The birth of Reliant
The Reliant company was formed by Tom Williams who until their decision to cease manufacturing 3 wheel vehicles, was in charge of the van and car division of Raleigh. When it was decided that Raleigh was to cease manufacturing their 3 wheel vans, Tom left the company to form his own van manufacturing company. As he was initially using the remaining stock of Raleigh parts many of
which were stamped with R for Raleigh, Tom had to come up with a name for his company starting with the same letter and decided on Reliant to emphasise the reliability of his vehicles. The early vans, manufactured in a small workshop at his home were underpowered affairs powered by a Jap twin cylinder engine but that aside they provided local firms with an affordable and economical delivery van.
The vans were gradually improved in carrying capacity and perhaps the biggest improvement was a change to the 4 cylinder Austin 7 side valve engine. Tom had by now taken over a former bus garage in Two Gates, Tamworth, where the number of
vehicles produced increased dramatically.
During the second world war Reliant manufacturing capacity was used to assist the war effort. After the war military orders dried up and Reliant returned to the production of civilian vehicles, although shortages of raw materials meant that the company had
to use alternatives to the normal steel for the bodywork of their vans. Using Aluminium which was available for domestic products proved to be a wise decision as it had the advantage of lightness and was also not prone to rusting.
