The Riley 12/4, or from 1936 the Riley 1½-litre, is a range of cars made from 1935 to 1938 by the British

Riley Riley may refer to: Names * Riley (given name) * Riley (surname) Places * Riley Park–Little Mountain, a neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * Riley Creek (Ontario), a tributary of the Black River in Central Ontario, Canada * Ri ...

company available with saloon, touring, and sports/

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

coachwork,

Engineering

The car is powered by a four-cylinder "12/4 Engine" with one or two Zenith carburettors. Designed by Hugh Rose, it was based on the

Riley Nine The Riley Nine was one of the most successful light sporting cars produced by the British motor industry in the inter war period. It was made by the Riley company of Coventry, England with a wide range of body styles between 1926 and 1938. Desi ...

engine but with some significant changes including the cylinder block and crankcase being cast as one unit. It was advanced for its day with twin

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

s mounted high in the engine block, cross flow head on some versions, and Zenith or twin SU

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...

s. Production of the engine continued until 1955 and also powered cars sold under these model names in these model years: * Riley 12 1939 to 1940 * Riley RMA and then Riley RME 1946 to 1955 *

Riley One-Point-Five The Riley One-Point-Five and similar Wolseley 1500 are automobiles produced by Riley and Wolseley respectively from 1957 until 1965. They utilised the Morris Minor floorpan, suspension and steering but were fitted with the larger B-Series en ...

1957 to 1965 used a BMC B-Series engine The chassis had half-elliptic leaf springs all round and drive was to the rear wheels through either a four-speed

preselector A preselector is a name for an electronic device that connects between a radio antenna and a radio receiver. The preselector is a band-pass filter that blocks troublesome out-of-tune frequencies from passing through from the antenna into the ...

or manual gearbox. Girling rod brakes were fitted. Three different wheelbases were made and two track options of on most versions or on the 1936 Adelphi, Continental and Kestrel saloons.

Coachwork

At launch three body styles were available: the Kestrel 4 light fastback saloon, the Falcon saloon and the Lynx open tourer. In 1936 the Kestrel became a six light, the Falcon was replaced by the Adelphi six light saloon and the Continental touring saloon was introduced.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley 12 4 12 4 Cars introduced in 1935 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles