Tesla Powered Bond Bug better than any modern EV?

What is the most fun retro-mod? It might be Silent Classics' three-wheeled, electrified, fiberglass Bond Bug from the 70s.

[@robinwalton-gm5ms]

Drove UK to Rome and back in 1972. Slept one night in Munich in the car....2 x 6' 6" guys as no money left for hotel, only beer! Heard the shooting at the Olympic Village. Owned the Bug for 2 years, cost £642 new.....RIP the UK car industry.

[@douglaskinloch6272]

I've always thought they'd make a fantastic EV!

[@PRH123]

Sometimes drives on the left hand side of the road, and sometimes on the right…. I guess that’s the car going where he points it….

[@toyotaprius79]

That's the point of a broken white line

[@roycampbell9740]

Thanks Jack for not turning my Bug over the day before I collected it! Thanks also for making it go so well - 60 bhp feels very different to 30 bhp. Just to set the record straight the Bug chassis used some parts in common with the Reliant Robin but was a new design by the famous racing engineer John Crossthwaite who was contracted by Reliant to design the Scimitar chassis. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crosthwaite It features trailing arm suspension, a panhard rod, anti-roll bar and adjustable Spax coilover shocks. With that setup and the new lowered centre of gravity it is very sure footed.

[@martinda7446]

We had one parked in our street in the 70s. Everyone was excited about the orange bug... And the Bond resonated with James Bond, more so in those days. They did get the wheel arrangement back to front though... As we all know!

[@bobeden5027]

What happened at Minute 4, driving on the right hand side of the road? weird, hey?

[@rhiantaylor3446]

Great that you didn't roll it, but if you can lift a wheel off the ground, you are well on the way :)

[@TheEulerID]

Not really. What happens is on those three wheeled Reliants is that once the inside wheel lifts it spins away all the power due to the open diff, the loaded wheel loses power, the car slows and it drops back down again. Not elegant, but pretty safe. In the case of a Bond Bug with batteries in the floor pan, the CoG will be very low down and it's not going to roll over just because the inner wheel has started to lift fractionally. The infamous Top Great episode which had Reliants falling over with ease was because they'd been heavily modified. Welded up diffs, heavy weights on the outside, modified suspension and so on.

[@Walt_G]

what sort of range does it have?

[@iwadik]

insane

[@davidsamways]

Wonderful conversion. I loved the one I had in the mid eighties. I had mine up to a speed that went beyond the 80mph indicated on the speedo - which was fairly hairy! I found it to be perfectly happy cornering at a brisk pace. The only time I turned it over was when rather cockily reversing in Wallisdown College (now Bournemouth University) car park. To add to the ignominy a bunch of little kids who were having a kick-about on the nearby playing field all ran over and pushed the car back onto its wheels 😄. I had custom opening windows made for mine and fitted sealed-cell foam to the inside of the engine compartment to reduce the row. Eventually, I gave it to a mate and bought one of the last of the 850 Minis which I hammered back and forth from Christchurch to university in Colchester. Such fun! How much do you think it would cost to convert my '95 Hilux to electric with 100 miles of range?

[@MrHemlock51]

They're ok as long as you can keep the power on around the corners. Try trail braking round one of those downhill hairpins, it'll flip over. Been there, done that, got the T shirt 😂

[@toyotaprius79]

Dear god I need to experience one of these.

[@frankieboy302]

Mine used to corner much better with the roof off (only 2 hinge pins, a few bullet connectors and a screen wash tube…!)!

[@micheltebraake7915]

Nice car.

[@barriewilliams4526]

I wouldn't be happy with putting that sort of torque through a Reliant differential. My wife owned a Honda Gold Wing trike, the rear end being reliant. A common choice owing to it's relatively narrow track, and simplicity. The problem of cause is, the 124 hp provide by the Gold Wing engine is considerably more than the diff was designed for. After destroying two rear axles, and having a very narrow escape when the second axle's completely locked up on the M6 motorway (fortunately at low speed due to a Traffic jam) It was returned to the dealer. We found out later that the dealer repaired the trike, and it was sold on to a woman in London. I hope that she only uses it around London, and is not too eager with the throttle....

[@jama211]

is it actually tesla powered or is it just an EV conversion?

[@JohnnyTheCache]

kinda close call at 1:19

[@martinda7446]

Dodgy place to pull right onto a blind bend. Without seat belts...😳

[@tobster786]

BEAMNG PEOPLE UNITE! ITS THE REAL WIGEON

[@nakfan]

Beautifully filmed and lovely content 👍 Subscribed. BR, Per (Denmark)

[@phatmeow7764]

murican motorhead : cool but i would cram in a 5.0 coyote V8 in there yeehaw!

[@andrewcraynor1252]

Great video and great work, when as these conversions going to be affordable for the average person I.e under £15k😀

[@greatbritannialine]

Its reliant robin not robin reliant you dont call it a fiesta ford

[@Walt_G]

I always thought it was based on the Reliant Regal?

[@greatbritannialine]

@@Walt_G it wasn't really, it was based on a brand new chassis design by John crosthwaite and all the running gear that was for the up coming robin 750 due to be launched in 1974. You're getting confused with the original design concept which was to be based on a shortened Regal but that never happened.

[@Walt_G]

@@greatbritannialine quite possibly, it was about 30 years ago that i had my Regal.

[@earlscourtsw10]

It’s ‘Reliant Robin’ not ‘Robin Reliant’

[@solosailorsv8065]

APTERA

[@johndaniel5448]

Shame you couldn't keep inside the white lines going round the corners

[@johndaniel5448]

Not forgetting the seatbelt

[@tallandhairy]

​@@johndaniel5448 ....and the forward observation pulling out twice in front of traffic coming the other way when the road otherwise seemed generally very quiet and waiting another moment or two would have been the sensible thing to do. The bug looks great though.

[@DrB934]

That audio...

[@thomashillen47]

You are not buckled in - bad showmanship of carelessness.

[@Astraalilaama]

The mic audio on this video is even worse showmanship in my opinion😅

[@erikstigter7897]

We need more people like you - sucking the life out of anything fun.. fun is distracting.

[@PrivateEyeYiYi]

Maybe the car is exempt from that regulation because of low volume.

[@xenasloan6859]

gracious! what a transformation

[@xenasloan6859]

and no stink.....

[@Astraalilaama]

Looks fun and all but how can you fuck up the mic audio level so badly in the video? You can correct it you know. Most people will leave the video at 00:20 You should adjust your audio levels in editing.

[@benkelly9529]

You must be fun at parties

[@Astraalilaama]

@@benkelly9529 Do you have ears?

[@Zamboro]

@@benkelly9529 He provided helpful constructive feedback, that contributes value and takes none away. A mature person would thank him for the free lesson.

[@hurtighansen1]

Really bad mic.

[@jaybeeff1]

You might have been safer with your seat belt on!

[@mikewallace8087]

3 Wheel DEATH TRAP

[@Walt_G]

I had a Reliant Regal, it was nowhere near as bad as everyone makes out.

[@TilmanBaumann]

Tesla powered?

[@misaelramos83]

Might have cells out of a Tesla

[@MrAdopado]

No! Telsa battery modules but there is no Tesla motor that makes such small power. You definitely wouldn't want (or need) the power of a Tesla motor in a Bond Bug.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

smh