Riley Cars

Confirmed by the car's owners: Your friend's information is absolutely correct - our car was imported as a rolling chassis and the body was built by a Melbourne coachbuilding firm which has long since gone out of business. Most of the Rileys in Australia were done this way as the import duty was much less. We should be in the parade again next year and it would be great to have you as passengers again if possible. I'm glad you enjoyed the Jazz Festival which is always a highlight of our year. Kind regards John & Sue And here's a better view of the vehicle Interesting that it's dressed in Coventry colours!

Johnnie, in 1987 I had a trip to Melbourne and whilst there spent time visiting Riley people, notable ones were Noel Wyatt and Frank McBride, both through and through Riley men and now, certainly Noel, no longer with us.

This is a picture that we have all seen before, but, maybe you don't know that the car, a 1936 Riley Kestrel reg AKV 892, was rebuilt at the factory and is still on the road. It was due to make an appearance at Wroxall Abbey this weekend but a technical hitch prevented this

This photo appears in "Telegraph photos taken on 29th June" in our "On this day . . ." thread It shows Mr Brian Cole (left) in 1976 with his 1933 Riley Ascot. In my photos from this year's Riley Register Rally last Sunday are some of the man and his car, and his pipe This is the first of 11 photos I took, showing his car in some detail, including a gramophone and a cabinet "for golf clubs or guns" We were unsure which he loved the most, his car or his pipe - he said he'd been a pipe smoker for 63 years - and pipes feature everywhere around the vehicle (even teddy sitting in the back had one) Do have a look at this fascinating old car I wonder if anyone on this forum knows him, as I believe he is from Coventry

Here is my photo of the car at the 2008 Riley Register Rally

That's great Cliff! How do we know it's the same car?

You'll have to ask matchle55 that question

Mr Brian Cole and his wife Ann live in the Green Lane district of Coventry. The lady in the car is Mrs Nora Riley, wife of Percy, and the picture was taken outside her house in Mill Street, Warwick.

Neil, the car was still owned by Riley at that time and was repaired and put back to work until sold off. The man who was using it at that time was called Arnold Farrar who was, I think, a service manager. He carried on in this position working for Nuffield and maintained strong links with the Riley Motor Club and the Riley Register helping people such as myself who were rebuilding cars. AKV 892, because of its history, is quite famous and its history are known to the Register - the current owner, to my knowledge, has had it since 1960.

It was apparently used in an episode of Poirot

Brian Cole, his car and his pipe, appear in today's old photos from the Telegraph

Another blast from the past, the gent stood in front of his 6 cylinder Riley Kestrel KV 3056 is a very good friend of mine who I first met some 40 years ago when I joined the Riley Register. One of life's characters, a real eccentric and confirmed bachelor, he shall remain nameless. The club used to meet twice a month and as I was living at the time in Warwick used to walk my Red Setter dog to the Millwrights Arms in Coton End where we sat in the snug, on this particular occasion he stopped and picked me and the dog up. Now whatever hair cream he had on the dog took a liking to and proceeded to lick it off, you can imagine, pandemonium reigned, he trying to fend the dog off and me in fits of laughter. Whenever I had the dog again he drove straight past

For those of you with an interest (MR?), the 62nd international Riley Rally is to take place this weekend at Wroxall Abbey on the A4141 between Warwick and Knowle. Several local members of the Riley Register have been working to rebuild the pre-selector gear box in a 1938 Riley Lynx belonging to our area secretary, if anything is guaranteed to make you think then this is it. I'm hoping to see it there over the weekend. Apparently the designer, Mr Wilson, who worked for Armstrong Siddeley, suffered a breakdown after he finished his task, and I can see why.

It's been in my diary for months - thank you - but circumstances may mean I shall be unable to attend this one

Never mind Cliff. I should also have added that the blitz Riley (see my previous post) is now up and running and is rumoured to be coming.