BRITISH, barmy, and binned - the three-wheel Reliant Robin has hit the buffers.

Production of the car that proved beyond doubt we were a nation that could laugh at ourselves - or certainly those crazy enough to risk their lives in a fibreglass hulk - will end in December.

Ironically, it probably means even more cult status for the legendary vehicle which is neither trike nor car.

The Reliant Robin easily won the I Don't Believe It stakes. What other car would provoke a national fit of giggles when police clocked it hurtling along at 102mph? Or raise a smile when two OAP's, one armed with a Skoda and the other wielding a Robin, indulged in road rage?

Estimates put the numbers on the road at 44,000.

When loveable spivs Del Boy and Rodney needed wheels for their comedy sit-com Only Fools and Horses, their yellow Reliant van summed up the aspirations of the let-down generation.

Reliant's decision ends a 65-year tradition. The firm say the last Robin will roll off its assembly line at Burntwood, Staffordshire, in December to make way for the production of four-wheel vehicles.

A spokesman said the four-wheeled vehicle would be previewed at the British International Motor Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham in October.

The firm - which launched a re-engineered and ''facelifted'' Robin two years ago - aims to mark the end of a motoring era in a ''blaze of glory'' by producing special edition Robin 65s. The spokesman said: ''These will be hand built to the highest possible specifications and available to special order only, with each one carrying a numbered plaque inscribed with the original owner's name.''

Each of the 65s, retailing at #10,000, will be painted in ''anniversary metallic gold'' and have alloy wheels, chrome door handles, rear wipe-wash, a walnut dashboard, driving lamps, stainless steel exhaust, and leather upholstery.

The price is a bit rich for Reliant collector Ian Brantingham, of Banffshire, who paid #400 for his first one and now has 16 models in varying states of disrepair parked in fields around his home. ''Actually I'm a breeder. I started off with five or six down at the bottom of the garden and they just kind of multiplied,'' he said.

Mr Brantingham, 54, an ex-RAF serviceman, began a love affair with Robins 11 years ago when he wanted a cheap mode of transport to get him to work at RAF Kinloss.

He confessed: ''To get my first one through its MoT, I bought a second one for spares. Then I bought another and another. I even got one in exchange for a bottle of whisky.

''Bikers like them to turn into trikes and I have a couple I use as garden sheds, so they are very versatile machines.''

Garage owner Jim O'Meara, of Reliant Services, in Stirchley, Birmingham, said the news was not unexpected and blamed uncompetitive pricing by the firm.

Mr O'Meara said: ''Reliant have shot themselves in the foot. They decided to bring in a four-wheel vehicle you can drive with a motorcycle licence. Two French companies have done the same and undercut them.''

q Another much derided car, the tiny Polski Fiat 126 - known as Maluch, or Toddler, to its Polish devotees - ends its 27-year run this month.

The first models, in 1973, came in just a few washed-out colours and cost the equivalent of two years' wages for average workers.

One joker claimed the Vatican had blessed the 126 - at just four feet tall and four feet wide, it was almost impossible for teenagers to have sex in one.

The scourge of failed salesman and match for mororway police.

Spivvy Del Boy's ''company car'' was actually a Rialto van.

Salesmen at a Cheshire communications company were given Reliant Robins if they failed to meet their targets in 1989.

In 1992, a Robin, fitted with a highly-tuned 1000cc Nissan engine, overtook astonished traffic police at more than 102mph on the M20 in Kent.

The Reliant company was founded in 1935 to build vans and did not produce its first car until 1952.

The average Robin is powered by an 850cc engine, similar to some motorcycles, with a power output of about 45bhp.

It has an official top speed of 80mph although speeds of up to 95mph (with a tail wind) have often been reported. It can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in 15 seconds.

The car is particularly popular in Austria and Holland, while the Russians have built a slightly larger version called the Fox.

Fuel consumption is good, a highly-economical 60-90 miles to the gallon. Tax is also cheap - as a three-wheeler it is classified as a motorcycle and drivers pay half the normal car tax.

Despite its lack of power, the Robin is surprisingly nippy and extremely manoeuvrable, thanks to its lightweight fibreglass body and short wheelbase.

The company, which fell on hard times through the 1990s, was taken over by Jersey-based financier and three-wheel enthusiast Kevin Leech.

While Reliant is turning its back on three-wheelers, others are keeping the faith, like this firefighter, below, in Essen, Germany, who demonstrated one of the smallest fire tenders in the world at a preview yesterday of a security fair in the city next month.