Lot Ended
Description
Pretty little Riley 1.5 twin-cam saloon, well-known to the Club;
previous owner 20+ years; engine requires attention; rare model at an enticing
guide price
One of the most
respected names in British motoring history, Riley produced an amazingly wide
variety of sporting road cars during the 1920s and 30s, sales being boosted by
an equally impressive competition record which established the Coventry-based
marque as a worthy rival to the likes of Alvis, Aston Martin and
HRG.
The bedrock of Riley’s success was the
immortal Nine which they launched in 1926. The chassis, suspension and bodywork
were the work of Stanley Riley, while the hugely talented Percy Riley designed
the brilliant little 9hp engine. This 1,087cc unit thrived on high revs, which
it would happily and reliably maintain for long periods of time thanks to its
clever design. Twin camshafts were mounted high in the block, making for short
and light pushrods which operated valves set at 45 degrees to the head. Coupled
with an ingenious crossflow head, this enabled prodigious power to be extracted
from this willing unit.
Introduced at the 1934
Olympia Motor Show, the Riley 12/4 successfully built on the Nine’s greatest
strength – its excellent twin-cam engine. Modified and enlarged to 1.5 litres,
the new engine produced 51bhp and gave the 12/4 a top speed in excess of 70mph,
impressive performance for its class.
In true
Riley style, various bodies were available on the 12/4 chassis, including
upright saloons like the Adelphi, the Falcon and the Merlin plus the more
streamlined Kestrel. The Lynx was the open model along with numerous
highly-tuned racing specials, buyers able to choose between manual or
pre-selector gearboxes. For 1936, the 12/4 was renamed the 1½ Litre and this
most tunable power unit would remain in production right up until 1955 with the
demise of the RME model.
First registered in
Bedfordshire in November 1936, this Adelphi sadly comes with no real
history so we can’t tell you much about it. Our vendor, who is the
7th owner according to the V5C, acquired the car at an auction in
June this year at which point it had been owned by a Riley Club member for the
previous 20+ years and was well-known to the Riley Register.
In light regular use during his ownership, it
was ‘running like a sewing machine’ according to the auctioneers. There are many
old tax discs on file and a check of the MOT history online shows that it was
tested every year from 2006 – 2022, always passing with no advisories recorded
and covering just over 1,000 miles during this period.
Our vendor was delighted with the car and used it regularly over the
summer, including a couple of trips to VSCC events at Prescott, reporting that
it drove really well in all departments with the pre-selector gearbox working as
it should.
Unfortunately the head gasket then
blew so our vendor bought a new one (which is included in the sale). However, on
removing the cylinder head it became apparent that there was damage to the
top of piston no. 3 and the bore was scored.
Our vendor is not mechanically minded and does not have a friendly
local garage willing to tackle the job so he has decided that the best course of
action is to pass it on to someone with the skills and the enthusiasm to repair
it. He does know of a spare Adelphi engine for sale via the Riley Register,
details of which can be passed on to the winning bidder if desired.
As you
can see in the photos, this Adelphi is a very pretty little car with a
pleasingly original interior. HPI records a colour change from blue/black to
red/black in August 1986 so it was presumably treated to a degree of restoration
at around that time.
On offer here at a modest
guide price (less than half what the vendor paid for it), this Adelphi should
make a worthwhile winter project for someone and comes with an illustrated
200-page Riley cars maintenance and repair guide which should assist with the
job. The icing on the cake is the original Bedford-issue number plate, ATM 709,
which is transferable and no doubt has a value of its own.
A link to a video of this car running and driving earlier this year
can be sent to interested parties by request.
Consigned by James
Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com