Pulaski

Apparently nobody told the Chinese, or Snyder dba "Wildfire Motors", of Stubbenville, OH, that the primary purpose of the Reliant Robin was to be the butt of a joke.



Between around 2007 and 2013 (when the approval to import the vehicles was rescinded) Wildfire Motors imported a couple of three wheel vehicle models, including a four door saloon known as the ST600, that had been manufactured in China. I read that it was approved as a "neighborhood car", so similar to a street-legal golf cart, and was capable of 25mph, but could be easily modified to do 50mph. The approval was reportedly withdrawn when it was discovered that the information about the vehicles, provided by Snyder had been fraudulent.

Anyway, I saw one on the road yesterday, and bizarrely I saw it again today. It looks like the offspring of a Reliant Robin and a Smart Car, and if anything thinner and taller than a Reliant Robin, so, and I know this is going to be hard to believe, it looks less stable than a Reliant Robin.

ddsrph

Just started a car project turning a VW Beetle into a buggy similar to the one in the photo. It’s shortened 22 inches from standard wheel base. I found a donor car in Dalton Georgia with little rust. Will over haul the engine as the last step of construction.

Pulaski

Cool, you're building a kit car!

I look forward to hearing about your progress.

ddsrph

Thanks. Will post my progress. The plan is to build my own design open frame body similar to photo. The red car builder cut down the VW tunnel by 22 inches and rewelded it back together. By keeping the tunnel structure the rest of the framework I plan to make will not be as critical structure wise.

tht

Not a CT yet… but loaded up my first “EV” and took it up to the lake house on “Boxing Day”…. Now waiting for it to get cold enough for the lake to freeze… my neighbor takes his quad on the ice to plow the skating rink, so maybe I can take the golf cart out there for a spin….

ddsrph

I got my project car home and in my garage to work on a few weeks ago. I am designing the body as I go along and haven’t yet cut out the 22 inches to make the wheel base about 72 inches. I am welding up the very sturdy lower frame but plan to bolt the upper body together.

ddsrph

I decided to bolt much of the frame together only welding the lower main structural frame. I can build the rear body before I cut the tunnel. It’s going a lot faster than expected and the cost of the steel is minimal.

ddsrph

My VW dune buggy project is progressing. Designing it as I go along. Once body is done will start on mechanicals. Wheel base is reduced from 94 inches to 74.

Bob

That's looking great!

ddsrph

Thanks. It’s been a fun project. Was lucky to find a good donor car that didn’t have a lot of rust.

Pulaski

I was out and about in Virginia today and saw a couple of cars, each parked outside (on driveways) outside unremarkable houses in unremarkable parts of town (not even subdivs, just residential neighborhoods), so stopping to look at and talk about with the owner, wasn't an option, but both were extremely surprising.

The second I saw was a fully restored, and almost certainly resprayed, 1963 Saab, which would have been a 3-cyl two-stroke if it has it's original motor, and I am not sure I have ever seen one before, anywhere. In case you wondered, I know it was a '63 because it had an historic tag that said it was a '63.

The other, perhaps even more surprising, was a Triumph Herald! I don't know what year it was, and it was in a poor state of repair, even allowing for it having been a POS when it rolled off the production line. But anyway, I was surprised that there even is a Triumph Herald in US (I don't know if any were officially imported), or at least that one has survived fifty years without been scrapped and crushed.

MtbbikeVanlife

Ugh - thanks for the flashbacks - Dad had a Herald in the early 70's..... I hated it with a passion.

No chance it's in the Richmond area is it ? I'd like to visit with a crate of eggs !

Pulaski

Nah, the Herald and Saab were in Blacksburg, so a looong way west of Richmond.

Our next door neighbour had a Herald when I was around age 7-8, and even back then I thought it looked like a POC.