Lot Ended
Description
In daily use and driven over over 160 miles to the sale; charming
patina; a handsome old Riley that keeps up with modern traffic; ready for
another 70+ years of faithful service
Launched in
1946, the RMB was the big brother to the 1.5-litre RMA, featuring a longer
wheelbase and a more powerful engine to satisfy the sporting driver of the era.
At the heart of the RMB was the magnificent
2.5-litre ‘Big Four’ engine which featured Percy Riley’s signature twin-camshaft
design and hemispherical combustion chambers. Originally producing 90bhp, it was
uprated to 100bhp in 1948 which made it a genuine 100mph car, quite something
for a production saloon at the time.
Unlike many
of its contemporaries, the RMB had rack-and-pinion steering and independent
front suspension with torsion bars, providing handling that the motoring press
of the day described as ‘astonishing’. The brakes were also singled out for high
praise.
In an era when most British
manufacturers were still churning out cars based on pre-war chassis and
side-valve engines, the RMB was something of a revelation, Autocar
hailing it as a proper ‘driver’s car’ that offered ‘town-carriage manners with
sports car behaviour’.
The only reservation in
period was the price: at over £1,200 by 1949, it was a significant investment,
but most reviewers agreed that for the discriminating driver it was worth every
penny, offering 80% of a Bentley’s prestige and performance at a fraction of the
cost. Around 6,900 were sold before it was replaced by the RMF in 1952.
Dating from the last year of production, this
RMB was first registered in Carmarthenshire in January 1952 with the number GTH
555, becoming TSJ 465 in 1998. Little is known of the car’s early history, but
the Riley RM Club ‘Owners Record’ on file lists three owners from 1977 onwards,
the first a Mr P Whitehouse of Wolverhampton who kept it for 24 years, the
second a Hampshire gent who only had it for a few weeks and the third a Mr G
Cooper of Southampton who owned it from 2001 – 2011.
It then had two further owners before our vendor acquired the car in
May last year as a stablemate for his Riley Monaco which you can see elsewhere
in this sale (Lot 13). A dyed in the wool classic car enthusiast who lives in
central London, he has been using the RMB as his daily driver ever since,
including a regular 180-mile commute once a week – top
man!
He states the following details about the
car: “Within the last thousand or so miles I have replaced all four front-wheel
brake cylinders and fitted an original Lucas RF95 control box and new battery so
that the charging system is now working correctly. Fluids have been regularly
changed and all routine servicing carried out correctly. Everything works on the
car except the fuel gauge (erratic) and the clock (stopped!). The rear
over-rider is broken though these are available from the club. Also, the
synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd is easily beaten when the gearbox oil is warm.
The car has been in daily use and has proved
very reliable, easily keeping up with modern traffic, but I no longer have
anywhere undercover to keep it and it is not the sort of car you want to leave
outside, hence why, sadly, it needs to go.”
The
history file includes a good amount of invoices from 2001 - 2023 for routine
upkeep, although apart from getting a new wiring harness, it never seems to have
needed much other than routine service items. There are also eight old MOTs to
show regular use from 2001 – 2013 and a workshop manual to assist in keeping the
car in good running order for many years to come.
As you can see in the photos and the video, this RMB is an extremely
handsome beast with tons of old car character and a pleasing patina. Driven over
160 miles to Brightwells without drama, it has been starting promptly and
running very nicely as we have moved it around on site, with healthy 50psi oil
pressure.
We love it when owners use their cars
and it would brighten up anyone’s day to see this elegant machine cruising by.
We only hope that the next owner will continue to use it as intrepidly as our
vendor has.
If Percy Riley were looking down now, he would be deeply
gratified to see one of his fine machines continuing to
provide faithful service over 70 years on from when it first
rolled from the factory gates.
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com