Reliant Regal Supervan III (BOAC) in Blue & White (1:43 scale)
- Based in Tamworth, Reliant was founded in 1935 by Tom Lawrence Williams to continue manufacture of the 3-wheeler Light Delivery Van he had designed & developed whilst working at Raleigh. The company grew steadily & in 1962 introduced the Regal 3/25 on which the Supervan III, modelled here, is based. Like the saloon, the van featured Reliant’s own light alloy engine & fibreglass monocoque construction. Created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways & British Airways, BOAC were merged with British European Airways in 1974 to become British Airways. They operated a fleet of Reliant vans during the 1960s; photographed here with one of their Vickers VC10s.