1934 Riley imp 1 1/2-litre two-seater sports Chassis no.… - Collectors' Motor Cars, Motorcycles, Motor Boats, Number Plates and Automobilia - Bonhams & Goodman (No longer trading)

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1934 Riley imp 1 1/2-litre two-seater sports Chassis no. 6025503Engine no. F2487 Registration no. Imp-034 'During the late 1920s and early 1930s, this small Coventry firm produced some of the best small sporting cars in the world, whether saloons, tourers or out-and-out sports cars.' - Michael Sedgwick & mark Gillies, A-Z of cars of the 1930s, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, 1989.Founded in the closing decade of the 19th century, Riley actively participated in motor sport from its earliest days. Indeed, the first recorded track event in which a Riley was entered took place in 1899, when Robert Crossley won aboard one of the Coventry firm's motor tricycles, the first purpose-built sporting Riley was the 10hp Speed model of 1909. Powered by a 1.4-litre v-twin engine, the lightweight Speed model was capable of 60mph, an outstanding achievement for a voiturette at the time. Demonstrating that the Speed model was durable as well as fast, Stanley Riley's won every award in its class at the 1909 Scottish Reliability Trial.post-World War I, Riley introduced a brace of 11hp sidevalve sports models, the two seat and four seat, one of the former winning the light car Handicap at the Brooklands Whit Sunday Meeting in 1924 by the handsome distance of three-quarters of a mile, the excellence of its sidevalve- engined models notwithstanding, it was Riley's introduction of the overhead-valve nine in 1926 that heralded the era of its greatest sporting success, the heart of this all-new 9hp light car was its Percy Riley-designed four-cylinder engine. Looking to all intents and purposes like a twin-overhead-camshaft design, the nine's cross-flow cylinder head featured hemispherical combustion chambers and valves inclined at an included angle of 90 degrees, the twin gear-driven camshafts were mounted high in the block, operating the valves via short pushrods, the promise of this advanced design as a competition engine was soon realised by J G Parry-Thomas and Reid Railton, whose success in 1,100cc class racing at Brooklands led to the introduction of a new 9hp Speed model, later known simply as the 'Brooklands'. Numerous world Speed Records and famous class victories at Brooklands, Shelsley Walsh, Rac tourist trophy and Le Mans followed, while outright wins were secured at the Ulster Tt and the Jcc 1,000 Miles Race at Brooklands in 1932.six-cylinder Brooklands and Mph models followed, and from these Riley developed the next of its 9hp four-cylinder sports cars - the imp. Like the Mph, the imp featured a short-wheelbase chassis, of 7' 6' in the latter's case, that swept upwards over the front axle and was under-slung at the rear, this layout having been first used on the Brooklands six, the engine was mildly revised and fitted with twin Su carburettors, while a Scintilla magneto was offered as an option, with its long bonnet, flowing wings and short tail, the imp is without question one of the most attractive small sports cars of its era.one of circa 120 examples built during 1934/35, this Riley imp was bought new by George Thame of Sydney, fitted with the standard 1,087cc engine and Wilson pre-selector gearbox. Thame raced the imp in the 10th Australian grand Prix in 1938 when he entered it at Bathurst (hosting the Australian Gp for the first time), the car had been fitted with a Riley Mph six-cylinder engine, complete with Era crankshaft, rods and camshaft, which he had bought from the factory. Thame also raced the imp at Bathurst in 1949 before buying and racing a Jaguar XK120 roadster. It also ran in many other events throughout New South Walesand possibly Victoria. George Thame still owned the Riley in the 1960s, an article about it appearing in the December 1961 issue of sports car world.Edward Ducros subsequently bought the imp and raced it at Warwick farm, the car later passed through several hands before being extensively restored by Kurt Schulz. By this stage it had been fitted with a pre-war Riley 12/4 11/2-litre engine, as many Imps have bee

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Motor Vehicles: Motor Cars