| Reliant is known
to have built two four wheeled bugs. The first was a joke
car, with two bugs joined together
back-to-back to create a diamond-pattern four-wheeler, purely
for show! It has been said that they produced this car so
they could show it at the motor show as only four wheeled
cars were allowed to be displayed, not sure about the truth
in this story though.
The second four-wheeled Bug produced by Reliant was in
1970 and was registered for road use with the registration
number
GBF 473H.
During the 1970's Corgi, the toy manufacturer even went
as far as producing a model of the Bond Bug, however I
am not sure if this meets all the criteria of being classed
as a variation of the Bug. Airfix even got it on the act
and produced a plastic kit of the Bond Bug and even now
you can pick up these models
still sealed in the original packaging as unopened kits.
Over in America a strange stretched model was produced
known as the SP Spi-Tri. A firm called Structural
Plastics Inc of Tuls, Oklahoma developed an electrically
powered
prototype during the 1980's. It is believed that the car
did make production but by this time it had huge impact
bumpers and large diameter wheels.
The last know variation of the Bond Bug was produced by
Mike and Gary Webster, between them they managed to acquire
some
original
Bug
moulds
in 1990 and form the Webster Motor Company to produce the
WMC four-wheeled Bond Bug.
They decided to produce four wheeled Bugs with 10-inch
front wheels and 12-inch rear wheels but early demand from
the public was for a three-wheeled bug in Kit form.
The WMC four-wheeler was built on a similar ladder chassis
to the original car but this new chassis was designed to
take as many parts as possible from the Robin and Rialto
allowing both the 750cc or 850cc engine to be fitted as
standard.
Many parts of the car were built to closely resemble
the original Bug, so much so that it was claimed at the
time that you would need to be a Bond Bug expert to tell
the difference between the two cars. WMC did offer a
list of extras for the car, ranging from inertia reel
seat belts, laminated windscreen and even GRP side screens
which hinged like conventional car doors.
In 1991, as the Bond Bug's 21st
Birthday loomed Glynn Kerr was appointed as a new design
manager at Ogle.
Glynn wanted to use the Bug's 21st anniversary as a platform to launch Ogle Design
back into the car design arena. So he penned the 21st anniversary Bond Bug.
Three months after creating this sketch, Glynn left Ogle!
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