It was marketed as the smart alternative, because it had a rust-free glass-fibre body, a robust chassis and frugal fuel economy.

The Rebel was the brainchild of Reliant Managing Director Ray Wiggin[2] and was developed after the death of T.L.

Wiggin believed in the future people would be driving small 4 wheeled cars in a new car segment as the Austin Mini launch had been so successful and the UK microcar/3 wheeler segment would die off, such as Reliant's Regal, so Reliant engineers, after working on the development of the four-wheeled Sabra Carmel with Autocars of Haifa, Israel[3] decided to modify the then-current Regal 3/25 to create a four-wheel vehicle.

[4] The Rebel made its public debut at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1964.

[2] The show cars were pre-production models, built in Turkey and driven to Earls Court to test their durability.

Lots of media attention was given to the Rebel at launch at the Earls Court Motor Show with many publications praising the new Reliant small 4 wheeler, Reliant had over 1000 notices of interest from the public at the show from people interested in purchasing the new car.

Sadly for Reliant they could not fill these early orders, Rebel production was always low and frustrating for customers since Reliant hadn't expanded its factory to give the Rebel its own production line, Reliant instead spent the money making a new production line and factory building for the new Scimitar Coupe which was launched alongside the rebel in 1964.

Not having Rebels readily available at dealers after its launch and for several years thereafter, are the main reasons why production numbers were so low compared to the Regal 3/25 and 3/30 which sold over 100/000 cars over same period.

The main differences in these early models were the interior which used the dashboard and steering wheel from the regal 3/25, bonnet hinges hidden in the body work, the spare wheel that was fitted under the bonnet and the interior having minimal carpeting and black gel coat.

The car was updated with a new dashboard design using different instruments, thicker seats for greater comfort and five leaf springs in the rear instead of seven for a softer ride.

The top half of the grill was deleted completely and filled in smooth, orange front indicators replaced the original clear units and a unique steering wheel was added.

At the Earl's Court Motor Show the estate model was shown for the first time and also announced it was on sale now.

Combined with the new fold-flat rear seat this made the Rebel estate incredibly practical, and within two years it was the best-selling model.

Rear seats could still be ordered in the van with a rear window DIY kit offered by Reliant dealers - thus meaning you could buy a Rebel van make it into an estate avoiding a large amount of tax.

Owing to the popularity of this design, Reliant would carry on using this formula for the Regal, Robin and Rialto models until 1998.

[2] The latter model was then named the Rebel 700 in time for the October 1967 London Motor Show.

Reliant always introduced a new engine size in the Rebel first, before the Regal or the related Bond Bug received it.

The Rebel 1600 GT was a working road legal prototype and had it been given the go-ahead would have been launched in around 1968, but was never put into production as Reliant Management found out the Rebel 1600 GT could not only out perform the bigger Scimitar models (around the factory as Engineers had been racing them), but also reputedly featured a power-to-weight ratio of 204 bhp per ton which would have exceeded that of many modern sportscars.