Reliant Tax Now £5
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THE number of ultra' lightweight goods vehicles at this year's Cycle and Motor Cycle Show is small. This is mainly because manufacturers of three-w.heeled vehicles are concentrating on the presentation of car models..
Vans are limited to a 5-cwt. three-wheeler and a three-wheeled chassis for goods or passenger use. Neither of these has been seen at this Show before. Several box sidecars, suitable for carrying loads of up to about 4 cwt., are also displayed.
The three-wheeled van is the plasticbodied Reliant, made by the Reliant Engineering Co. (Tamworth), Ltd., Watling Street, Twogates, Tamworth, Staffs, which was first seen at the Commercial Motor Show in September and was fully described in The Commercial Motor on September 24,
. Weight Below 8 cwt.
It is now equipped with steel-framed side screens, instead of safety-glass door windows, to bring the Unladen weight below 8 cwt. This is the maximum weight allowed in the Cycle and Motor Cycle Show and it brings the vehicle into the £5 annual tax class. The current price is quoted as £300, plus £39 17s, 4d. purchase tax.
A completely new three-wheeled chassis is exhibited on the stand of W. R. Pashley, Ltd., Chester Street, Aston, Birmingham, together with a passenger-carrying model, based on this chassis, and called the Pelican motor rickshaw. Two types of goods body are also available.
The passenger version is designed expressly for use in countries where rickshaw travel is traditional. The driver sits astride the engine, and forward of the four passengers, who occupy two double seats over, the car type rear axle. -14
A J.A.P. 600 c.c, single-cylindered four-stroke engine is used and the gearbox gives three forward speeds and a
reverse ratio. The vehicle is 116 in. long and 55 in. wide. The turning circle is 206 in. The goods bodies, which can be either the open pick-up type or the closed Protek version, with two hinged lids, are 56 in. long and 38 in. wide. Behind the axle the depth is 26 in. and forward of the axle it is 16 in.
The chassis, which costs £260, is designed to occupy little shipping space and for simplicity in assembly on delivery. Prices of the bodies are not yet available.
No new commercial sidecars are displayed but box sidecars or combinations are shown by Douglas (Sales and Service), Ltd., Kingswood, Bristol; Garrard Sidecars, Ltd., 78 Walmer Road, Loudon, W.10; Lainbretta Concessionaires, Ltd., 213-219 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, S.W.19; Swallow Coachbuilding Co. (1935), LW., The Airport, Walsall, Staffs, and Watsonian Sidecars, Ltd., Albion Road, Greet, Birmingham, 11. The Show closes tomorrow.