Riley 9 Mk 9 Special

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The Riley company motto, “As old as the industry – as modern as the hour” summed up the product range very nicely. Their masterstroke came in 1926 when the Nine was announced.

The chassis, suspension and bodywork were the work of Stanley Riley, whilst the hugely talented Percy Riley designed the brilliant little 9hp engine. This 1087cc four-cylinder 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. This, coupled with a crossflow head design, enabled prodigious power to be extracted from this willing unit which soon became a big favourite with builders of Riley Specials.

This 1930 example was purchased by the vendor through Brightwells early last year as a project to turn into a VSCC trials car. Bought by the previous owner in 1986, he had taken the engine to Riley ‘ace’ Ian Gladstone of Blue Diamond Services for rebuild but got no further than that.

Since then, the car has been totally transformed. A small fortune has been spent on the chassis which had been shortened to 7’6”, including a complete brake overhaul with new cables, pulleys and linings. Extra wheels were sourced to provide twin-spares, two of which were completely rebuilt while the remainder were thoroughly checked. Four brand new Blockley tyres were then fitted, the two Dunlops that came with the car remaining in good condition. The back axle has a 5.25:1 ratio which is ideal for steep trials sections, while the robust gearbox had its remote change replaced for a better one.

The body that came with the project was used, with new wiring throughout, an electric fan and a pair of seats which were sourced locally. The vendor added a C40 dynamo and a full rebuild kit for the twin SUs courtesy of Burlen Fuel Systems.

Having obtained a VSCC Buff Form, its first outing was on the recent VSCC Herefordshire Trial, where, despite being in running-in mode, it still managed to clear most of the sections. On the button and ready to go, this effective and well built vintage machine can be used exactly as is, or with its shortened chassis form the basis for further modification into a Brooklands-type special. It is being offered for sale only because the vendor and his wife have been bitten by the VSCC trialling bug to such an extent that they now want something with four-seats so that they can include their mates in the fun.