I have bought myself a new trike. Well not exactly new. In fact it's old. In fact it's nearly four years older than me and that's really old!
I have decided to sell my trusty Peugeot Expert van which I've had for eight years and which has never let me down or cost me more than a few pounds in repairs and MOT's a year. Since I retired two years ago it has done less than 1,000 miles a year and those miles were mostly just runs out to blow the cobwebs away. The old girl was obviously going to slowly rot away so it needs a new home. Ebay here we come.
Glancing through the classic cars on ebay I found a little gem of a machine and drooled for a while but thought no more about it. I mentioned it to Joan that evening and recounted tales of when I had a similar 'first car' in my teens. She said 'well why not treat yourself then?'
Long story short it is being delivered on Wednesday!
It's a 1949 Reliant Regent 10cwt van. Originally these were made with a single cylinder JAP 600cc motorbike engine having a HP rating just into double figures. It was later souped up with the fitting of a 750cc sidevalve Austin 7 engine which gave it an almost car-like power boost and made it a pretty useable little load carrier of the early 1950's. It actually sold in small but steady numbers before Reliant ditched it and created the Regal car and van trikes. The van shrunk to an almost useless size and carrying capacity shrunk to 5cwt.
My second vehicle at age 16 was a 1954 (IIRC) Reliant soft top Regal with a aluminium body on a wooden frame bolted to a steel girder chassis and I loved it. It's little side valve engine took me on a holiday to Wales from Hertfordshire with the motorway miles simply a question of keeping right foot to the floorboards and watching the speedo creep between 50mph and 55mph depending on road gradient and wind direction. It never faltered and never let me down. If memory serves that little thing cost me £25 and sold for £2 more when I moved on to another car.
This Regent has had a Robin 850cc OHV engine fitted which should make it more capable of keeping pace with modern traffic and at least capable of overtaking cyclists and little old ladies in Morris Minors. It will never be a road burner- but then neither am I.
It has cost me more than I have ever paid for a car before and I still shiver at the thought but as Joan points out I could pop my clogs tomorrow (she always looks on the bright side) and it will not likely lose any value as time passes so long as it stays in one piece. Meanwhile it will be a hoot to play with and she already has trips out with the dogs and a picnic planned.
I'm hoping it will be reliable but at least I can work on it without needing a degree in computer science if the necessity arises. The only drawback is that there are no pedals but then I have other options there in my workshop.
John
I have decided to sell my trusty Peugeot Expert van which I've had for eight years and which has never let me down or cost me more than a few pounds in repairs and MOT's a year. Since I retired two years ago it has done less than 1,000 miles a year and those miles were mostly just runs out to blow the cobwebs away. The old girl was obviously going to slowly rot away so it needs a new home. Ebay here we come.
Glancing through the classic cars on ebay I found a little gem of a machine and drooled for a while but thought no more about it. I mentioned it to Joan that evening and recounted tales of when I had a similar 'first car' in my teens. She said 'well why not treat yourself then?'
Long story short it is being delivered on Wednesday!
It's a 1949 Reliant Regent 10cwt van. Originally these were made with a single cylinder JAP 600cc motorbike engine having a HP rating just into double figures. It was later souped up with the fitting of a 750cc sidevalve Austin 7 engine which gave it an almost car-like power boost and made it a pretty useable little load carrier of the early 1950's. It actually sold in small but steady numbers before Reliant ditched it and created the Regal car and van trikes. The van shrunk to an almost useless size and carrying capacity shrunk to 5cwt.
My second vehicle at age 16 was a 1954 (IIRC) Reliant soft top Regal with a aluminium body on a wooden frame bolted to a steel girder chassis and I loved it. It's little side valve engine took me on a holiday to Wales from Hertfordshire with the motorway miles simply a question of keeping right foot to the floorboards and watching the speedo creep between 50mph and 55mph depending on road gradient and wind direction. It never faltered and never let me down. If memory serves that little thing cost me £25 and sold for £2 more when I moved on to another car.
This Regent has had a Robin 850cc OHV engine fitted which should make it more capable of keeping pace with modern traffic and at least capable of overtaking cyclists and little old ladies in Morris Minors. It will never be a road burner- but then neither am I.
It has cost me more than I have ever paid for a car before and I still shiver at the thought but as Joan points out I could pop my clogs tomorrow (she always looks on the bright side) and it will not likely lose any value as time passes so long as it stays in one piece. Meanwhile it will be a hoot to play with and she already has trips out with the dogs and a picnic planned.
I'm hoping it will be reliable but at least I can work on it without needing a degree in computer science if the necessity arises. The only drawback is that there are no pedals but then I have other options there in my workshop.
John