Riley Nine Kestrel

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During the late 1920s and ‘30s, the Coventry firm of Riley produced some of the best small sporting cars in the world, whether saloons, tourers or out-and-out sports cars.

One reason was the excellence of the power unit, an innovative 1,087cc four-cylinder, twin cam, hemi-head design by Percy Riley that was good for 60mph and 40mpg. The others were lovely coachwork and fine handling, largely the work of Stanley Riley who had a gift for chassis, suspension and body design.

A bewildering variety of models were produced in this era, including the Monaco, Biarritz and Kestrel saloons, the Lynx tourer and the Imp, Sprite and MPH sportscars. Most sporting and rakish of the saloons was the beautifully streamlined 9hp Kestrel, launched in late 1932. Based around a low-slung ladder frame chassis, it was equipped with all-round semi-elliptic leaf-sprung suspension and four-wheel drum brakes with a four-speed manual transmission. Bodied in aluminium over a timber frame, it had a spacious Art Deco interior trimmed with good quality hides, thick carpets and plenty of tasteful timber. It remained in production until 1936.

The vendor’s late father purchased this highly original Kestrel through an advert in Motorsport in the late 1960s. Leafing through the magazine, this rather tired example caught his eye as it was described as having cycle wings and was on offer at just £40. By complete chance, another advertisement a few pages later offered a set of Riley Kestrel wings and so he put two and two together and contacted the two owners, agreeing to buy both the car and the wings.

He was even more delighted to discover that they were both geographically close together, arranging to collect them in one trip. His visit to collect the car is vividly described by the previous owner, who just this year wrote to the vendor explaining how his father arrived on foot nearly 50 years ago and drove the car away untaxed and without MOT….tut tut!

The letter also explains that it was his first car and that he had purchased it from a good school friend. They had travelled together to London for a concert when it was still owned by his chum, the performance (of the car) being so woeful that it took all night to travel from London to Bournemouth, even though there was no traffic. As soon as he got his hands on it, he gave the engine a thorough overhaul which got it going well again. A fascinating read, the letter outlines how he had intended to use the proceeds of the Riley to help buy a Bugatti, but alas they kept creeping ahead of his budget and he had to content himself with a series of Porsche 356s instead - poor fellow!

Barn stored ever since, it is very largely complete, the wings and front cross-bar acquired separately being the correct ones for the car. The bodywork will require extensive restoration, although all of the detail parts are there and the engine turns freely and looks mechanically complete.

It has a current V5 document, buff log book and its most recent MOT certificate (1966!) on file. This pretty Kestrel looks like a straightforward and very worthwhile restoration project for someone with woodworking abilities and some time on their hands.