Raleigh Safety Seven

The Raleigh Safety Seven was a four-seat, three-wheeled convertible car made by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham between 1933 and 1935. It was Raleigh's first three-wheeled car, with shaft drive and a maximum speed of 55 mph, and it was aimed at families who could use the lower tax that applied to three-wheelers in early 1930s Britain. It followed the Raleigh Light Delivery Van, which came from the rights to the Ivy Karryall motor tricycle, and it was designed by Raleigh's chief designer of the motor department, Tom Lawrence Williams. Raleigh then closed its motor department to concentrate on bicycles again, and Williams took equipment and leftover parts to Tamworth, where his own company, Reliant, went on to build three-wheelers for decades. The Nottingham museum that holds an example says the Safety Seven went on to become the iconic Reliant three wheeler.