Vintage Thing No.30 - Reliant Ant TW9

Most people are familiar with the Reliant three wheel van of Del Boy and Rodney from Only Fools and Horses. They are looked down upon by everyone but those that have driven them remember them with surprising fondness. One of my mates had one years ago and goes into raptures about them. I don't understand why he's so enthusiastic about them and can only assume there's more to them than meets the eye. Could they be a Vintage Thing? Maybe but if they are it's probably for the wrong reasons, like the Austin Allegro (VT No.23). Or maybe they have hidden virtues known only by a select few who have personal knowledge of these devices. Me? I keep an open mind.

Here's the big brother to the Reliant Regal Supervan - Reliant's description not mine. It's the Reliant Ant or TW9, a forward control version on a longer and heavier chassis but with the same all aluminium 4 cylinder engine and four speed box.


That must be a joke name, surely - the Rely Ant Ant? It reminds me of the story of the little girl who wrote, "The trick with spelling banananana is knowing when to stop."

The name of Reliant Ant rang an ancient bell with me - had I owned an Ant of my very own years before? A 1:64 scale Corgi Junior model? Yes, I had. Just like the Leyland Martian (VT No.27) this curious little commercial vehicle has had a model made after it. If I remember rightly it featured with Whizz-Wheels so somebody at Corgi had a sense of humour.

But whereas the Leyland Martian was just a bloody great truck, this thing looks like it actually might come from Mars.

One thing I'm not sure about - if it's on a bigger chassis can it still legally be licensed as a three wheeler? Can you drive this goods vehicle on a motorcycle license so long as you promise not to reverse?

Reliant have a long history with overseas markets and exported chassis cab versions of the four wheel Reliant Regal until 1967. Then the Ant was introduced and it remained in production until 1987. It was initially designed for export but soon cutomers at home were clamouring for it and I first made the acquaintance of the Reliant TW9 in my 1971 Observer's Book of Commercial Vehicles. My Corgi Junior model soon followed and then the Reliant Ant was pretty quickly forgotten about, by me at any rate.

Initially they had 700cc engines but they grew to 748cc in 1973 and presumably by the end of production had the 848cc motor, in line with Reliant's contemporary passenger cars. Although I can't be certain I believe the one piece fibreglass cab was styled by Ogle Design, a firm responsible for the Reliant Scimitar, Reliant Robin and the Bond Bug - in fact I can see a very passing resemblance in the Ant's space age lines to these motorised wedges of red Leicester cheese. It looked quite futuristic in a low budget B-movie kind of way and maybe a conceptual artist like Syd Mead (as featured on my Anarchadia blog recently) could have been inspired by one for his work on Blade Runner or Tron or Aliens - if he'd seen one.

The earlier, export models were rated at 10cwt (roughly 500kg) but British models were sold with a 16cwt weight capacity. My understanding of the British licensing laws is that to qualify as a three wheeler for the tax concession, it not only must have more than two wheels but less than four but also have a kerb weight of less than 425kgs. Quite how a laden Reliant Ant fits into this is unclear. Maybe somebody out there in cyberspace can advise.

The Ant was also produced under license by the Mebea Company in Greece and BTB Engineering in the UK.

I thought three wheel vehicles were a wholly British phenomenon but I was seriously wrong. The most famous Reliant Ant belonged to the Swiss distributor, Mr Ernest Hausler. Mr & Mrs Hausler travelled all over Europe and their caravan became known as The Mile-Eater Snail. They enjoyed 35mpg and a top speed of 60 mph.