got my latest Kitten Register magazine yesterday and there is a 1974 Rebel van for sale in it. No price, always a bad sign. If interested I can PM the sellers phone number.

Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk
 

So I seem to have found it on ebay. Its in Clacton which matches the phone number you sent me. 

 

Wierdly I didn't find it on ebay itself, I found it down an Internet rabbit hole when googling Rebel images. Still can't find it directly on ebay. 

They've spent a lot of money on the chassis and engine and it may be worth the money but at that price I would want a runner at least. If it was me I'd at least reattach the body to try and sell it just to make it easier to move. I'd be happy driving around in something that looked like that knowing I had a practically new chassis and engine underneath. 

Unfortunately that's too much of a project at the moment. If I had nothing else to do I'd consider it. Maybe later in the year if it's still there (and it might be at that price!) I'll make him a cheeky offer. 

[plasticvandan]

that project would probably be easier than buying say that yellow saloon.the body is only held on with a few bolts.The engines are getting hard to find in decent nick now,they are getting on and a full rebuild can cost a grand in parts alone,if you can get them. I did maybe 20,000 miles in my rebel van,and a lot of that was motorway,i would wind it up to about 65 and wear earplugs.van did have a different diff ratio to the saloons and estates,but not by much. The reliant ohv engine is reputed to be heavily influenced by the herald engine (obviously construction and materials are different) 

Rebel uses spitfire wishbones,herald hubs,vitesse uprights,a LHD Standard 10 steering box and reliants own drums.lotsof parts bin stuff but in a wierd way,ie they used different model parts in one assembly rather than just bolting a herald front end on for example.

[Yoss]

Again, I'm sure you're right. That chassis and engine look fabulous and I've no idea how much it would cost to have a chassis galvanised. He could easily have spent that much and more. 

But what looking at those pictures has done is knocked a sense of reality in to me. I need to finish what I have. The Favorit just needs a wing, which I already have and is bolt on, and proper rustproofing around the back end. The Triumph is as described above but I feel I should do that first. 

I wasn't aware that Herald and Vittesse suspension was different, except smaller engined Heralds have drums. I know Spitfire geometry is different whilst being essentially the same. I have the same problems with my car. Bits of the front suspension were carried over to the RWD car but not all, the geometry is different. I have RWD top ball joints and shocks (I tell myself it's because they are more easily available but really it's because I'm still a boy racer at heart and wanted uprated springs/shocks) but the lower wishbone is different and the mounting bracket has a different angle on it. 

Anyway, back to the Rebel. I'll still keep looking and if that one is still around later in the year I may consider it. The van looks both fun and useful. 

[doug]

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reliant-Rebel-1973-850cc-MOT-and-Tax-exempt-Rolling-Project/293505993799?hash=item4456520c47:g:SrgAAOSwm69eZ320

 

 

[Yoss]

Thanks doug. 

Interesting. Not sure I'd want to be seen in that one! Though it would be easy to paint those stripes matt black as well if they don't peel off. Looks like it was red originally and I'd much rather drive round in a pogweaseled red than that. 

On the other hand I like the idea of the 850 engine. He's keen to push the SU carb, mentions it about four times, but that suits me. I have a box full of SU's and bits and am quite familiar with them. 

I like the way he says it's slow, draughty and uncomfortable. And "you won't want to drive it home unless you live in Norwich". He doesn't know what I'm used to! But it does sound like it would need trailering back. I mean I could trundle back on the A roads but it's been off the road for three years. Mismatching front seats I notice. 

It's one to think about. But the fact that we've now found three for sale shows there may be more out there than I thought. None of three so far have really leapt out out at me but they all have good and bad points. 

Its on my watch list. I was planning on having a go at my Triumphs gearbox in the next week. I had it out at the weekend and it is getting noisier. I should sort that first. Hmm... decisions. 

[plasticvandan]

There all dogs,there are maybe only a handful of what I would,call really decent ones,and they rarely come up,for sale.only around 2500 were made,and maybe 100 whole ones survive,so there aren't many to choose from.

in its favour,that saloon is the final 750 rebel variant,with the strong magic wand gearbox (basically a Robin box with an extension shaft)