Reliant Three-Wheelers

The Complete Story

John Wilson-Hall

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781847978073
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Transporte e ingeniería automovilísticos

Despite a reputation for being eccentric and dangerous, Reliant three-wheelers are ever-present in the classic car scene and are now seen as icons of British popular culture. Reliant Three-Wheelers - The Complete Story charts the development of these much-loved cars from 1935 onwards and includes the development and production of the Regal, Robin, Bond Bug and Rialto along with detailed specification guides and hundred of photographs throughout. An ideal resource for anybody with an interest in these classic cars, from one of the last major British vehicle manufacturers, the book covers origins of Reliant and the girder fork Light Delivery Van in the 1930s, post-war passenger cars and the groundbreaking fibreglass body of the Mark 3 Regal, Reliant under new ownership and the redesigned BN Robins, and Reliant three-wheelers in popular culture. Fully illustrated with 130 colour and 147 black & white photographs.

CHAPTER ONE

THE ROAD TO RELIANT

THE EARLY YEARS

Tom Lawrence Williams’ journey started in May 1890 at 43 Church Street, Tamworth, as the youngest of seven children. His mother, Sarah Ann Williams, was a part-time dressmaker and full-time mother. His father Edward was a well-established builder/joiner-cum-undertaker, pattern maker, wood turner, and furniture repairer with premises in College Row.

Tom’s education was ‘elementary’ under the newly legislated state school system, although he did excel in his studies. By twelve years old his endeavours had secured him a place at the Birmingham Technical School, the equivalent of today’s further education, which he attended as a day student until aged fifteen.

Following full-time education, Tom Lawrence then took up a position as a trainee in civil and surveying engineering work with Mr Clarson, a consultant civil engineer. Tom carried on his education at night school and by 1910 had passed his exams for the Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Municipal and County Engineers.

A common sight as the young Tom was growing up, and especially when he was working with Tamworth Council. Here we see steam-powered machinery repairing roads in Market Street, Tamworth, circa 1910.

Father Edward, a carpenter and builder, mother Sarah Ann (née Musson) in the census records, working as a dressmaker and milliner. Seven children over sixteen and all survived. In the days of difficult childbirth, childhood diseases and accidents, it is indeed remarkable that the Williams’ children lived to maturity, and both the father and mother continued to a ripe old age. Tom’s three brothers became a joiner (Charles), brass founder (Harold) and an architect (Edmund). In 1910, Edmund with his wife Maria and son David emigrated to Australia, where he became a municipal engineer.

ADVERT FOR EDWARD WILLIAMS’ BUSINESS

This advert for Tom Williams’ father’s business appeared regularly in the Tamworth Herald. The size of the advert is equal to many of the shops and stores advertising in the same publication. It indicates that the business was successful and Tom’s family, while not rich, was financially comfortable. If this had not been so, Tom would have had to leave school at fourteen to find some gainful employment; however, history shows us he went on to further education.

A FEW COMMERCIAL EXAMPLES

•	Dennis manufactured their first vehicle in 1904: a 15cwt van powered by a 4-cylinder engine with shaft drive to rear axle.
•	Austin produced a 15cwt commercial vehicle chassis in 1909.
•	In 1911, the American model T was introduced with a chassis suitable for car or light commercial use.
•	Albion made light delivery vehicles from 1903 but moved into heavier vehicles in 1910.
•	Lancashire Steam Motors, eventually becoming British Leyland, gave up steam and went into internal combustion engines in 1904.
•	Belsize motors of Manchester manufactured a small van between 1906 and 1918.

In 1911 Tom and his elder brother joined their father’s business to design and produce steam wagons. Two of Tom’s brothers were qualified joiners, although we don’t know which brother joined with Tom in this venture. However, the business only lasted till 1914 due to progress in vehicle propulsion and the possibility of a world war. Certainly, by 1914 the world was progressing away from steam and toward internal combustion.

The concept of mass personal transport was also developing rapidly. Chauffeur-driven large cars were still the prerogative of the rich, whereas on the street in nearly every town lightweight cars were appearing. There were few regulations in those early days to limit the appetite of cyclecar builders, whether they made one for their own use or several dozen. Birmingham and surrounding areas were hot spots for such activity, and whether it was an engine, wheels, bearings, radiators, spark plugs or carburettors, manufacturers or dealers could be found within that area.

Magazines sprang up in response to these developments distributing knowledge and ideas through the expanding railway network. Perhaps the most popular, or at least the most prolific, were the Temple Press publications The Motor (Tuesdays 1d), The Light Car and Cyclecar (Mondays 1d), and The Commercial Motor (Thursdays 1d). Temple Press in 1910/11 published How to Build a Cyclecar detailing every dimension, measurement and nut and bolt. Ten years later they brought out How to Drive a Light Car or a Cyclecar with instructions that would seem strange today – including the correct manner in which to press a bulb horn and the appropriate facial expression when driving! An interesting solution for a temporary repair is explained as shown in the caption below.

‘In the case of a skid, where the front end of the car hits the kerb, the wheel gets buckled and has to be removed, and the axle badly bent. If two pieces of wood can be obtained, and the steering itself has not been disarranged, it is still possible to get home under one’s own power. The two pieces of wood are lashed together: one acting as a support for the axle on the side of the damaged wheel, which, of course, is removed; the car can then be driven slowly.’

In The Light Car, Cyclecar and The Commercial Motor magazines, discussions went back and forth on the merits of either having one wheel at the front and two to the rear, or two at the front and one to the rear. A single, rear wheel was good for cornering and made a sporty two-seater; however, two rear wheels enabled a four-seater that wasn’t as good on corners but would be best for a load-carrying van. One certain advantage of the single, front wheel was that motorcycle front forks were readily available and could easily be attached.

Light cars required little in the way of investment in plant or machinery. Designs could be flexible, allowing innovation and ingenuity, and establishing many of the rules of manufacture applied even today. They tried bobbin and wire steering, chain and levers, until something resembling a steering box became common.

They tried belt drive and chain transmission until the bevel gear was developed. Gears were cones with a belt that moved up and down by means of a lever. They tried Derailleur gears, much the same as on modern bicycles. One wheel at the front or two and various chassis configurations were experimented with until broad principles were achieved for different applications.

Cyclecars reached their heyday in 1924/25 after World War I when men were returning home after experiencing forms of mechanical transport they had never really been exposed to before. These often flimsy machines were at the frontier of car and motorcycle development.

The design of cars in general was moving on rapidly. For example, the Austin 7, introduced in 1922, was the cheapest car on the market and the first proper full-size car ‘in miniature’. It was advertised as a ‘real car’ and was made using the first-class materials and steel as in larger Austins.

A very simple early Morgan single-seat cyclecar. It is direct chain drive to the rear wheel, although many were belt-driven. The steering is by tiller handles connected directly to the front wheels. The air-cooled engine, with the petrol tank between the engine and the driver, is perched above the front axle. Whether there were gears or not is impossible to say. Many of these machines were single gear.

Whether it was ‘real cars’ or cyclecars, Tom Williams as a young engineer, and with an interest in steam-powered vehicles, was well aware of any new developments of the internal combustion engine and wrote several articles and pamphlets for trade journals and magazines.

A SPOT OF BOTHER AND TRIUMPH

Returning to Tom’s story, following the steam-wagon business, Tom went back to civil engineering with Nuneaton Council. However, World War I had started and Tom, with so many others, received his call-up papers. It is a matter of record that he had joined the Christadelphians in 1907 and, therefore, according to the doctrine of that sect, he was opposed to war. He took his case as a conscientious objector to the Military Tribunal who rejected his plea and ordered him into the army as a non-combatant. He appealed but the appeal upheld the previous Tribunal’s decision. When Tom didn’t turn up at the recruiting office on the due date he was arrested.

‘At Tamworth police station on Thursday, before Mr T. Lowe and Mr W. R. Frost, Tom Lawrence Williams, assistant borough surveyor of Nuneaton who resides at Offa Street, Tamworth, was charged with being an absentee from His Majesty’s Army on March 30, and with failing to report for army service on March 23, 1916, as required by the Military Service Act.’
This news item appeared in the Tamworth Herald in April 1916. Tom had joined the Christadelphians in 1907. As part of their teaching, members are not allowed to take up arms, although at times of war they were permitted to take on non-combatant roles.

The case went to the magistrate’s court in April 1916, but the magistrates had no power to overturn a Tribunal’s decision. Tom was fined £2 and turned over to the military police to be held at Whittington Barracks just north of Tamworth. What happened then we can’t be sure because the vast majority of records regarding conscientious objectors have been destroyed. Some were jailed for just a few months, some longer, and it is possible that others were allowed to go into essential war work. This appeared to be Tom’s fate because just a few months later he was employed by Triumph motorcycles as a draughtsman, at a time when the company was totally committed to ‘essential’ war work.

This is the Triumph Model H built for the army dispatch riders. As can be seen, there was a large inner rim on the rear wheel enabling the belt to provide drive.

The motorcycle being produced for the army was the Model H: a 499cc four-stroke, air-cooled, single cylinder ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Timeline
• CHAPTER 1 THE ROAD TO RELIANT
• CHAPTER 2 THE GIRDER YEARS
• CHAPTER 3 THE REGAL
• CHAPTER 4 A NEW ENGINE FOR A NEW ERA
• CHAPTER 5 TESTING THE LIMITS
• CHAPTER 6 ANT BOND AND BUG
• CHAPTER 7 THE ROBIN TAKES FLIGHT
• CHAPTER 8 THE FINAL DECADE
• CHAPTER 9 THE RELIANT OWNERS CLUB
• Index