“The Club for Owners and Enthusiasts of Britain’s finest specialist car manufacturer”
No 18. Sept 2020
Never mind the quality feel the weight!
Here we are 6 months and 2 newsletters later and cases of Covid-19 are climbing again and more restrictions are being put in place. We hope that all members and their families remain well and safe during this time.
For the RMC we have continued to see a stream of new members joining the club. This is perhaps the beauty of an online club, as whilst events up and down the country are cancelled, our website remains active and members are still able to benefit from the club being able to peruse the large selection of material available.
We do have a large website update planned towards the end of the year that will include many more documents.
We have also enjoyed your emails, especially after a magazine is sent out. Each edition we get emails from members saying how much they enjoyed reading it and more than one member has mentioned that the RMC magazine alone is worth the membership price. We will do our best to maintain the standard and don't forget, if you would like to submit an article or a story for the magazine then please let us know.
For those who are shy of writing but would still like to write an article, we are more than happy to help you put it together. You can also write as little or as much as you like, the great thing about an electronic magazine is that we are not limited by a page count.
Your emails also educate us to, for example the advert sent to us below by our latest member David Marshall. It is the first time we have seen it and so always great to discover new material to add to our archive.
For what ever reason you would like to contact us, we are always happy to hear from you. It's true to say the club exist thanks to the continued support from our members.
Please take care and stay safe.
Caroline
RMC Secretary
Never mind the quality feel the weight! We always love to discover new things, this is one of two adverts dated 1969 for Press Operations Ltd. (a subsidiary of Reliant) sent to us by our latest member David Marshall. They are the first adverts we have seen for Press Operations Ltd. and so they make a great addition to our archives. These will be added to our online archive with our next website update.
Happy Birthday HRH The Princess Royal
Last month our honorary member, HRH The Princess Royal, celebrated her 70th birthday and the RMC sent a customised birthday card from all RMC members wishing HRH a Happy Birthday.
The card of course featured a Scimitar GTE along with the Red Arrows in the classic 1970 photo taken by Reliant.
Rare 1946 Reliant Brochure
Within our website the section on brochures features many brochures from Elvis Payne's personal collection that alone contains over 250 different Reliant brochures.
Reliant brochures from the 1930s and 1940s are extremely rare to find with Elvis owning possibly the only surviving Reliant brochure for the JAP powered Reliants from 1936. Elvis was therefore delighted to find another rare brochure and his first from the 1940s, with an 8cwt van brochure from 1946. It is a little creased with a couple of nicks on the edges although despite that still a great addition to the collection. This brochure will be added to our website when it is next updated.
If anyone has any brochures that are not shown on our website please let us know.
New Reliant Scimitar Book
Some people will be aware that Elvis Payne is currently writing a new Reliant book for Veloce Publishing entitled The Essential Buyers Guide - Reliant Scimitar GTE. The book covers all GTE's from the SE5 to the Middlebridge Scimitar and details things to look out for when buying a Scimitar GTE.
The book was originally due to be published in November 2020 although as with most things, Covid-19 halted it and the book was temporarily postponed. The good news is that the publishers are now up and running again, and if Elvis can get it completed by the end of October, the book is now due in February 2021.
For those curious about the Scimitar GTE on the front this was actually the very first Reliant Elvis can recall seeing in 1977. It belonged to one of his teachers Bob Cole and here we are all these years and Bob still owns the car driving it daily. What a great testament to the Scimitar GTE.
Welcome e-mails to new members
Usually when a new member joins the RMC this triggers a script that then sends out a Welcome e-mail that provides information about the club along with various links and your RMC membership number.
We have discovered that due to a software update, the script has not been running for a couple of months.
Therefore we will be checking all those members who did not get a Welcome email and sending one out to them manually, our apologies that for some it's a little late although we hope that you still find it useful. As for the script, that has been updated and all members joining from this point on will start to receive the Welcome email automatically again.
Just as a side note, for those curious what their membership number is, this is also shown when you login to the RMC website, click on "My Account" and then "View My Profile".
RELIANT MOTOR CLUB REVIEW: No 8
The latest edition of the Reliant Motor Club Review (June 2020) is currently available to all members to download from our website.
As always it contains all our usual features along with a host of other articles including with an interview with Robin Mk 3 designer Andy Plumb and former Reliant employee John Tracey who introduced part numbers to Reliant in 1948. As you can tell by the cover, we have also gone tangerine for the 50th anniversary of the Bond Bug.
For those who have recently joined or opted out of our mailing list, this and past editions that can be viewed here.
We are currently working on our next edition due December 2020. 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.
The December edition will be emailed to all current RMC members as soon as it is ready.
A reminder to all our members looking for insurance for their vehicles. We have partnered with classicline insurance to find the best deal and better still, RMC members receive 10% off. To find out more information visit their website at www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk
Membership Update September 2020
With just over 380 members, membership is still continuing to grow and so many existing members are renewing their membership with a 2 year option, which is wonderful, we cannot thank people enough for their continued support. We welcome all our new members and indeed welcome back those who have renewed. The RMC now has members in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Israel, Luxembourg, 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.
Thank you again to everyone for their continued support.
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:
The perfect way to enjoy a cuppa when you have been busy in the garage or indeed to have at hand whilst browsing the RMC website.
Mugs cost £5 each plus £3 Post & Packing (for overseas orders please enquire). For more details please contact mark@reliantclub.co.uk
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.
Join us on Social Media
Don't forget we are on Facebook and Twitter (Links below) where you can catch up on the latest news.
DriveTribe
We were the first "Reliant Tribe" to appear on the DriveTribe web site. Why not visit and join the tribe. Click here
