Morgan

GB, 1905 – 1906

Morgan and Co Ltd, Leighton Buzzard, Beds.

Made by a well-known firm of coachbuilders, the Morgan car was a conventional shaft-driven car with 5.8-litre T-head 4-cylinder Mutel engine, distinguished only by the Sparks-Boothby hydraulic clutch on the Morgan car, soon abandoned in favour of an ordinary leather cone. Only about five Morgan cars were made and their lack of success resulted in Morgan cars becoming Adler concessionaires in 1907, and abandoning motor manufacture.

GB, 1910 to date

Morgan Motor Co Ltd, Malvern Link, Worcs.

This Morgan car was the best-known, and best, of the British 3-wheelers that were popular while the horsepower tax gave the Morgan cars an advantage. H.F.S. Morgan’s tricycle was also the first of its type, this Morgan car going into production in 1910. At the front of a tubular chassis frame was an sv, air-cooled V-twin motor-cycle engine of 1.100cc by JAP, transversely mounted. Transmission of the Morgan car was by dog clutches and chains, providing two forward speeds. The steering was direct. The front wheels of the Morgan car, had independent front suspension, by sliding pillars and coil springs. There were two seats. A reasonable amount of power plus light weight meant an excellent performance of the Morgan cars. The Morgan car was safer than most 3-wheelers because its road-holding was above average. This recipe made the Morgan car popular with sportsmen, for whom the Morgan Grand Prix model was produced in 1914: the first catalogued competition Morgan car. Soon afterwards, an exiguous four-seater Morgan car, the forerunner of the Morgan Family model of the 1920s, was listed.

After World War 1, Morgan carscontinued to cater for all markets. Names changed, but the Morgan Sports or Morgan Standard model was the normal two-seater, also available in De Luxe form; the Morgan Family model was the more capacious type Morgan car, and the long-tailed Morgan Aero, later the Morgan Super Sports, was the Morgan car intended for serious speed work. Engines of Morgan cars were water- or air-cooled to choice, most being supplied by JAP, or by Blackburne in the case of the competition Morgan cars. From 1925 all the latter’s power units had overhead valves. By 1927 the Super Sports Morgan car could attain 80mph in standard trim, while the less sporting Morgan cars now had internal expanding front wheel brakes and electric starting. Geared-down steering and (if required) three forward speeds followed on Morgan cars in 1929. Even so, Morgan cars were losing customers to new, cheap sports cars such as the M-type MG. Three speeds and reverse in a normal gearbox (though still with chain final drive) were available from 1931 and standard on the Morgan car after 1932, and a modified 8hp Ford 4-cylinder engine could later be had in the Morgan car instead of the twin. Four years later the first 4-wheeled Morgan car was introduced, the excellent little Morgan 4/4. This Morgan car used an 1.122cc 4-cylinder Coventry-Climax engine with overhead inlet valves, developing 34bhp. The Morgan car was still light in weight, and retained the Morgan independent front suspension, so the performance and handling qualities of Morgan cars were well up to form. The Morgan car could attain 75mph. The twins were last catalogued in 1939.

Just before World War 2, a 1.267cc Standard 10hp engine with ohv head was substituted in the Morgan 4/4. When this was no longer available, from 1950, Morgan fitted a tuned Standard Vanguard unit in the Morgan car giving 70bhp. In this Morgan Plus Four, as the Morgan car was renamed, performance became still more lively, and when the 90bhp Triumph TR2 engine became available in 1954, maximum speed of the Morgan car rose to 100mph for the first time. With the advent of the Morgan Plus Four, there was no longer a small Morgan car, but this gap was made good in 1955, when the Morgan Series 2 4/4 arrived. This Morgan car used the very hard-wearing 1.172cc sv Ford Ten engine which had powered F4 Morgan. (The latter was the last 3-wheeler Morgan car, which had been made until 1950.) The result was a cheap, pleasant and reliable sports Morgan car of the old school. Later, the ohv Ford 105E engine was substituted. The latest version Morgan car had a 1.599cc 98bhp engine, a 4-speed all-synchromesh gearbox, front disc brakes, and the traditional Morgan suspension. The Morgan Plus Four kept pace with Triumph’s TR engine development, also acquiring disc brakes and, eventually, the 2.138cc 105bhp TR4 unit. A streamlined coupé, the Morgan Plus Four Plus of 1964, was a brief deviation from the classical Morgan car line which met with little approval and was discontinued after only 50 of these Morgan cars had been sold. When Triumph changed to a six during 1968, Morgan cars adopted a new engine for their bigger Morgan cars, and the Morgan Plus Four became the Morgan Plus Eight, powered by Rover’s 3 ½-litre 160bhp V8 and capable of 125mph. The 1973 versions of the Morgan car use the 4-speed all-synchromesh Rover gearbox in place of the Moss box previously fitted.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, 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