Riley 9 special, in 1959.
Bruce regularly calls by OCC, and in July 2015 emailed over a photo of the Riley 9 special that he owned many years ago. Like many Riley-based specials, his was based on the running gear of a Monaco saloon. Nines and Twelves have long been favourites of the specials-building crowd. In the 1950s, suitable donor cars could be found in most scrapyards across the land. Cars are being built to this day, although unless parts are acquired on a piecemeal basis, complete cars tend to be cut up and modified. Many up-and-running saloons have been sacrificed over recent years in order to create sporty-looking specials, which is very unfortunate. But in the 1950s and 1960s, old Monacos were just that - old cars that most people considered junk, and were fair game for turning into something more exciting. Bruce adds:
|
|
"I thought you might be interested in this picture taken in 1959. It was at my wedding. The car is a special based on a Riley Monaco chassis with a body of conduit tubing and aluminium pop-riveted on. A wonderful registration number. It was brush painted with Valspar in the week before the wedding - remember the adverts for Valspar featuring a tiny picture so you couldn't see the brush marks?"
|
|
"True story. Two guys in 1960 coming out of the pub look at the car and one says "What's that - an MG?", the other replies "Nah that's not an MG that's a f**king racer!". It was thus christened the Firkin Racer."
|
| (Please click the thumbnail to view the full-size image.) |
|
|
|
Although now living in the US, Bruce maintains an interest in British cars, owning both a 1970 Jaguar E Type, and a 1967 Mark 2 saloon.
|
|
Where is the Riley though - did it survive into modern times? The registration is/was RAC 231, a Warwickshire number from 1954-onwards, presumably the time that the car was registered in its special guise.
|
|
An advertisement for the car found its way into Motor Sport magazine, page 78 of the August 1962 issue. For sale in Wetherby, it reads as follows:
|
|
"RAC 231: Rebuilt Riley Special; requires wiring and body to complete. Specification comprises Monaco chassis boxed and stiffened, 1250cc BMC unit to MG Stage One. 45 GBP." |
|
More information on its fate very welcome. Thanks to Bruce for emailing the photo over.
|
|
Return to Page 19 in the photographic archive, or visit the main index here. Photographs of various Riley Monacos back in period may be found here.
|
