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Come Christmas , I hoped someone was going to give me a set of Alloy’s, but no , a gift voucher for a book shop, well better than nothing.
Armed with the said voucher ; I rush into the bookshop and started to look for books on classic cars, I scrabbled around , inspecting this mound of books, then the next, no luck, at this point I would have been glad to see even something on Lewis Hamilton, or even Jeremy, not that I am a fan of either gentleman.
In sheer desperation, I go up to the assistant, ” do you have any books on Classic Car’s”,” oh yes, of course”, thank goodness, she comes over with a book entitled “Dream Car’s”,” no, actually that is not quite what I am looking for”, off she goes again and comes back holding a volume, “Classic Car’s” wow this looks the business.
Either I am getting fussy in my old age, or the interpretation of Classic Car’s has suddenly changed, there were shots of artisticly painted wings, parts of boots in pyschodelic colours, now they may have been old wings and boots, who could tell.
I eventually came out with Classic Car weekly, and spent the rest of the voucher on book’s for our Bobby.
One thing that really gets to me with some of the classic magazines ; is the amount of space given to Roller’s, Porsche and Ferrari and the such like, pages upon pages of advert’s, it would seem the same cars are going round in circles from one dealer to another.
Yes, there is another taxing item, prices, I am bewildered to read that something like 28k; has been recently spent on restoration, and the car is priced at 10 to 15K, it doesn’t seem feasible someone is going to splash out that much dosh.
The most hilarious ad was for an Isetta Bubble Car, yes, they are quite rare these day’s, they were popular back in the late 50’s come 60’s, but this person was asking for 27k, no not 2700, which might have been about right, no, 27K, there were proper car’s selling for less, it wasn’t gold plated either, anyone with that sort of cash need’s looking after.
By the way they have found a PA MG that hasn’t been on the road for 65 year’s apparently in good condition, how about that.
Right down to the real thing, having written about one MG how could we ignore the marque that was really the MG’s Achilles heel, the Riley, at the time one of the most advanced car’s of it’s day.
The Riley story is interesting, although it is tinged with the usual British dogma, it had one factor in it’s favour, family, the Riley family kept faith and worked with one another, had they kept their feet firmly on the ground they may well have still been in existence to day.
It all started on 23 May 1896, Wm Riley Junior, started the Riley Cycle Co Ltd and soon took over the Bonnick Cycle business in King Street, Coventry, nothing seems strange, but Coventry was like a magnet to these small firms, so many started in an identical manner.
The Riley problem was the plethora of model’s in it’s 71 year life, so much so writer’s ask if they have forgotten or missed out a particular model.
The Riley company history is so complex it was almost impossible to extract the “9”, however I think I may have got somewhere near.
Percy appears to be the son with the ability to design forward thinking component’s, his engine design virtually turned the automobile industry upside down. The hemispherical cylinder head and steeply inclined valves, but Percy accepted this was not a new concept as such but he produced a formula for better respiration on an inexpensive family car.
Another item was the changeable wire wheel, at one time a motorist had to attempt to repair a puncture in situ, not an easy task at the best of times, actually impossible I would have thought, then came Riley’s invention, the car world went mad,at one stage 183 manufacturer’s were buying wheels from Riley, so much so father Riley considered abandoning car manufacture and concentrate on wheel’s.
Enough, oh dear no, Percy had looked at servicing and came to the decision that self lubricating bushes would reduce cost’s and make it easier for the owner mechanic, it did not end there, Percy produced a four speed gearbox with helical toothed top and third gears in constant mesh, which made sure noise was kept down.
The Riley “9” was made from 1926 until 1938, some say 1937, engine wise it was 1087cc 4 cylinder, with hemispherical combustion chambers with the valves at 45 degree’s. The overhead camshaft, with valves operated by two cams which were high in the crankcase, and operated by short pushrod rocker’s.
Engine was mounted in the chassis by a rubber bushed bar, that ran through the block, and a further mount behind the gearbox. It was agreed Percy was the first to use this idea.
About 7 years after Percy’s magic rubber bushes first appeared, one of the large American manufacturers declared they had introduced rubber bushes, as if it was something new, perhaps they had never heard of Percy or Riley
The drive was rear wheel through a torque tube, and a spiral bevel live rear axle attached to semi elliptic springs. There was some consternation at this set up as it been dropped a few years earlier
The original car was soon modernised, including new clutch arrangements, the gear lever and handbrake were moved to the centre of the car, Riley’s own steering box was used, and the brakes were upgraded, the report I read said Turbo brakes.
Apart from the Monaco, a new body the Biarritz,was introduced a sort of luxury version of the Monaco, writing this I am thinking of the south of the France, sunny beaches, what a lovely choice of names. Then came the Brooklands model, which was definitely aimed at those looking for speed, just the word Brooklands was enough to stir the desire for speed.
The Brooklands body was designed with the help of Parry Thomas and Reid Railton, and made by Thomson and Taylor, whose factory was inside the Brooklands track. Which is near Chobham in Surrey. I have a feeling that the aircraft company DeHaviland who built the ill fated Comet jet liner used part of it for a runway, the straight bits.
If I am not mistaken Thomson and Taylor still exist. Iif you are not into motor racing, in years gone by, Brooklands was a part banked oval track, some of it still exists, been there, on what is left of the track.
Unfortunately poor old Thomas died trying to break the world speed record, his friend Reid Railton took over from him with the car, apparently it was so low slung one could touch the floor from the driver’s seat, presume these driver’s had long arms.
Now we can feel a certain pride about the Brookland’s Riley, it actually came second in the Irish Grand Prix, also it was third in the Brookland’s double twelve hour race.
A modified Ulster Brookland model with a balanced engine with extra carburettors appeared during 1931 and won the 1932 Tourist Trophy race and a place in the 1935 Le Man’s
From 1928 the “9” had broken many speed records and was also a winner in many other races, especially hill climbs.
It seemed the Riley family could do no wrong, they had factories dotted around Coventry, engine building, body manufacture, final assembly, one gets the impression there were parts of Riley cars flying around the city.
The company had also become so intent on the motor sport aspect; it had not really stopped to ensure the finances were being monitored, when they did there was a last minute attempt to bring them under control, but as we know the receiver’s were called in and that was almost the end.
Enter one Lord Nuffield who purchased the whole lot for around £150,000, it is said his own personal money and then sold Riley to his “Nuffield Organisation” for £1.00, at great personal loss to himself, if you really believe that, well put this way you don’t make a lot of money doing things that way.
An ode to Riley:- As old as the Industry, as modern as the hour, death by diversity.
Yes, the history of a motor car firm called Riley carries on after the second world war and the name remained on models up to 1969.
A fascinating company, its ability to introduce advanced features and its engineering skills are something we should be proud of, as for the financial aspect I think we have emulated that almost to a tee seventy odd years later.
We will sit down and do the complete history during the summer, and include the Autovia, the what, no I had never heard of it, but found a picture the other day, some gem of a car, Victor was going to take on Rolls Royce, enough.
My thanks as always, drive with great care and don’t forget that camera van parked on the bends near Cuffesgrange, Ted
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