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.
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
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
Recently, Lydia has been making the pattern for the base part of the seat of our 1905 Riley 9HP. She has been working with Steve to make sure that the seat is adequately secured when placed in the vehicle. They
Brian has been fitting the brackets to hold the roof frame when it’s folded back, cutting the inner seat frame wood to fit around the brackets. He then put the front inner seat frame into the car, adjusting the cutouts
The battery box metal frame is almost complete and will eventually have an ash wood box for battery to sit in.
The restoration of our one-of-a-kind 1905 Rilep 9HP has been something of a labour of love and dedication. With very little reference material to work from, bringing this piece of automotive history back to life has been challenging, to say
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 go once again.
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. This meant that Lydia could then cut the leather.
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 a tightly woven material which has been needled into hessian sheets.
After this, Lydia cut the face fabric and piping and sewed these together. She used a period-correct paper piping. Then was the border which was made in 2 pieces, and sewed onto the seat face.
Lydia chose to do a border all around so that the seat would have a plump look.
Recently, Lydia has been making the pattern for the base part of the seat of our 1905 Riley 9HP. She has been working with Steve to make sure that the seat is adequately secured when placed in the vehicle. They have decided to make a metal dowel/peg affixed to a metal plate, which will locate into a hole in the body of the car. Lydia added a wedge of wood at the front of the seat to provide a bit more stability for the peg beneath and also as a bit of a leg bolster.
Steve also made new gear lever selector pin and fitted it to the car as the old one was worn causing inaccurate gear selection.
Brian has been fitting the brackets to hold the roof frame when it’s folded back, cutting the inner seat frame wood to fit around the brackets.
He then put the front inner seat frame into the car, adjusting the cutouts around the brackets before glueing the left-hand side of the frame back on, before fixing it with a metal bracket.
The battery box metal frame is almost complete and will eventually have an ash wood box for battery to sit in.
The restoration of our one-of-a-kind 1905 Rilep 9HP has been something of a labour of love and dedication. With very little reference material to work from, bringing this piece of automotive history back to life has been challenging, to say the least. However, the project has made even more progress recently, as its wooden body has been trial-fitted to the 118-year-old chassis.
Our 1905 Rilep 9HP is a great example of the craftsmanship and innovation of early automobile engineering. Its uniqueness lies not only in its design but also in its rarity as a prototype for the first car to ever have fully removable wheels. The workshop team has worked extremely hard to find any kind of record of how this one-off car should be put back together to honour its legacy throughout the restoration process.
After the wooden body recently returned to the workshop, following its time with Ashbocking Joinery, classic car technician Steve temporarily put the body back onto the chassis in a trial fit to make sure everything goes together as he would like it to. As well as the body going back on the chassis, the impressive radiator has also taken its place on the front end of this incredible classic car.
While our Riley 9HP may look much more car-like than it has since it first arrived at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop, it will still need to be stripped down again once Steve is happy that the trial-fitting has been a success. Once stripped, it will then be painted before going back together for the final time. The next big milestone to reach though is getting the car to start. Although we have seen that it can start (we fired up the engine for a very short period of time last year), it has never been run without assistance and in its current configuration.
If all goes to plan, our 1905 Riley 9 restoration will be complete and the finished car will drive out of the workshop in the early part of 2024. Until then though, we are very excited to see it continue to make great progress in its restoration.
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 them and it already looks like great progress is being made.
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 being returned to its owner very soon.
In addition to Chris’s work on our Riley Tourer, Brian has also completed quite a bit of work too. After finishing the hood and cover, he fitted everything back together. During the process of attaching the new roof, the metal trim bar was removed which is why Chris fitted his to the vehicle.
Brian went on to make the window in the back of the hood cover before cutting it out of plastic and fitting it. The rear squab was then re-installed before the rear base seat when in too.
Stud fasteners were fitted to the hood envelope cover to bring our Riley one step closer to going home.
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 screws and rivets. The straps were held in place by glueing the ends of them around the lower bar. Once the fitting of the straps was completed, the roof frame was folded to make sure it folded as it should. Brian put the vinyl roof pattern to check that it fit before making the roof cover from Mohair.
Patterns for the front and rear tonneau covers were made before they were placed on the car so the hole for the steering wheel could be cut. A cover for the steering wheel was cut out too.
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 lot of progress has been made. Once the roof cover is made, it shouldn’t be too much longer until it leaves the workshop and is returned to its owner.
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 side panel was cut into two sections to make removing it easier.
Brian went on to mark and cut out foam for the panels and glued it to the front faces. The edges were trimmed and the leather for the panels was also cut out. Once the leather was glued onto the panels, Brian removed the floor panels to trim and paint the edges.
The panels were fitted into the car and adjustments were made as necessary to ensure they fit perfectly. Once the rear squab seat had been trial fitted, Brian moved on to removing the front floor panel so the handbrake could be put back in. This was fitted before the floor panel was re-installed and the seat brackets were put back into the car too.
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 modifications include a 1929 Miller OHV conversion, with purpose-made manifolds and magneto ignition.
Our Riley 9 Tourer is with us for some trim work which classic car technician Brian has already started.
We are looking forward to seeing progress continue and getting this beautiful classic car back to its owner very soon.
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