IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Bond Bug

Today's video is on the cool AF Bond Bug!

The car is currently for sale with Dolan Classics. Give them a shout on [email protected]
www.dolanclassics.co.uk

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The Bond Bug

The Bond Bug came at an interesting time. Reliant had just taken over Bond and design agency Ogle had been tasked with producing a sporty 3 wheeler for a new and growing demographic: the younger generation.

The brains behind the design was Tom Karen, the managing director of Ogle who had overseen the Rayleigh Chopper and also oversaw Reliant’s Scimitar GTE amongst other products.

The Bond Bug was billed as something new and Reliant sent it out into the world with the strapline ‘A fun car that does a serious job’. This plucky three wheeler could be driven on a motorcycle license and taxed for only £10 a year. For reference, you were looking at £25 a year to tax a car. And also, it was going to turn heads like no other car out there; which was absolutely used as a selling point for the car.

Although it was meant to be new and exciting, a degree of tried and tested was applied to the vehicle. The mechanics were from the Regal including the 700cc engine which were paired with a new chassis which was later used on the Robin. It was hydraulic drum brakes on all wheels and the suspension was leading arm front suspension with coil spring and telescopic damper and coil spring to rear; slightly different to what you were getting on the Regal.

At the time of this vehicle being sold, the buying public could choose from the 700, 700E and 700ES. The ES, which is what this is, had various extra bits not found on the 700 but also had a higher compression engine. The 700 and 700E were listed as 29bhp but the ES was listed as 31.

Although this is stickered otherwise, it’s a 700ES. This is also a good time to mention TJ’s first job is getting rid of the union flag on the roof.

Made from 1970 to 1974, it’s a car which most of us will recognise without having to be told what it is; although it was never a massive seller. Less than 2,500 were made across the four years of production.

Although some people dismiss the Bug as a gimmicky little product of the 70s, the words gimmicky and quirky do it a real disservice to what it brought to market for the budget conscious driver.

Not only was it well priced and cheap to tax, it provided value for money motoring and was vaguely practical. It averaged 200 miles between fill ups, boasted a reasonable 42mpg and did zero to 60 in 14.4 seconds and did a top speed over 70 miles per hour.

There were some cut backs though. Although the seat belts were standard fitment in all models at base price, the spare wheel was an optional extra unless you went for the top spec of 71, the ES model.

It’s worth noting the purchase price on these Bugs was £629, which made it incredibly competitive in the market, although it was chipped by the Mini 850 which was £9 cheaper.

Reliant badged the car as the Bond Bug, but all the literature from 71 onwards signposts buyers to the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, which is where this vehicle was made, although I have been led to believe that the early production cars were made in Preston, which is where the old Bond factory was.

The sales brochure tweaked the famous Henry Ford quote of ‘any colour as long as its black’ to a new strapline befitting the bug of ‘any colour you like as long as it’s Tangerine!’ Which is almost true, because aside from a few Bugs which were produced in white for Rothmans cigarettes as branded vehicles, they were indeed all this orange you see today.

There was never a car directly brought in to replace the Bond, but for the discerning three wheeler driver, there was always the Robin…which was still cool but never quite as cool as the Bond Bug.