Rodents have been at the Riley

Rodents have been at the Riley

A few little electrical issues have occurred on our 1936 Riley Nine so we’ve welcomed the car back in to look at the problem. Turns out, a mouse has made it’s way in and has chewed on a few wires. We have addressed the issues, tidied up the wiring and the car is good to […]

Our Riley Returns

Tony recently collected our 1905 Riley 9HP and transported it back to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop. Now that it is back with us, we can continue getting it ready for its first drive!

Lights And Buckles

John has been running the wires of our 1905 Riley 9HP from the front and rear to the batteries. He wired in the switch and the front and rear lights. Lydia has spent the last few days titivating the Riley before its grand unveiling at the NEC show at the weekend. Mostly, she has been […]

Riley Seat

The backrest of the our 1905 Riley 9HP seat is actually fitted on the body of the car and, as a result, could not be fitted until the vehicle returned from paint. Lydia placed the seat in and began to line up the pleats so that they were straight. She had to stuff the seat […]

Door Card

Lydia made an internal door card for the opening door on our 1905 Riley 9HP. She first made a template from paper to ensure the correct shape, and then she cut this out from card. She then made her own design based on the pinstriping on the paintwork of the vehicle. She will affix this […]

An Ultra Rare Roof Frame

The roof frame of our 1 of 1 1905 Riley 9HP has been in the Bridge Classic Cars paint shop with technician Mauro. Mauro painted the brackets in black before also painting the wood.

Riley Roof Frame

The roof frame of our 1905 Riley 9HP has been in the Bridge Classic Cars paintshop with Mauro. He has been prepping the frame before applying epoxy primer ready for it to be painted black.

Paint Progress

We have received the below pictures which show just how much progress Joby Carter is making on our 1905 Riley 9HP.

Time For Paint

As the restoration of our 1905 Riley 9HP is moving into its final stages, the time has come for it to be painted. For this to happen, Tony and Gordon took the car to Joby Carter in Berkshire. This is so this special car can have traditional methods used to bring it fully back to […]

Bench Seat Back

Yesterday, Lydia was preparing the seat backrest that Darin, from Ashbocking Joinery has kindly made for us. This involved replacing the springs back to their original position and hand sewing them into place. Next came various layers of cotton and horsehair padding, and then working out her fabric allowance with a scrap piece of fabric. […]

A 100-Year-Old Seat

Lydia has upholstered the base seat of our 1905 Riley 9HP. She used a 2-inch foam for the base to provide a firm seat so that the driver doesn’t slip out of the seat. She then placed a layer of horse hair on top to give it the correct finished look and feel. This is […]

Starting A 119-Year-Old Car

Our 1905 Riley 9HP was originally thought to be just 1 of 3 remaining examples. However, the evidence now suggests that it is, in fact, a 1 of 1 prototype of the first car to have fully removable wheels. This is the moment we started the 119-year-old car in the workshop.

Riley 9HP work continues

Steve is still working through the few final pieces on the 1905 Riley 9HP restoration. A new final drive chain has been fitted, new fabric body prop, new fabric exhaust has been temporarily fitted to help with routing of coolant pipes.

Body And Running Boards

Our 1905 Riley 9HP has been with a friend of Bridge Classic Cars, Darin, from Ashbocking Joinery. While our one-off car is with Darin, he has been starting the first phase in the process of mounting the front body and running boards. Before the running boards are fitted to the car, Darin has been shaping […]

A Big Step Forward

Recently, classic car technician Steve and Bridge Classic Cars Director Gordon took a trip to the British Motor Museum to take a closer look at the Riley 9HP they have on display. The purpose of the trip was to gather more information and references as to how our 1905 Riley 9HP goes together and works. […]

A Visit From Riley Expert Geoff Haviland

We recently welcomed Geoff Haviland into the Bridge Classic Cars workshop, so he could take a close look at our 1905 Riley 9HP. Geoff was the individual who reached out to us after seeing our Riley project online. He noticed that our car looked different to how it should, and seemed to be a year […]

A Finished Riley

The time has almost come to say goodbye to our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer. After spending some time in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop, it is clear to see the transformation that it has gone through. When it first arrived, the interior needed quite a bit of work to bring it back to its current […]

Metal Trim

Classic car technician Chris recently spent some time out of the fabrication bay and in the main workshop while he fitted the metal trim rail to our 1929 Rilley 9 Tourer. As this classic hill climber is coming to the end of its time with us, it’s great to see it making good progress toward […]

Riley 9 Tourer Covers

Our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer has continued to be in the skilled hands of classic car technician Brian, as he carries on his work on the roof cover and tonneau. Brian cut out the flaps for the roof bars on the hood cover before he cut out the new sections for the hood envelope cover. […]

A Riley Tonneau

Classic car technician Brian has continued his work on our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer. He first marked out where the front flap goes for the rear tonneau before he made paper patterns for the steering wheel cover. These were then cut out and a vinyl mock-up of the cover was made. Once the steering wheel […]

Roof and Covers

After classic car technician Brian had used paper patterns to get accurate sizes for the roof of our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer, he removed these, folded the frame down, and marked the positions for the stud fasteners. A trial-fit cover was made from vinyl before Brian fitted the webbing straps to the roof bars using […]

A Rare Body

The wooden body of our 1905 Riley 9HP has returned and has been put in place on the chassis of this potential prototype vehicle. After finding out that our Riley is likely even rarer than we initially thought, it’s great to be able to preserve so much of the original bodywork as we work to […]

Exhaust Repairs

Our 1905 Riley 9HP has continued on its way to being restored and rebuilt. Classic car technician Monty has been working on repairing the exhaust of this prototype car. He was unable to completely finish his work as he is waiting for some extra parts to arrive before he can fully repair and refit the […]

A Roof Of Paper

Our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer has been the focus of classic car technician Brian as of late. He has been making the paper templates which he will then use to make the roof cover of this classic hill climber. Brian has spent quite a bit of time working on our Riley Tourer lately and a […]

Hill Climber Interior

Classic car technician Brian has been making and putting together the interior of our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer. After drilling and fitting screws to the driver’s side panel, Brian made and fitted the supports to fit between the wood beams of the car. The back of the passenger side panels were painted and the driver’s […]

Welcome To The Workshop – A Classic Riley

We have recently welcomed our 1929 Riley 9 Tourer into the Bridge Classic Cars workshop. Looking at this hill climber, it’s obvious that it is a beautiful vehicle. It has a custom-made ash/aluminium body and has been fitted with a 1928 Ford Model A engine. The engine has undergone extensive modifications for competition purposes. These […]

New Wheels

The new wheels and tyres for our 1905 Riley 9HP have arrived at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop. Now that they are here, they can be prepared and fitted to our very special Riley. Since it now seems that our Riley is a prototype for the first car to have removable wheels, the arrival of […]

From Ultra Rare To First Of The First

We have always known that our 1905 Riley 9HP is a very special vehicle. It was believed to be just 1 of 3 remaining examples since it first arrived in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop, however, we have recently learned that it might actually be even rarer and even more special than that! After being […]

Recreating The Past

Since being started for only the second time in several decades, our 1905 Riley 9HP continues to make progress. With so little information about the vehicle available, our team of classic car technicians are working extremely hard to recreate, rebuild, and bring this rare classic back to life. Recently, some of the wooden bodywork was […]

Starting Again

Our 1905 Riley 9HP recently came back to life for the second time. Back in December, classic car technicians Dave and John got our Riley started for the very first time in decades. Recently, they fired it up one more time and, like before, it was a special moment to see a car that is […]