Reliant Rebel

Reliant Rebel
Rebel registered January 1969
Overview
Manufacturer	Reliant
Production	1964-1974 2600 made
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 2-door estate car van
Related	Reliant Regal
Powertrain
Engine	598 cc/700 cc/748 cc Straight-4
Transmission	4 speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	89 in (2,261 mm)
Length	138 in (3,505 mm)
Width	58 in (1,473 mm)
Height	55.5 in (1,410 mm)
Curb weight	538.8-603.3Kg
Chronology
Predecessor	none
Successor	Reliant Kitten

The Reliant Rebel was a small car produced by Reliant between 1964 and 1974, conceived as an niche rival to the Austin Mini and Hillman Imp, it was seen as the smart alternative as it had a rust free body, robust chassis and frugal fuel economy. It was produced in saloon, estate and van variants in 600, 700 and 750 engine forms.

The car was a brain child of Ray Wiggins after the founder of the Reliant (T L Williams) died as Ray believed that not all people would be driving 3 wheeled vehicles such as Reliant's Regal model in the future. So Reliant engineers set to work on the current Reliant Regal 3/25 to see what they could create, they built a rolling chassis using many parts from other countries to give it a conventional front engine steering/suspension but felt Reliant's 600cc engine wouldn't pull the weight of a finished car, so Reliant's engineers skimmed the cylinder head and fitted larger valves to the 600cc engine to give better torque for better pulling power of the extra weight, these engines were specific to the Reliant Rebel.

After this Reliant set Ogle to design the Rebel with the reasoning it should look completely different to the Reliant Regal but to retain some of its parts like its doors and windscreen to save some production costs. The car debuted in 1964 to the public with the show cars been pre production models built in Turkey which were then driven to the Earls Court over night to properly test the durability of them.

The Rebel had a body made of fibreglass. Because of this, the car's body did not rust, and it was proclaimed in advertising to be "its own garage".

On early 600 models the front had a fake upper grill, on later vehicles this was smoothed off to make a new look front.

There were 3 body shapes, a saloon, estate and van.

Reliant Rebel saloon

Reliant Rebel estate

The car was launched with a 598 cc engine producing 24 horsepower; the engine size later increased to 701 cc in time for the October 1967 London Motor Show, later this engine would be fitted into the Reliant Regal 3 wheeler, the new 700 engine gave the Rebel a top speed of 70 mph.

At the 1972 Motor Show the engine size increased again to 748 cc which gave a new top speed of 75 to 80 mph, but gave better acceleration. All Rebels return fuel economy up to 65mpg; this fuel economy and rust-proof body were key selling points to the Rebel, and the Reliant motor company's ethos for car design.

The Reliant Rebel engines were always of a higher compression and higher horse power because of the more weight on the Rebel compared to the 3 wheeled variants, Reliant always introduced the new engine sizes into the Rebel first before the Reliant Regal or Bond Bug received it.