Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "History and the Dale, a car ahead of its time" video.

I do vaguely remember this story but mostly because when there was a television programme about the trial. We had a number of three wheel cars built by a company called Reliant between 1952 with the final production in 2002. It was reasonably cheap to buy and as it had a motorcycle engine cheap to run. It was seen as a motorcycle so insurance, road tax and driving licence were for a motorcycle, again making it cheaper and easier to get in the road. It originally had an aluminium body but over time this was replaced with a fibreglass body. The downside is that it had the two wheels at the back and only one at the front, which meant it had a tendency to roll over if you took a corner too fast. Some have claimed this is a myth but I used to know someone who owned one and he had mentioned it had rolled over on several occasions. And the fibreglass body, though making the car lighter and easier to repair, could be a problem. I personally saw an accident when the driver of a Reliant pulled away from the curb without looking and was struck a glancing by a passing car. Though the other car took minimal damage, mostly scratched paintwork, the Reliant had a piece about a foot long knocked out of it. And I know of another accident were the entire bodywork disintegrated leaving the car with no bodywork at all. The only thing that save to family in the car from serious injury was the fact they were all wearing seat belts. Oddly enough those who drove these three wheeled Reliant cars were, for the most part, devoted to them and were not too happy when production finally ended. It one claim to fame was in an extremely popular British comedy series Only Fools And Horses as the main character drove Reliant Regal Supervan III.
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