The 'First Riley Car' Project
One of the first tasks the new board of trustees faced in 2014 was to agree a programme of activities that met the charitable requirements of the governing document. The planning of this would take time and so, as an interim project, a further attempt to create a replica of Percy Riley's 1898 voiturette, the 'First Riley Car', was agreed.
Four earlier attempts had been made under the auspices of the Association of Riley Clubs but none had been successful and little had resulted other than a scale drawing showing outline plan and elevations.
However, one advantage the trust had was that the project could be undertaken 'in house' where there was an awareness of Riley history together with motivation, time and various practical skills on which to draw.
Very little was known about the 1898 car. Riley historians have hitherto uncovered only the barest of details and have relied on what little can be gleaned from Riley's catalogue for the 1907 V-Twin cars and Edward H Reeves's 1930 book 'The Riley Romance'. Basically, only two photographs of it have survived. Both, though immensely valuable, are of poor quality and have been retouched with highlights which unfortunately obscure some of the detail. No other sketches, notes or drawings, nor indeed remains of the car, have so far ever been found.
The first step was to try to get a feel for the period and likely influences on the young Percy who, according to Riley lore had 'designed and built every part of the car himself finishing it in 1898 while still a schoolboy'. He is also said to have worked in secret in his father's cycle workshop 'because his father disapproved'. An incorrect year of 1882 for Percy's date of birth originating from S.Gordon Marshall but passed on by various authors and Riley historians over the years has not helped and only a conscious effort to sight Percy's birth certificate has confirmed that he was born on 8th November 1880. A more accurate chronological order can now be assumed to be - born Nov. 1880, schooling to age 13 extended by a further two years to 15 1/2, or possibly 16 if he stayed until the end of the autumn term of 1896 at King Henry VIII School. Late in that year he joined the Riley Cycle Co. as a clerk and over the next two years built his first motor car.
An interview with Percy is recorded in the Riley Record of February 1929 and in this he states that he began thinking of the car's design at the age of 13! From this it can be deduced that he spent much of his two years extended schooling in sketching out his designs and, following the encounter with the Bollee machine in May 1896 (see Kenneth Gasmier's Percy Riley A Short Biography on this site), was able to advance his initial ideas prior to starting work with his father's company at age 16.
Readers who are interested in the history of Percy, his brothers and family and their endeavours are urged to read Ken's available work. His planned longer book on the subject is yet to appear as a whole but its section on the genesis of the Riley Nine is already published in the journal Archive (Issue 90, June 2016).
Ken has generously shared his research on the early years with the Trust. His Percy Riley biography, compiled from the drafts of his book, is included in the Archive and is highly recommended as a fascinating read. The trustees thank Ken for his invaluable assistance with facts, theories and conclusions without which the replica project would have been infinitely more difficult.
Actual work on the replica project started with hours of minute study of the two surviving photographs in an effort to discover all the distinguishing features of the car. It had been decided that the replica should mirror these features as closely as possible. From its neglected state it is clear that the car had been 'put aside' at the time of these images. Wings have collapsed on to the tyres, wheel spokes are caked with mud and parts are missing from the engine. The side view shows what could be a registration plate on the bottom front edge of the bonnet. It could be a handle of some sort but if it is indeed a registration plate then this would place the photographs later than 1st January 1904 when the legislation was introduced. This would seem consistent with the neglected state of the car and the clear inference that Percy had, as was his wont, gone on to apply his complete attention to other things. By that time his involvement was with the engine company and the introduction of the V-Twin cars.
Computer enhancing and enlarging the images up to A3 size helped to tease out the main features but some remain a mystery to this day, particularly around the engine bay. Copies of prints were sent to veteran car people in several parts of the world in the hope that the engine could be identified. Many suggestions were made but not one reliable lead was given. In this regard it began to look like the statement that Percy designed and made every part himself was true!
This meant that the engine was going to be a considerable problem and that, if the replica was to mirror the original, a new engine would have to be designed and made as a one off. This part of the project was designated as Phase 2 and hived off to be tackled by an independent group of Riley engineers.
The chassis and body details were reasonably well identified and many comparisons with other veteran vehicles were made. It had to be borne in mind that Percy's car pre-dates most of the veterans that have survived and a better idea of materials and constructional details could come from the carriage trade. Indeed it is possible that he bought in a fully made dogcart body and fitted it to his own chassis - except for the nagging thought that 'he designed and made every part himself' could be true.
This oft-repeated phrase was originally used by Cecil Riley who in the 1960s compiled an album for Percy's youngest daughter, Rosalind, on the occasion of her marriage and emigration to Australia. The album was intended to give Rosalind, only a baby when her father died in 1941, a record of his work and achievements. Cecil also ensured that other family members got a copy. The text is hand written and includes photographs sourced from Riley family records. It is hard to believe that Cecil could be wrong on this point and perhaps his pride in his brother's achievements has coloured some detail.
However, in the course of building the body it became clear that another oft used phrase, 'he built the car in secret in the tool room of the cycle works' could not possibly be correct. It has been assumed that this was because his father did not approve but the woodworking machinery alone would have required considerable investment and space. Ken Gasmier's suggestion that secrecy was kept due to possible litigious threats from Harry Lawson's British Motor Syndicate is probably nearer the truth.
So began the task of producing scale and full size working drawings, a task not helped by the complete lack of any reference point dimensions. Scaling was eventually achieved by using a two point perspective layout and seat height as a starting point. The British Standards Institute, founded in the early years of the 20th century had, through studies in ergonomics, recommended a chair seat height of 18" confirming that which had been used by furniture makers for centuries. This proved to be a good guide although in practice, with a thick cushion and squishy horse hair stuffing a lower sitting position would have resulted and a more comfortable driving position achieved.
On paper the proportions looked fine but a scale model would perhaps better secure the approval of the Board of Trustees.
The 1/8th scale model was a bit of fun intended to give an idea of how the finished car would look. It wasn't an engineered model for permanent display but was more of a glue and string affair made to scale so that proportions could be scrutinised. A variety of items were used including sewing machine bobbins for hubs, cotton for spokes, rubber 'O' rings cut down and glued on for tyres. Springs were made from strips of steel and the chassis from odd pieces of steel rod. The wheel rims were made from brass by a local engineer and were the only items bought in. The body and bonnet were from solid timber, the seat frame spindles were kebab sticks and the lamps were turned on the lathe. The whole thing was glued together with hot glue and it all fell apart within weeks of getting approval from the trustees. It had served its purpose!
The building of the car began with having to commission bespoke wheels and springs. The wheel centres had been sourced from a vintage motor cycle restorer (in Australia!) and these were sent to a specialist wheel company for making up to take beaded edge tyres. Elliptical and half elliptical springs were made up to full size drawings provided.
Vintage Fabrications of Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, undertook the building of the chassis with a request that construction should be with bicycle frame technology very much in mind. They also made the bonnet with hand made louvres and general shaping along similar tentative methods as used by the inexperienced Percy.
The body was made 'in house' with solid ash and mahogany and proved to be interesting and not a little challenging. It will be noted that the bonnet sits on a frame which is fixed to the chassis and the three pieces of this frame have a 'thumb moulding' worked around the top outside edge. This moulding is stopped, or rounded out, short of the bulkhead panel on each side. It is possible, if one had excessive amounts of time and skill, to round the thumb moulding out to the edge by hand but this would be nonsensical when it could be done in minutes with a router or, in Percy's day, a spindle moulder!
Which brings us back to the folklore! Percy would not have had a very large spindle moulder secretly installed in the tool room of the bicycle works, neither would he have had the experience to make his own thumb moulding cutters and skilful though he most certainly was, he would not have thought the hours of doing it by hand conducive to getting his car built. Likewise, the seat is constructed along the lines of a Windsor chair and would have meant considerable time spent in lathe work. Clearly it is not possible for Percy to have kept the woodworking, upholstery and painting stages a secret from his father which would suggest either a bought in ready made body or more likely, a local woodworker made up the body sections to Percy's designs. Assembly of the car was very likely done in the Cycle Works out of the eye of motor journalists and the general public.
The body frames were all made with conventional dovetail and mortise and tenon joints, panelling was a solid mahogany board for the bulkhead and mahogany strips shaped to look like louvres, these being purely decorative. The seat rails and spindles are all in ash and the cushion seat is made with all traditional materials.
Painting was again by traditional coach painting methods using paint kindly donated by Craftmaster Paints Ltd. There is no record of the car's original livery so Victor Riley was asked to choose a colour scheme. It suits the car well!
It had been agreed with the Coventry Transport Museum to present the replica to the general public at a launch ceremony set for 6 November 2019 and as it would not be possible to show a replica engine at this time a full size wooden engine should be fitted. The image shows the physical size of the unit and the space it occupies. Also shown are some significant features like the mechanically operated inlet valve and the cooling fan running off the very large flywheel by leather cord.
The car enjoyed a celebratory day at the Transport Museum before going on to the National Exhibition Centre where it was exhibited on the Riley Motor Club stand. The club's theme was 'The First and the Last', the replica representing the first and a 1969 Elf representing the last of a long line of much loved vehicles to carry the Riley name.
From the NEC the replica moved back to Coventry to be exhibited at the King Henry VIII School for a stay of three weeks. All five of the Riley brothers were educated here and it was at this school that Percy began his early design work for his 1898 car. Being a 'Board School', that is one run by a Board of Governors, the leaving age was 13 unlike State schools where education was only provided to age 11. In Percy's case however, because he excelled at mathematics, his father paid for him to stay on for yet a further two to three years until his 16th birthday. In what most probably was a period of quite solitary study it can be seen that here was the opportunity to sketch out all the design details of a machine, the likes of which had not been seen on the streets of Coventry before.
The trustees were invited to look around the school in February 2020 and to give a talk on the replica story at an evening event for former students.
The November 1900 edition of the 'The Autocar' refers to The Riley Cycle Co., Ltd., devoting much time over the previous 12 months to producing motor tricycles and quadricycles, (see PR: A Short Biography). The journal also reports that 'they had also been experimenting during almost the whole of that period with a voiturette'. Clearly this is Percy modifying and refining his motor car following its inaugural run to Stratford Upon Avon in late 1898 or early 1899.
It is possible that the car originally had features such as hot tube ignition, a surface carburettor, solid tyres and ineffective steering which may account for the The Autocar's observation. These items are missing from the original photographs and will, in all probability, remain unknown together with other design details such as the final drive arrangements. Percy would certainly have updated these features in the light of the rapidly developing technology of the period and his own experiences.
It is for these technical specification unknowns that the replica cannot be described as a true replica and will only ever be a working exhibition replica. It represents the first of a long line of distinctive motor cars that have meant so much too so many.
There are some 16-photographs in the Archive from the first sketches through to the final replica. Please click here to see all the photos.