Some road trips are planned. Others are questionable life choices. And then there’s this one — two men, one tiny three-wheeler, and a route that most full-sized SUVs would think multiple times before taking it.
What started as an absurd idea between British adventurer Ollie Jenks and his Canadian friend Seth Scott turned into a Guinness World Record attempt: driving a decade-old Reliant Robin from London to the southern tip of Africa.the idea, though not sensible, became historic.The car that had no business doing thisThe vehicle in question wasn’t built for glory – it was built for grocery runs. The Reliant Robin, a wobbly UK cult classic made of fiberglass, is better known for sitcom cameos than survival missions.
But that didn’t stop them. They found one of the last models ever built, named her Sheila, and set off on a 14,000-mile journey across 22 countries. No power steering. No air conditioning. And an engine its own designer wouldn’t trust beyond 20 miles.
Over four and a half months, Sheila didn’t just struggle – she rebelled. The gearbox gave up in Ghana, locking them in fourth gear. The engine essentially died in Cameroon.
At one point, locals had to load the car onto a cattle truck just to find a mechanic. As if mechanical chaos wasn’t enough, the route itself delivered drama – rolling into Benin during an attempted coup, navigating northern Nigeria amid airstrikes, and requiring military escorts through Cameroon. Naturally, they documented it all on Instagram under “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, 0 common sense,” drawing nearly 1,00,000 followers.Limping to glory (literally)Despite everything – breakdowns, borders, and basic logic – Sheila kept going. With help from strangers and long-distance advice from Reliant enthusiasts back in the UK, the trio crawled forward. They passed giraffes, rhinos, and elephants. Crossed deserts and mountains no three-wheeler should ever meet. And after more than 120 days, Sheila finally rolled into Cape Town – overheating, rattling, and held together by duct tape and determination.
“It was like driving a motorised coffin,” Jenks admitted as reported by AP. As for Sheila, she’s earned her retirement. The battle-scarred Robin will now live on at the London Transport Museum – dents, scratches, broken windows, and zero common sense proudly on display.
