Dad had at least two if i remember correctly.
Maybe three.
One was the "Supervan" which as kids we had to sit in the back of to go anywhere.
I remember one day we were on our way home from someplace and "something" fell from under the back and was dragging along the road under me.
I said "Dad! Something has fell off and sparks are flying out behind us!"
He said "Well we are almost home anyway so we will have a look when we get there".
When we did get home we found that it was the petrol tank we had been dragging.....
Dad fixed the leaks in it with fibreglass resin and white satin material left over from when my Mum made my sisters wedding dress.
Eventually he sold it. The two guys that bought it were building a Hovercraft and really only wanted the engine which me and Dad had rebulit so it was a goodun.
His next one was the Reliant Regal Saloon. This one fell on me when I tried to change the front wheel for my Mum when she had a flat.
Pretty sure both of these had a 650cc 4-cylinder engine. Not the 750 as described on Top Gear. They came later as did the "big" 850cc version.
We used to dream of one day owning a 850cc version.
When the engine in the Regal got unreliable I was given it for my 17th Birthday to practice engine maintainance on. The aim was to get it running well enough to use as in those days you could drive one with only a provisional driving licence. Dad helped me fit a replacement engine which just needed a de-coke, valve lapping etc. But the distributor on it was broken and the distributor on the old engine didn't fit as they had changed the drive on the shaft at some point. So I took both apart and fitted the shaft from one into the other so it would fit.
Only problem was the shaft was bent so although the engine would run the timing and points dwell was all over the place. I bought a 1958 AJS motorcycle instead and lost interest in teh Regal. It got scrapped eventually.
I never counted that as my first car because;
a) I never got it road legal.
b) I never paid for it.
c) It didn't have enough wheels to qualify as a car.
So I tell people my first car was the Oz Charger I bought after my first marrage broke down some six years later. I try to forget about that Reliant Regal I "kind of" owned back then.
Posted: 30 Jun 2010 8:26.gif)
