Ahh- 3 wheelers... had 3 of ‘em 2 Reliant Regals ( both vans) and a 750cc Robin. Great ‘cos you could drive ‘em on a bike licence and had heaters too- sheer luxury!,
My first Regal cost me £10- and I was done! The previous owner had hacked away most of the floor, to “work” on the engine, which he then removed and left in the back- I was young, hopeful ( ok, stupid) and put it all back together and even managed to bust my nose with the prop shaft, when trying to get it slotted back in.. bugger never moved under its own steam... and then selfishly went and caught fire...
...next one £120 and whole and an MOT’d runner! - I used to “ fuel inject” it- pulling the choke out half way would give it a spurt of speed that would often surprise... unfortunately, the Police on occasion.
I noticed on the log book it said “4 seater” which then explained the piece of wood in the back- you lifted it and it became a seat back to the 2 shallow depressions in the fibre glass which were “ seats”...Spartan doesn’t do ‘em justice-let’s just say you didn’t realise that the coccyx was connected to every other nerve in your body until a day after a ride in the back...
Finally the Robin- they are surprisingly nippy, as they weigh about as much as a Tupperware lunchbox, and believe me, they have a very sporty, short throw gearbox... one of the great things I discovered, was that should you lock your keys inside, by gently lifting the “Plastic Pig”, by either rear wheel arch, it would allow the body to flex just enough so that the drivers door would just nicely pop open- sorted!
You could get wheel spacer kits to widen the rear track and minilite wheels too- so you could “hustle” them a bit more through the bends- not to exactly RAC rally extent, but it certainly added more fun...had two mates ( also bikers) who had spruced up 850 Robins- and kid you not, a works group of us coming back from Margate back in around ‘83 on the M25, started - ( as you do) a little bit of to and fro “racing”... Maxi 1750 vs Escort 1.6 vs Datsun 120Y vs us; girlfriend pretty much flat out at 95mph in our Renault 12, got “done” by our mate Alan in his Robin- even more astonishing was his passenger was a 6’4” chunky mate, and in the back a French pen pal - whose face was a picture as they went by at...110mph!!
I don’t think the French pen pal bothered to write back after they returned home...
Ahh, such fun those 3 wheelers are!,