At $4,800, Is This 1985 Reliant Rialto A Reliable Deal?

In what’s undeniably a questionable sales tactic, the ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Reliant Rialto shows a similar model being crashed by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear. Let’s see if this car’s price crashes our interest in the weird little three-wheeler.

Yesterday’s 2005 Audi Allroad 4.2 “Mechanic’s Special” sparked a schism between the comments and the voting. Reactions to the wagon’s panoply of problems indicated that many of you were none too keen on the prospect of taking on any attempt at resurrection. On the other hand, the 77 percent Nice Price win brought about by a low $2,500 price tag indicated an overall opinion that someone should.

That concept of “perhaps for thee, but not for me” might apply to today’s 1985 Reliant Rialto as well, considering that the major selling point offered in its ad is that a similar model was featured in a running gag on Top Gear, where it rolled over whenever someone looked at it funny.

The reason for the turtle-turning is that this Reliant Rialto is a three-wheeler featuring the less-stable form factor of one in front, two in the back, which, oddly enough, is also how the third act of a lot of porn movies end up, or so I am told.

Like many small cottage car makers in the UK throughout history, Reliant is no more. Before going belly up in 2002, Reliant made its name for itself building an odd mix of sports cars and small, three and four-wheel economy cars. At one point in the 1970s, it rose to second place in sales behind British Leyland in the pantheon of British-owned car makers. The reason the company built three-wheelers was money. Lacking a fourth wheel might have meant less stability on the road, but that was countered—in the UK, at least—by cheaper licensing, taxes, and insurance rates since the vehicles could be registered and driven as motorcycles.

It’s a similar case here in the States, although whether a trike is classified as a motorcycle or the more amorphous autocycle designation varies from state to state. That may be a moot point when considering this Rialto since it’s old enough and sufficiently odd that any buyer might just register it as an antique and be done with it. The question, of course, is whether this car/bike/thing is worth diving into.

Misidentified as a Robin in the ad, this Rialto is the model that bridged the Robin’s bifurcated run. It’s basically the same car, or at least fills the same niche. The basics are an 848 cc OHV four-cylinder engine making 40 horsepower and a four-speed manual gearbox driving a live axle suspended by cart springs in the back. A single wheel mounted on a pivoting mono-arm with a coil-over keeps the nose off the pavement and provides the steering, or at least what there is of it. This is all bolted to a square-section tube chassis and topped with a fiberglass body. As fitted, the Rialto can do 85 miles per hour, which must be terrifying.

According to the odd ad, this Rialto has been in a barn for some undisclosed amount of time, but it does have its import papers in order. It still wears its original UK B registration plates and, of course, has its steering and controls on the right. This is the Estate body style, which has a more upright rear end than the coupe, and offers more interior space as a result. The ad says it’s all complete, although some of the parts seem to have been haphazardly thrown into the cabin, so they may need some sorting.

There are also some issues with the side glass in the back, which appears to either be busted on both sides or made up of aged-out plexiglass. Whatever, those will need to be addressed. So, too, will the spider hotel passing as the interior. On the plus side, nothing seems to be missing, save for the steering wheel hub, and everything looks nice and tidy under the bonnet. The ad claims the mileage to be 12K and the title status to be clean. No word is given on its running status or if it needs any mechanical refurbishment, however. The asking price is $4,800.

Who might this Rialto be for? Well, likely someone with a penchant for such oddball little cars like the beloved YouTuber Robert Dunn, who actually has a Reliant Robin, or maybe the U.S. equivalent of Hub Nut’s Ian Seabrook. And for the rest of us? Well, like I said, maybe it’s not for many of us. That doesn’t mean we can’t voice an opinion on this little trike and its $4,800 asking price, which is just what we’re going to do right now.

What’s your take on this Reliant at that $4,800 price? Is that a deal to relive a Top Gear top moment? Or does that just not bowl you over?

You decide!

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