The one that got away

Riley-Amilcar post-war photos
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I think it was around 1966 that I sold the car. The Riley torque tube had come apart from the Amilcar axle but I had it repaired by Hoffman & Burton of Henley with helicoils. The rear suspension used quarter-elliptics which I would have thought would have flattened under acceleration and exerted quite a strain on those bolts. I always felt that the car could have done with some radius arms.

For a teenager it was an amazing car with acceleration claimed to match an “E type” up to 60 mph and when I owned it the registration number was “TON 5” - its claimed top speed; sadly the registration is now on a on a Scania lorry…

You can find out more about Riley-Amilcars, Amilcar-Rileys and other specials in the excellent “The Enthusiast’s Guide to Vintage Specials” by John Bateman, published in 1994 by G.T.Foulis/Haynes Publishing ISBN 0 85429 794 4. However I see that the price has escalated rather more than the price of most vintage specials…

Background photograph - Three post-war views of the Kerr Bates special
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