“The Club for Owners and Enthusiasts of Britain’s finest specialist car manufacturer”
No 12. March 2019
Tom Karen OBE
We were delighted last January to receive news that Tom Karen was listed in the New Years Honors List to be awarded an OBE for services to Design, A member of the RMC from when the club was first founded, Tom is exceptionally well known for his numerous designs that amongst them include the Raleigh Chopper, the classic Bush Radio and the Marble Run game. Of course in Reliant circles Tom was the designer behind many classic Reliant vehicles like the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the Reliant Robin and the Bond Bug amongst others. In addition to being a true gentleman Tom is also very modest, when we congratulated him on his OBE last January he simply thanked us and was happy that "the lovely stuff" he had created was getting recognition at last.
Tom's investiture ceremony was earlier this month on 7th March at Buckingham Palace, London.where he collected his OBE from the Prince of Wales. Just prior to the investiture, RMC President, Barrie Wills, went to visit Tom to pass on his congratulations. More details of Barrie's visit will be in our next Reliant Review magazine due in June 2019.
The RMC would like to congratulate Tom on his OBE, we believe it is an award long overdue and definitely well deserved.
Tom Karen OBE
Changes to website updates
Since the RMC website was launched on 6th June 2016 at www.reliant.website we have tried our best to try and update it at least once a month with some months seeing several updates. As the site has become more settled and now contains a fair bulk of our archives, we will now be updating the website every other month. That is of course unless there is an important update we wish to add to it during that time.
We are always searching for new material to add to our online archive, if you have any Reliant based documents that are not detailed on the website and you could provide a scan of it, we would love to hear from you. We are always happy to acknowledge where the scans came from on our web site.
We are especially eager to build up our archives for the 1930s period which at present only contains a single brochure, a handbook and several photos. If you are able to add to this we would again love to hear from you.
That's one small step for man ...
Whilst not being Reliant related, July 2019 sees the 50th Anniversary of when man first stepped on the moon. In July 1969 millions around the world were glued to their little black and white Television sets watching history in the making.
It then made us think whether any one has any Reliant related stories connected with the event at the time, or maybe you were just sitting in your Reliant when you heard the news over the radio. If so please send your story into us (no matter how small or big) to members@reliantclub.co.uk We will then feature those we can in our next Reliant Review magazine.
Reliant Scimitar book now available
Elvis Payne's latest book on Reliant Sportscars entitled, The Reliant Scimitar is currently available. The book contains a foreword by H.R.H The Princess Royal and covers all Reliant Sportscar models (both production and abandoned projects) from the Sabra to the planned De La Chapelle Roadster based Scimitar in 1999.
As with Elvis' previous books, numerous key people have assisted with the book including former Reliant directors, Barrie Wills, Ritchie Spencer, Ed Osmond, Stewart Halstead, Tony Stafford and Jonathan Heynes, along with Tom Karen from Ogle to name just a few. The book also contains new information along with GTE concept images from the 1990s that have not been published before.
Priced at £19.95 the book is available from Crecy Publishing, Amazon and all good book stores.
RELIANT MOTOR CLUB REVIEW: No 5
The fifth edition of the Reliant Motor Club Review is now available online. It contains all our usual features and a host of articles along with an interview with Xavier de la Chapelle in France on the proposed 2001 Scimitar. For those who have recently joined or opted out of our mailing list, this and past editions that can be viewed here.
Remember. this is your club so if you have a story or anything you would like to share with club members via the magazine then please let us know.
Issue No 6 is currently being compiled and is due in June 2019.
RMC Membership approaches 300 members
We are now just a handful of members away from the 300 members mark as membership continues to grow, I know we say it every newsletter although it is always great to see new members and wonderful that so many existing members are renewing their memberships. We welcome all our new members and indeed welcome back those who have renewed. The RMC continues to be global with members in Australia, France, Germany, India, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey. UK and the USA. For those who are still thinking about it, remember that the club is for both Reliant owners and enthusiast and so you do not need to own a Reliant to join.
Supporting Reliant Clubs& Historical Organisations
One of the key aims of the RMC is to co-exist and work alongside other clubs and so we feel compelled to also thank the Reliant Sabre and Scimitar Owners Club, the Bug Club and the Kitten Register for all their encouragement and cooperation. The RMC is also a member of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, the Tamworth and District Civic Society, the Tamworth Heritage Trust and shares resources with the Staffordshire County Council Archives Department.
Reliant Motor Club Window Sticker
Our RMC window stickers make a great addition to any car. What better way to show your affiliation to the Reliant Motor Club.
For more information on a RMC window sticker for your car(s), please click here.
Membership Discounts: Amongst other benefits RMC members are also eligible for the following discounts:
Club Merchandise:
Having identified merchandise best suited to the RMC, we plan to have our new online shop up and running within the first half of 2019. If you have any ideas for club merchandise we would still love to hear from you.
The Reliant Motor Company Elvis Payne's book entitled The Reliant Motor Company has been receiving some very positive praise for both its wide coverage of Reliant and for its historical accuracy. With a foreword by H.R.H The Princess Royal, this is the first book to cover the whole of Reliant, both three wheeler and four wheeler models, in a single volume. It also includes numerous projects in addition to vehicles created for the car industry in Turkey and Israel.
Click here for more info. The book is priced at £18.95 and is available at all good book shops.
We are also delighted to announce the following Reliant Specialist who support the RMC:
Reliant Partsworld UK's largest range of Reliant parts and spares.
Tel: 01543 431 941
BERRYBROOK
Specialist offering servicing, repairs and MOTs.
Tel: 01392 833301
If you have not already done so please come along and join us, our online signup process takes just a few minutes. Membership is £8.50 for 1 year or £15.50 for 2 years.
For more information please visit www.reliant.website.
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DriveTribe
We were the first "Reliant Tribe" to appear on the DriveTribe web site. Why not visit and join the tribe. Click here
