1987 Reliant Rialto SE

[Mattcortes]

Hi all,

I've just bought a 1987 Reliant Rialto SE in British Racing Beige (Sandglow) lovely clean car completely standard and was bought for a lady as her 60th birthday present where she drove it until she died last year covering 80k. It needs an new MOT and has a fair bit of history with it even including the original bill of sale showing it is a "fully loaded" model with optional factory sunroof, radio and rear wash wipe! Surprised the bill at the time was £5,500 which to me seems an awful lot of car considering its missing a key component! I've never had a go in a 3 wheeler and that was part of the appeal so I can see what its like but I know that I will not keep it as don't have the space and still have the Reliant Fox pick up that I haven't got on the road yet.

My question is whats it worth with a new MOT?

Ta

Matt

[TerryG]

I suspect John's head has just exploded but just in case, I suspect the next request from our resident Reliant encyclopaedia will be for some images of your new toy.

[rich.]

hes not here, so pics please

[JPB]

He is now mate!
Yes please, some images would be great and also, it shouldn't be too hard to rehome a good, clean Rialto, especially one with the all-important "E" (yellow top) spec and the high gearing that comes with it. When buying an E-spec car, the proverbial older driver is a great advantage as the High Torque E-spec engine doesn't take to being thrashed in the style of red tops in kittens, so this car sounds as though it ticks many of the boxes.

And not a single head explosion in sight, Terry.

Values are subject to so many regional and seasonal variations that I can think of examples of these selling at anything between £300 for a rough but roadworthy one, through to £2000 for a dealer prepared car from Michaels of Selby or CHG in Norfolk, which will be sold with the many benefits of buying from a specialist. James Holland at CHG might also be worth contacting as he's in touch with many more enthusiasts these days than anyone else is and his is one of the go-to places among those in the know when they're looking to buy since he has built up a reputation for his abilities to deal in, restore, maintain and have rare parts remanufactured for anything Reliant.

[Mattcortes]

Ah thats promising. I was going to list it for around £1000 i think so my guess seems about fair.

I will do some pics monday when i get it off the transporter and i imagine after a battery boost it should start. Its a shame the old reliant forum is no more so looks like another for ebay! I still cant believe how expensive it was when new.

[JPB]

Yes, they were dear new, but that was because the manufacturing techniques were inefficient by modern standards and even at their prices, Reliant didn't make as much profit per unit built as many modern, mass producers do so they were never really in a position to recover from a drop in demand that larger makers could have absorbed and viewed as a temporary blip.

[TerryG]

Can you still drive one on a bike licence?

[JPB]

You can drive anything, with any quantity of wheels, below 550Kg (Yes, that includes every model made by Caterham and Westfield too) with motorcycle entitlement, but this depends upon Grandfather rights so if you passed the test after the changes in January 1997 then no, you would need to take a car test.
Some people who have owned and driven Ants have discovered this rule the hard way since under the pre-'97 licence regs, the weight didn't come into it and their 700Kg Ant was a tricycle, therefore driveable under the pre-'97 motorcycle category but since that time, the Ant may only be driven by someone with car entitlement and its VED status changed from Tricycle to PLG.

For anyone who passed their motorcycle test after Jan '97, then the answer to the question is simpler because they need car entitlement to drive tricycles or heavy quads, though the 50cc quads are taxed as mopeds and they can even be driven by 16 year olds which worries me not because the driver is most probably very young and therefore inexperienced but because something that occupies the same amount of road as the 505cc heavy quad class vehicle is restricted to 28mph and as such is a bloody nuisance!

At least a Rialto is a surprisingly lively thing which, although it lacks the 104mph potential of the early Robin 850, accelerates like the proverbial off a shiny shovel in the higher geared E form, thanks to the torque and in spite of that high diff. Rialtos are generally the best handling of the three wheelers too, thanks to their being fitted as standard with progressive rate, single leaf rear springs and having a greater rearward weight bias than the earlier cars. It's actually really easy to forget that you're piloting something with the single wheel at the front when you're in the Rialto or later cars, unless of course some dumbass has left something in the middle of the road, in that case there's no impact like it for waking the driver up!

After Reliant stopped building tricycles and BN Plastics took over the moulds for MK3 Robins, the prices didn't half shoot upwards, the last new BN Robin was around £12000 in 2002 if all of the extras were specified and metallic paint chosen. People bought them though.

Buy Matt's car, Terry, come on, you know you need one! Besides, if they're good enough for Princess Anne and a certain Mr Glover...

[TerryG]

There is an S plate (1998ish) Robin on the farm which is fun in a quirky sort of way, it's painted JCB yellow. There is a pic of it on here somewhere.
Not really my sort of thing but I can understand the appeal. I think someone should make one with a twin rear axle and have a 4x5, Maybe with a rear mounted v8.........

[JPB]

....I think someone should make one with a twin rear axle and have a 4x5, Maybe with a rear mounted v8.........

V8s in Reliants are so last century! I've seen a lengthened second generation Robin that had an extra rear axle, it looked like a hearse. I shall be making my last ever journey in a rather special Rialto that someone made into this somewhat nose heavy

caravan of death

It's already booked and paid up, though the date has yet to be decided. I favour a late spring funeral for the best chance of decent weather.