Hundreds of amateur restorers applied to take part in the eBay Car Challenge with the chosen three receiving £4,000 each to spend on eBay.  The restorers will now lavish all their attention on their vehicles in preparation for the final reveal in July.

The oldest vehicle to receive some much-needed TLC is a rare 1968 Riley Kestrel 1300, which once belonged to restorer Charlie Renwick's great grandmother.

Unfortunately, the car has been sitting in a garage for over 40 years and now needs some serious attention to ensure it shines once again. "My great aunt and mum have fond memories of my great grandmother driving this car around, so I hope to make them proud," explains the 25-year-old from Essex.

The Riley Nine, apart from its general excellence as a normal motor car, can claim with the M.G. and the smaller unblown Bugattis to have been the "primary trainer" of more famous racing drivers than almost any other car. When in 1927 the little Nine replaced the excellent, if somewhat stodgy, s.v. models, the motor public was enchanted with its modern lines, excellent road performance and manners, and its "silent third" gearbox. Sundry gentlemen whose life work consisted of making motor cars go faster than their designers intended that they should, however, were already casting a speculative eye at the new power unit, with its clever two-camshaft, high push-rod valve gear, and 90 deg. valves in hemispherical cylinder heads, and sundry other features likely to lend themselves to their craft.

Amongst these were the uncrowned king of Brooklands, the late J.G. Parry Thomas, and Reid Railton, and it was the former who commenced work on a Riley Nine chassis with a view to producing a racing car. His tragic death at Pendine the same year occurred before the enterprise was completed, but the work was carried on by Reid Railton, who went on to produce the first racing Nine, which immediately distinguished itself by winning its first race on the Outer Circuit at 91.37 m.p.h.

Shortly after this the car was put into limited production by the Riley company, catalogued as the Speed Model, which to the best of my recollection remained its official title during the four years of its manufacture; to all and sundry, however, it has always been the Brooklands Riley. The car was an immense and immediate success with private owners, for not only was it that rare bird, an "off-the-peg" racing car, but it was obviously capable of breaking the long domination of the 1100 c.c. class by the French voiturettes, the most successful of which had been the Salmsons and Amilcars. Names now famous in motoring history began to be associated with the Riley, and amongst drivers with already established reputations who drove the marque with success were Sammy Davis, H.W.Purdy, Capt. G.E.T. Eyston, A.F. Ashby, Cmdr. Whitcroft, Victor Gillow and, of course, the redoubtable Freddie Dixon himself. Many more rose to fame from modest beginnings with this safe and speedy little car, as I was given reason to remember when I was introduced to the perfect little specimen which is the subject of my photographs and this month's drawing, in that happy hunting ground of exciting machinery, Chiltern Cars of Leighton Buzzard. The history of GP17 had been traced, and it was found (incorrectly) to be the car on which Whitney Straight, later to make a great name in motor racing in a phenomenally short time, first essayed competition driving, and which he drove at Shelsley Walsh before graduating to the K3 Magnette and the big Maserati which gained him the hill record. The little car is in virtually original condition, with the possible exception of the front wings, which, at anyrate in the earlier models, were longer, and swept back as far as the scuttle. My pictures, I fear, are not as clever as they might be, my excuses being that within a couple of minutes of taking them a brisk snow storm happened, and the light matched the weather, whilst my rapidly advancing years must have thinned my blood to the point when I find motoring of this calibre in winter a perishing cold business, and chattering teeth are not conducive to a steady camera hand. Nevertheless, in my brief acquaintance with GP17, she proved to have lost none of her powers during the years that have played havoc with my own.

The principal structural features of the Brooklands Riley as distinct from the standard model, are a considerably lower chassis of somewhat different shape, which gave what was in its day an "all-time low" in seating positions. It was said that you could place the palm of your hand on the ground when normally seated, and other less printable, if more picturesque, descriptions were applied to it also. The Riley radiator was retained in a drastically cut-down form, the radiator cap being 31 in. from the ground. A pretty long tailed two-seater body held two people side by side, provided that they left their heavy overcoats behind, and full lighting equipment, a skimpy hood and a generous windscreen, were standard fittings. Viewed from the side the early models were if anything a trifle too long in the tail, and later years produced a shortened version.

Since the car was designed to conform to A.I.A.C.A. sports car regulations to enable it to compete in catalogued sports car events, it was necessary that the bolt-on wheels of the standard machine should be retained, to the great discomfiture of drivers who had to carry out wheel changes during hurried pit-stops, and all the Brooklands models had the six-stud fixing as sold. The original tyre size was 27 x 4.40, although the more modern 19 x 4.50s are now fitted.

Twin Solex carburetters and separate pipes to each exhaust port are features of the engine, which gave some 50 b.h.p. at 5,000 r.p.m. in factory form. A number of later "Plus" series cars were produced with four carburetters bolted direct to the ports, with a common float chamber to each pair. The Riley was one of the first cars to be sold with the now fashionable "remote" gear lever, a tiny control placed centrally with the hand brake. The instrument panel carries its row of modest dials across its full width, and originally a rigid steering wheel was fitted, from the centre of which protruded the hand throttle and ignition levers as fitted to contemporary touring models. The fuel tank is in the tail, with an external filler, the tail also housing the spare wheel.

A number of these grand little cars are still performing with great zest in club race meetings both here and abroad, to remind us that in their heyday they were practically unbeatable in the 1100 class.

Long distance Brooklands records fell to them in 1929. In the same year G.E.T. Eyston won his class in the Irish G.P., and Sammy Davis scored another class win in the Tourist Trophy, being the first unsupercharged car home, irrespective of capacity. In the 1930 T.T., another class win was chalked up, coupled with a class lap record, at 66.82 m.p.h. 1930 also saw Victor Gillow's hair-raising ride to victory at Phoenix Park in the Irish G.P., in the car which subsequently passed into Freddie Dixon's hands and achieved immortality as the "Red Mongrel". In the course of his astonishing drive at Phoenix Park, Gillow broke the unlimited lap record at 76.7 m.p.h., despite the presence of nineteen supercharged opponents. Truly the Brooklands Riley has earned its place among classic British sports cars of the past.

Below - Purposeful front end. The low radiator is emphasised here by the temporary absence of headlamps, which are normally fitted to this model.

 

Below - Details of the four branch exhaust system, louvres, brake back-plates and wing mountings.

Below - One of the trimmest models of the late Vintage period, the Riley is low by modern sports-car standards. Note the doors extending into the scuttle.

 

Below - A familiar view in the early 'thirties. The additional number plate makes doubly sure that the law is complied with.

Riley Forecar

 

 

 

Above left - 1907 Forecar at the Heritage Motor Centre

 

Above right - 1904 Forecar registration D1894 at the  National Motorcycle Museum 

 

Riley Gamecock

Note the non standard exhaust, the original running boards and wings have been removed and non standard mudguards fitted. This was done before the present owner bought it in 1957. Still there in 2008 when we visited again but has since been sold, the IOW owner said in 2017 when I went looking for it that he was getting too old to crawl around under it anymore.