Riley models

Sir,

It seems that the literary consultants to today’s vehicle manufacturers have not the originality and imagination of their colleagues in the styling departments.

Apparently the new Hillman baby is to be called the Imp. This is just pure bad taste, as the original car of this name was a sports car amply fulfilling the connotations of its name. This crib is yet another name taken from the range of “real Rileys” built from 1926-38. Falcon, Sprite, Victor, and Alpine are the ones which spring most readily to mind; Lynx and Sprite were also “re-bodied” by Lea Francis, I believe: they also pinched our engine! Vauxhall even shamed themselves by using “Velox” on a car unworthy of its predecessor.

However, I do not think we will ever see a B.M.C. “Brooklands” although the name of one Riley sports car is on every page of your journal, blatantly printed without acknowledgment—yes, the M.P.H.!

Perhaps this letter will succeed in getting the revered name of Riley on to your pages at last—an omission which many Register members deplore while still remaining faithful readers of Motor Sport.

Martin R. Jubb.
(Riley Register)
[I should be very pleased to publish a full history of the Riley in one of our winter issues if the Riley Register will compile one sufficiently accurate and technically detailed—Ed.]