The Riley Pathfinder is an
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
which was produced by
Riley Motors Limited
RileyInformation extracted from ''Notice issued in compliance with the Regulations of the Committee of The Stock Exchange, London'' (with regard to the issue of 150,000 Preference Shares of £1 each on 17 January 1934).
:The Company was incorpo ...
in the United Kingdom from 1953 to 1957. It was first presented at the
London Motor Show
London Motor Show, formerly the London Motorfair, is a motor show in England. It was held biannually at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, from 1977 to 1999. When the event won the support of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and P&O ...
in October 1953 and replaced the
RMF as
Riley's top-line model.
Designed as the "RMH" just before the 1952 merger of Riley-parent, the
Nuffield Organization
Nuffield Organization was the unincorporated umbrella-name or promotional name used for the charitable and commercial interests of owner and donor, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield. The name was assumed following Nuffield's gift made to form ...
, with
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
to form
BMC, the Pathfinder is seen as the last proper Riley car. It used Riley's , 2.5-litre — — twin-cam, "Big Four"
straight-4
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
engine fitted with twin
SU carburettors and had a separate all-steel chassis with
coil spring
A selection of conical coil springs
The most common type of spring is the coil spring, which is made out of a long piece of metal that is wound around itself.
Coil springs were in use in Roman times, evidence of this can be found in bronze Fib ...
rear (this was changed to leaf springs towards the end of production) and front torsion bar
independent suspension
Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in w ...
. From 1956, an
overdrive
Overdrive may refer to:
Organizations
* OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media
** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc.
* Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro
Technology
* Overdrive ...
gearbox became optional.
The Girling
drum brakes
A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum.
The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...
had a Clayton Dewandre Vac Hydro Servo fitted as standard.
In the front, buyers could choose between two single seats and the optional full width bench seat, with the front corner of the seat squab contoured so as to accommodate the gear lever and allow seating for three. The rear seat had a fold down centre armrest and leather covers were used. A heater was fitted as standard.
[ The car was available in black, maroon, green, blue or grey finish. The gear lever was floor mounted by the driver's door, so drivers in right hand drive markets had to change gear with their right hand.] The handbrake was operated by a lever under the dashboard in both bench and individual front seat versions.
The body was similar in appearance to the Wolseley 6/90
The Wolseley 6/90 is a car produced by Wolseley Motors Limited in the United Kingdom from 1954 to 1959. Announced on the first day of the October 1954 British Motor Show,New Wolseley Car. ''The Times'', Wednesday, Oct 20, 1954; pg. 5; Issue 530 ...
, although there were detail differences such as the Riley's opening bonnet including the radiator grille, whereas the Wolseley's grille was fixed. The Riley was launched in 1953 and the Wolseley in 1954, and both were designed by Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
*St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Manitob ...
' Gerald Palmer for the Nuffield Organization before the merger. All Pathfinders featured the front independent suspension developed from the RMF, but the sophisticated Riley rear suspension was replaced by a conventional leaf spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...
type in the last few examples. An essential part of the location of the rear axle was a Panhard rod
A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar, track bar, or track rod) is a suspension link that provides lateral location of the axle. Originally invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been ...
which on some early examples sheared on hard cornering resulting in the unfortunate 'Ditchfinder' nickname.
A car tested by ''The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
'' magazine in 1955 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 16.8 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £1240 including taxes.
The Pathfinder was replaced by the short-lived Wolseley 6/90-derived Riley Two-Point-Six
The Riley Two-Point-Six is an automobile produced by British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) from August 1957 until 1959. It replaced the Pathfinder as Riley's flagship model when it was announced on 23 August 1957. While its predecessor retai ...
in 1957.
Die-cast models
*Corgi
The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), mean ...
No. 205 (production 1956–61), Riley Pathfinder, approximately O scale
O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sca ...
(1:44).
*Corgi No. 205M (production 1956–59) Riley Pathfinder, approximately O-scale (1:44) with friction drive.[
*Corgi No. 209 (production 1958–61), Riley Pathfinder Police car, approximately O-scale (1:44).
*Base Toys produced a 00 scale model of the Riley PathfinderBase C500 Series - Riley Pathfinder, toysnz.com]
Retrieved 21 November 2015
References
Further reading
*
*
{{Automobiles made by BMC, BL and Rover Group companies, post-1945
Cars introduced in 1953
Pathfinder
Pathfinder may refer to:
Businesses
* Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International
* Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature
Computing and information science
* Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser
* Pathfinder ( ...
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Sedans