Page 28 - April 2023

And now for something completely different,
which car of British Manufacture was dubbed
The Plast ic Pig?

When is a car, not exactly a car-- when it's a plastic The Robin, reliant or not, was apparently beloved
pig? No, that's not the right answer; the right by the mining community in northern England,
answer is when the British vehicle in question is the many of whom also lacked full scale motoring
Reliant Robin, not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle, licenses. It had the real benefit of keeping them
and not quite a porker, as cars go. out of the filthy weather, something a motorcycle
could not do.
The Reliant Robin appeared in the 1970s, a three
wheeler with the single front wheel also in control of The Reliant Robin made its appearance at a time
the steering. It seated four ( with back seats larger when the UK, as well as other European countries,
than those found in an Aston Martin) was heavily were deep into a recessionary economy. Car
dependendent on fiberglass to reduce its weight. manufacturers got creative in designing low cost,
Because it could be operated on a motorcycle budget friendly transportation. There were
license. the Robin had no reverse gear, just like a already some oddities out there like the Italian
motorcycle, but it did have a tendency to tipping micro car that morphed into the BMW Isetta, the
over, unlike a pig whose low center of gravity gives it Fiat Topolino, or the Peel P 50, but the quirkiest
immense stability while moving rapidly, when of a quirky lot, was, as you might expect , a British
required, on its trotters. car, the Robin.

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