Léon Bollee

France, 1895 – 1933

(1) Automobiles Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1895 – 1924

(2) Morris Motors Ltd, Usines Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1925 – 1931

(3) Sté Nouvelle Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1931 – 1933

Leon Bollee was a son of Amédée Bolllée père, the most important pioneer of steam road vehicles in France. Leon Bollee, however, turned to really small petrol Leon Bollee cars. He was the first to do so, and therefore had to invent a new name for his Leon Bollee car of 1895 – he called it a Leon Bollee voiturette. This Leon Bollee car was a tandem two-seater 3-wheeler that was faster than any other petrol-engined vehicle on the road when the Leon Bollee car was working, thanks to a powerful 3hp engine and light weight, but the power unit was unreliable on the Leon Bollee car. The Leon Bollee car had a single air-cooled cylinder of 650cc and used hot-tube ignition. There were 3 forward speeds on the Leon Bollee car, with belt final drive. The frame was tubular. Four years after the Leon Bollee voiturette appeared, Leon Bollee superseded it with a 4-wheeler with independent front suspension by double transverse leaf springs. This Leon Bollee car had a single-cylinder, water-cooled engine. Unlike the Leon Bollee voiturette, this Leon Bollee car made no mark. The design rights were sold to Darracq, and around 1901 the name of Leon Bollee cars vanished. Meanwhile, the term voiturette had been taken up by the trade and public in general as the name for a small light car.

The Leon Bollee car reappeared in 1903 as an entirely normal, full-sized car in the more expensive class, backed by Vanderbilt money and designed for the American market. This Leon Bollee car was made in 28hp (4.6-litres) and 45hp (8-litres) versions, with four cylinders and chain drive, and led on to a 11.9-litre six Leon Bollee car in 1907, in which year the first shaft driven Leon Bollee car appeared. From 1909 there was also a small modern four, the Leon Bollee 10/14hp. The 1910 range embraced 9 Leon Bollee cars, including 2 of over 10-litres capacity. Electric lighting became available on Leon Bollee cars in 1913, but the Leon Bollee grew increasingly old-fashioned after World War 1 despite the introduction of ohv in 1922 on Leon Bollee cars and front wheel brakes in 1923. Late in 1924 Sir William Morris bought the Le Mans Leon Bollee car factory. From making a wide range of conservative French Leon Bollee fours, it turned to thinly-disguised products of Cowley, Oxford, the idea being to breach the French tariff walls from the inside. The first Morris- Leon Bollee had a 12CV 2½-litre 4-cylinder unit-construction engine made by Hotchkiss, the engine manufacturers controlled by Morris, but it had push-rod overhead valves and bore little evidence of its parentage. Not so the 18CV Morris- Leon Bollee car of 1928. This was a 3-litre straight-8 with single overhead camshaft that reflected Morris’ takeover of Wolseley two years earlier. Morris’ own new six of 1928 was mirrored in the 15CV 2.6-litre Le Mans product of 1929. The bodies for the Morris- Leon Bollee car were all made in France and were usually considerably more dashing and attractive than their British counterparts. Chassis of this Morris- Leon Bollee car were made in France, and all cars had a 4-speed gearbox. At one time, 50 12CV Morris- Leon Bollee cars were being turned out each week. However, Morris’ enterprise was not a success, and he discontinued it in the hard times of the Depression. A new syndicate was formed in September 1931 to sell the same range of cars under the name of Leon Bollee cars. This lasted for less than two years and few Leon Bollee cars were made.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Riley

GB, 1898 – 1969

(1) Riley Cycle Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1898 – 1912

(2) Riley (Coventry) Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1912 – 1948

(3) Riley Motors Ltd, Abingdon, Berks., 1948 – 1969

The first Riley car was a small single-cylinder belt-driven voiturette which Riley car did not go into production. Motor Riley tricycles followed n 1900, and a handlebar-steered Riley tricar with 2 forward speeds, and a 517cc engine with mechanically-operated inlet valves in 1903. Riley Tricars were made until 1907, later examples of these threewheeled Riley cars being twins with driver’s seats in place of saddles, water cooling and wheel steering. The 1.034cc V-twin engine was also fitted to the Riley car company’s first 4-wheelers, which Riley car had amidships-mounted power unit with their gearboxes alongside and chain drive, and the Riley car sold for £168. Bigger V-twins of 2-litres’ capacity, more conventional layout and round radiators were made from 1908 onwards. These Riley car incorporated pressure lubrication, shaft drive, constant-mesh 3-speed gearboxes, and Riley’s own patent detachable wheels, the demand for which brought Riley car production almost to a standstill and was responsible for the formation of the new Riley car company in 1912. In 1914 the 2-cylinder Riley cars were still being made, but there was also a new 2.9-litre sv monobloc four Riley car with worm drive, which was offered again after World War 1 by the Riley engine Co, though this Riley car soon disappeared from the market.

The first post-war 1 Riley cars were the Riley Elevens with sv 1½-litre 35bhp engines, alloy pistons and full electrical equipment which Riley cars were selling £550 in 1920, acquiring spiral bevel final drive in 1921. The Redwinger sports version of the Riley car, with wire wheels and polished-aluminium coachwork appeared in 1923, offering 70mph for £450, and the sv Riley cars were continued until 1928, with a 1.645cc engine and the option of front-wheel brakes in 1925. One of these Riley Twelves was used to prospect Kenya’s road system in 1926, and in 1927 there was even a supercharged development Riley car of the Redwinger available, though this Riley car was overshadowed by Percy Riley’s advanded new Riley Nine, with a 1.987cc 32bhp 4-cylinder engine, twin camshafts and high push-rods, a unit which was to form the basis of all Riley car designs made up to 1957.

In 1928 came the handsome Riley Monaco fabric sports saloon version at £298, a best-seller Riley car from the start, and the lowered and tuned Riley Brooklands sports, inspired by the late J.G. Parry Thomas, which Riley car weighed 1.120lb, had a twin-carburettor 50bhp engine, and was capable of 80mph, all for £395. A twin carburettor variant of the touring Riley Nine followed in 1929, along with a new 1.6-litre 6-cylinder Riley Fourteen of similar styling at £495.

Riley cars had a distinguished competition record in the following years: class wins with a Riley car in the 1929, 1930, and 1931 Tourist Trophies were followed by Whitcroft’s outright victory in 1932, while two more wins were recorded by F.W. Dixon on the later 1½-litre 4-cylinder Riley car in 1935 and 1936. A 4th place at Le Mans in 1933 led to 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th places in 1934, not to mention three successive wins – 1934, 1935, and 1936 – in the BRDC 500 Mile Race at Brooklands. Leverett won the light-car class of the 1931 Monte Carlo Rally on a Riley Nine, while the 6-cylinder racing Riley cars of 1933-1934 formed the genesis of the ERA, and nearly twenty years later the late Mike Hawthorn was to make his name in Club Racing on sports Riley Nines and 1½-litres. Both the Riley Nine and the Riley 14/6 were progressively developed, the former Riley car acquiring vacuum feed in 1931, a lowered chassis and semi-panelled bodywork in 1932, and an optional (later standard) preselector gearbox in 1934. A super-sports 6-cylinder 1½-litre Riley car with water-cooled centre main bearing appeared in 1932, being followed in 1933 by the touring Riley Mentone version at £348. 1933 also brought two advanced body styles of Riley cars, the fastback Riley Kestrel saloon (listed up to the end of the old Riley car company in 1938) and the more-conservatively styled Riley Falcon on which the doors opened into the roof. A Salerni automatic transmission was offered on the 14/6 Riley car, but did not go into regular production.

Two handsome sports two-seater variants Riley cars were listed in 1934/ 1935, the Riley 9hp Imp on a 7ft 6in wheelbase and the 1.654cc 6-cylinder Riley MPH which gave over 90mph for £550, while a newcomer in 1935 was the classic 1½-litre Four Riley car with Wilson gearbox, rod-operated Girling brakes and centralized chassis lubrication, a best-seller in its class at £335, and available in single- and twin-carburettor versions: subsequent developments were the 85mph Riley Sprite two-seater and the Riley Kestrel-Sprite and Riley Lynx-sprite saloon and tourer which offered more room but the same highly-tuned engine for £398. A cheaper Riley Nine, the Riley Merlin with pressed-steel bodywork, came on the market in 1936, along with the 1½-litre, a 6-cylinder 15/6 Riley car, and a 2.2-litre V8 Riley car, of which very few were made, the engine of the V8 Riley car made up of two 9hp blocks. 1937 Riley Nines came with new 6-light Riley Monaco bodies and twin-carburettor 42bhp engines as standard, while other new models of Riley cars were an abortive 3-litre luxury V8 made by a subsidiary company, Autovia Cars, and a more successful long-stroke 2.4-litre Big Four Riley car on classic lines, with an 85bhp engine and Borg-Warner 3-speed synchromesh gearbox incorporating an overdrive at £385. Overdrive was optional on 1938 1½-litres Riley cars.

Finances, however, were insecure and the Riley car company were acquired by the Nuffield Organization later in that year. Under the new management only the 1½-litre and the Big Four Riley cars were continued, with disc wheels, conventional synchromesh gearboxes and Wolseley-like bodywork. The post-World War 2 successors Riley cars used the same engines, but were altogether more handsome Riley cars with independent torsion-bar front suspension and fabric tops, the bigger engine’s output being boosted first to 90bhp and then to 100bhp: this Riley car unit was also used by Healey in the 1946 – 1954 period, while some open three-seater versions with column change were made by Riley cars for export. Hypoid back axles and full hydraulic brakes were incorporated in 1952 Riley cars.

After the Nuffield-Austin amalgamation the 1½-litre Riley car was continued into 1955 with relatively little change, but the 1954 2½-litre Riley Pathfinder shared its bodywork with Wolseley’s 6-90, the new chassis being a BMC design with coil rear suspension and cam-type steering. Even this disappeared after 1957 in favour of a version with a 2.6-litre 6-cylinder ohv BMC engine, and subsequent Riley cars were merely luxury versions of BMC themes, starting with the Riley One-Point-Five (basically a Wolseley 1500), and working through variations of the Farina-styled 1½-litre and 1.6-litre saloon Riley cars, the Mini, and, from 1966, the 1100/1300 family with Hydrolastic suspension, known in Riley cars guise as the Kestrel. Riley’s Mini, the Riley Elf, had a built-out boot and (from 1963) a 998cc engine in place of the standard 848cc Austin/ Morris type. This meaningeless badge-engineering was stopped by British Leyland in 1969.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com