Behind this sign is a dwelling unit at Allenberry Resort. Herein Mickey Shemin, Mac McMahon, and yours truly rested from reconnoitering our fall event and plotted its schedule. I had been with Mac on the RM Club Irish Tour and he came to our club event in Indianapolis. But I only knew Mickey as a New Jersey accented voice, quite distinctive, by telephone. So we had catching up to do when he picked me up in his white GMC van at Harrisburg International Airport. He was a little flustered because he had temporarily lost touch with his wallet, and he operates strictly on a cash basis. I climbed into the shotgun seat and he closed the door, which only he could reopen. There were no working handles on my side. Clearly, this was a New Jersey sort of vehicle, perfect for one-way rides. The back was stacked with items I assume were from the used merchandise trade. We drove to Allenberry and joined Mac in Cottage 3, also known as Irving, our three night home away from home.

I first learned of Mickey Shemin as he purchased Derek Wadman’s saloon car, which he learned about by reading this website. Derek described him to me as a colorful character. That was classic British understatement. Mickey is a born showman. A self-taught scholar of circus history, he once tried to promote a circus in Chicago. He was once a sandwich board wearing street busker in Aspen. He has long supported himself as a dealer in antiques, coins and stamps. He publishes the outspokenly personal weekly Evening Star Telegram in his native Bayonne, New Jersey. Rather than take to the air, he prefers more traditional forms of transportation. He sailed on the Queen Mary to attend Riley events in the U.K and on the continent last year, and he loves railroads. He has purchased a second Riley saloon and is halfway through buying a drophead from a longtime member. He is enamored of a flower of Southern womanhood, charmingly younger than himself, called Mandy, who accompanied him on his European expedition. No two Riley owners are alike. Mickey, the dreamer behind this fall’s Riley event in Pennsylvania, is unique. Taken from the letter sent to members and friends of Riley earlier in the year, I will let Mickey explain his conception of the event in his unique voice, which he would call his spiel.

My name is Mickey Shemin from Bayonne, N.J.. I’m a Riley owner and I have good news for all our fellow Riley owners and friends!

The Riley Motor Club Of North America announces that on Sept. 24th, 25th and 26th a gathering of the faithful will take place at Allenberry Resort in the bucolic town of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania.

I’d like to tell you how this came about. A group of Riley owners meet in the New York City area every six weeks; we gather in Staten Island (a suburban borough of N.Y.C.) where one of us keeps his 2 1/2 liter RMB. After fiddling with it for an hour or two, we decamp to a local eatery to talk Riley. It was at such a gathering that we bemoaned the fact that there hadn’t been a Riley gathering in our area for four years, and wasn’t it about time. A call to John Riley in California president of the Riley Motor Club of North America, was undertaken, and our idea was met with enthusiasm.

He led me to Doug Campbell of Virginia, who told me about British car shows he had attended at a place called Allenberry Resort. A few coast-to-coast phone calls between John and myself, and the dates aforementioned were set aside for us at the Allenberry.

Doug gave me a list of Riley people contacted for a car show in Lime Rock, Conn. Armed with this and updated lists from John, I started phoning. I contacted about forty of those (many names had addresses but no phone #s), and results were gratifying. In fact, some were joyous at the prospect of a Riley event. “I’m tired of being alone,” said Ron of Nebraska, most humorously. “What a great call to get on a winter afternoon!” said another.

We expect Riley folk from California, the West, the Midwest, the South, and of course a goodly number from New York, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic States. We are also encouraging members to bring Riley memorabilia and photographs for a Club show’n tell. In all, about 30 people said they’d make an effort to attend. And that’s just the start, because, as I said, I didn’t have numbers for everyone. For some of you this is first notice of the event.

Google the name Allenberry Resort and a website will show you the layout. It’s set in rolling hill country of southern Pennsylvania, and has charming historic buildings and houses. Main features are their dinner theatre and restaurant. The Allenberry will be headquarters, and special package rates have been arranged. You don’t have to stay at the Allenberry Resort to participate, but twenty rooms have been set aside with more still available. The hotel has seventy rooms, and there are nearby bed and breakfasts. One is Gelinas Manor (1 mile from Allenberry) a charming Victorian B & B with four rooms. Their rates are $79 to $139, but a club discount would apply, but only if our members book all four rooms: www.geninasmanor.com.

On Friday, throughout the day, Rileys will be arriving. Check in is at 3 P.M., or earlier. they’ll be a cocktail reception for all attendees, whether you’re staying at the Allenberry or not, on site, at 5 P.M. This will follow with a dinner and the show starts at 8. We’re starting this way because it will give everyone a day to get acquainted before our “Club” dinner Saturday. We’ll have the cars on display Saturday and a workshop or discussion group or two.

By the way, you need not bring a Riley to attend; long distances make that quite impractical, except for the most adventurous. So arriving in a “modern” is perfectly acceptable and understandable. That being said, we certainly encourage those with roadworthy cars (or with trailers) to bring a Riley, the more the merrier.

(The spiel from Mickey continues in the posting below For those of you who wish a closer look at the wood grain in the Irving Cottage sign, just click on it and it will enlarge.)

(The camera pulls back on Irving, also known as Cottage 3. There are all styles of accommodation at Allenberry, from quaint to to modern. Be sure to ask for what you want when you book. If you want the cottage to grow - it grew on us - just click on it and it will. Mickey continues:)

On Sunday we’re going to go en masse to the historic and engaging town of Gettysburg, site of the Civil War battle. There is plenty to do and see, including battlefield tours. A feature of the weekend will be touring to and from the battlefield in our Rileys, on Sunday. There should be room for Riley-less attendees to “hitch” a ride with those that bring their cars. And for those whose interests run to all things antique, there will be an outdoor antique show in Gettysburg on Saturday, so a few may choose that. But Sunday will be “Riley Day” in Gettysburg, at least as far as we’re concerned, and a queue of cars will make its way the approximately 45 miles from Allenberry to Gettysburg.

Another thing to consider is the big Carlisle meet, which I believe is second only to Hershey; it will start on the Thursday following our event. Some of you may want to stick around for that, if you can spare the time. If you do, you’d be well-advised to book a room early as I’m told area hotels, motels and B&B’s start to fill up in late spring for Carlisle.

The package our hotel offers: $239 per person, 2 nights; that includes 2 breakfasts, 2 dinners and a theatre ticket (per person). So the cost for 2 people for 2 nights, 8 meals, 2 theatre tickets, would be $478. Single occupancy is $309; that includes 4 meals, 1 ticket. There are other options available for less; for instance, if one wants to skip the theatre or meals. Conversely, if one is staying elsewhere, you certainly may join us for dinner one or both nights. These are available separately, but we’re encouraging attendees to go to both dinners and the show (which is excellent, by the way.)

The Allenberry requests a $50 deposit per 2 night booking, which we believe is reasonable. It should be sent directly to the hotel at 1559 Boiling Spring Road, Boiling Springs, PA 17007. Send deposits to the attention of Leslie Sterner, 717 258-3211. (Editors Note: Mr. Shemin does not live in the world of bank plastic; the hotel will accept a credit card number, telephoned, to hold the room. Ms. Sterner’s email is aberry6@allenberry.com; she is an adorable person and has worked at Allenberry almost four decades; her mother worked there too. Back to Mickey:)

Mention the dates September 24-26 and the Riley Motor Club when making reservations. By the way, they are offering a third night (Sunday) at a reduced rate $99 rate, which I believe will cover Sunday dinner and Monday breakfast. (Ed: Strongly recommended after Gettysburg.)

That’s it for now…don’t delay - make your reservations as early as possible.

Mickey’s letter was signed by both of us. Fraternally, by me, and Regards to all, by himself. My email is jr@rileymotorclub.com and his is rileyguy1950@aol.com.

Both of us look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it to Allenberry. Please bring your Riley if you can.

That’s Mickey Shemin on the left in the straw hat with the suede messenger bag over his shoulder, and Mac McMahon on the right peering into the same vintage Dodge. A large contingent of classic Dodge owners were visiting Gettysburg the sunny day we arrived to make arrangements for our Sunday at Gettysburg, the final full day of our event September 24, 25 and 26 based at Allenberry Resort at Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. Just as a large contingent of shining Riley automobiles will arrive early on the 26th and park on a grassy corner at the American Civil War museum and their drivers and passengers climb aboard the 1933 Ford bus or the 1936 or 1937 Yellowstone Park buses operated by the Historic Tour Company. We will leave one volunteer behind to answer questions about our cars while the majority listen to Wes Ayre and his colleagues describe the battle that turned the tide of the Civil War. (Having already read Bruce Catton’s brief “Gettysburg: The Final Fury” and Michael Shaara’s novel “The Killer Angels,” I am just beginning the book most highly recommended by Wes Ayre in our meeting with him, a thick trade paperback of Stephen W. Sears’s “Gettysburg.” For those of you wishing to read before you visit the battlefield with us, I recommend you make your own choice at this site of lists of top ten Gettysburg books by copying and pasting the following URL into the URL line of your internet browser: http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/best-civil-war-books/top-10-gettysburg-books-civil-war-bloggers/).

While we were visiting the headquarters of the Historic Tour Company our Mr. Shemin told Mr. Ayre he remembered staying at a certain iron-colonnaded motel he recognized as we drove into town.

“That was the Holiday Inn,” Mr. Ayre said. “My father built that hotel.”

“I was there for the centennial of the battle,” said Mr. Shemin. For those of you who have not yet begun their reading, that was July 1, 2 and 3 of 1963.

“So was I,” said Mr. Ayre.

For those of you willing to face the battlefield unprepared by reading, you will find our visit to the restored cyclorama at the National Military Park’s visitor center beforehand and the dioramas and film at the American Civil War Museum afterward, before we reclaim our Rileys, will provide sufficient background within the one day visit.

On our way from Allenberry to Gettysburg our cars will have completed one leg of a great scenic drive, and we will drive the rest of the route on our way back to the resort. I have covered many a pretty mile in an RM, along the Big Sur coast of California and the Dingle Penninsula of Ireland. The rolling apple and peach groves of Adams County compare in beauty.

(For a bigger picture of Mickey and Mac and the cars they perused, click twice anywhere on the photo and it will enlarge.)

The camera has pulled back for yet another picture of the gorgeous Drophead, taken in Nevada. You can see more of her, and she does not disappoint. Nor did the blonde lady, who was making her last and unfinished movie in 1962. Time is so finite. So we apologize for the quiet state of this website, but it is time for it to re-awaken to invite you to the latest North American Riley event. Many of you have already received invitations via the U.S. Mail. It will be in late September at Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. We will inspect each other’s cars, enjoy a theatrical evening, and tour the battlefield nearby at Gettysburg. No other marque of automobile will participate in this event. I am off tomorrow for three days to Pennsylvania to meet organizer Mickey Shemin and longtime drophead enthusiast Jim “Mac” McMahon to make advance arrangements and make sure that this club event is our best ever. The first Riley owners to book the Allenberry were Kay and Col. Doug Campbell, who organized the first modern era Riley events in the eastern U.S. at Lime Rock, Connecticut, in 2005 and 2006. This venue was Doug’s idea. I will report back with photos and further information in a few days. In the meantime, enjoy a second view of the gorgeous creatures with their tops down.

To make the picture grow, just click on Miss Monroe’s evening gown.

Amy Roedl Tulk of Downey, California, is moving up in the world. From right hand to left hand drive. From saloon to drophead. Since returning from the Riley event last fall in Indianapolis Amy has married Jim Tulk, who attended with her. A catalog of their cars may be viewed at http:/www.baycityrodders.com at Member List & Photos. But it did not, when this was posted, include the absolute latest. After the death of longtime Riley Motor Club leader Varlie Gordon on May 15, Amy purchased Varlie’s louvered drophead from his sons. It is a car, as was its owner, deeply beloved to veteran club members. It is shown in front of Amy’s Spanish Colonial bungalow in Downey, California. Amy drove it there from Varlie’s place in Whittier. It is the first Riley in which your club president ever had the privilege of riding, driven more than a decade ago by that most noble of drivers, Varlie, who was 94 when he died. When I spoke to him late last year tracing down an earlier owner of Mac McMahon’s drophead, Varlie’s memory for club details was as sharp and coherent as ever. More about Varlie later.

As for the car, Amy said recently: Jim and I took it to Frisco’s in Long Beach for a car show Saturday night. It ran strong. What a pleasure to drive; no wonder they called it Magnificent Motoring. On the way home it reminded me so much of riding around in the Healey when I was a kid . . . the cool night air, my hair flying all around, the heat coming up from the floor to keep us warm . . . There was a fireworks show in Lakewood that we drove underneath . . . spectacular. I am so happy to have this car!

Amy and Jim are shown below among the carnivores last fall at St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis. She’s just to the left of the famous first lady Judy Riley.

Vintage Riley automobiles are, of course, not really the property of their owners. We who maintain them know they own us. And so although Varlie’s car is now Amy’s it will remain Varlie’s forever. His glasses and cap were in the car when she bought it and she plans to keep them there.

If you would like a closer look at the car just click on it and it will enlarge.

Lex, the impeccable waiter, asked this crowd of diners at St. Elmo Steakhouse whether any of them would be interested in fish and there was not a sound. Carnivores all, we talked Rileys at the downtown Indianapolis institution, founded just before Riley began distributing its Tri-Car, in 1902. From left to right, in the photo you can click on to enlarge, are Bill and Doni Amis, of Norman, Oklahoma; Dave and Ellen Norton, of Saline, Michigan; in the foreground Mabel and John Thompson, of Webster, New York; just above Mabel with the scarlet shirt and broad smile is James “Mac” McMahon, of Lewes, Delaware; the tall fellow just right of Mac, grinning widely, is yours truly, John Riley, club President, of Los Angeles, California; the dapper gentleman next to me with his hand on his beautiful wife Bonnie’s shoulder is Bob Bryant, of Fairland, Indiana; the couple to the right of the Bryants are Jim Tulk and Amy Roedl, of Downey, California. Jim is a car fanatic new to Rileys and new to Amy and learning both fast. To the right of them is the First Lady of The Riley Motor Club Of North America, Judy Riley, my wife of a little more than 46 years.

We had expected Sandy Turner, our host member from Indianapolis, but he was unexpectedly held over in a sales meeting in Williamsport, New York, and arrived back in Indianapolis a couple of hours after this photo was taken. He joined us the next morning with the green drophead his father bought new. Health emergencies forced the last minute cancellations of Jim Harris, of Apple Valley, Minnesota, Kathy and Ken Nelson, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and my doppleganger, John H. (for Henry) Riley, of Mobridge, South Dakota. We missed them that night and the next two days we missed Jim’s saloon Chester, the saloon of Kathy and Ken Nelson and the drophead convertible of The Other John Riley.

Amy Roedl had been through tough times. A divorce, a fire in her house in Downey, California, and the things that go bump in the night with teenage kids. Everything is better now because she decided to splurge on this beautiful two-tone green and black Riley RMB. She bought it on eBay from Karen and Don Irving in Massachusetts and flew out to take delivery. That’s Amy and her new friend, who lives with her now, far from the snow, having been hauled across America by InterCity. Amy’s new Riley will stay home in California, but Amy will be among us at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse in Indianapolis. Riley cars will improve any life situation. If you don’t believe me, join us and ask Amy yourself.
Shown above: Amy Roedl and her black RMB with green bonnet. Click on it and it grows.

As the Riley Homecoming Tour made its way southward two years ago from the Bay Area toward Southern California, after Tom Cox, Tim Trevithick and Judy and Ian Hamer and their cars had left us, just two Riley dropheads remained, accompanied by support driver John Wood in his rented red Mustang; John would exit the tour the next morning. Our three vehicle armada arrived at The Paso Robles Inn to encounter a lone waiting man, who had been there several hours. He approached my wife Judy and me in our maroon and black drophead and Jim and Nancy Fletcher in their black drophead, which had been borrowed by us from Captain Max Munk (USN, Ret.).

He said he was Ray Boche, from Santa Margarita, twenty miles south. Thirty years earlier he had owned a postwar Riley saloon presently the property of Richard Kortum of Watsonville, California, far to the north. Our new friend Ray had driven north from Santa Margarita through Atascadero and stood in the central California sunshine for a couple of hours just to see Riley cars arriving in Paso Robles. Not many makes of car inspire that lifelong brand loyalty.

We chatted with him, let him examine the cars, putting him behind the wheel of one. Then we checked into the Paso Robles Inn for the night and he, satisfied by our encounter, went on his way. I thought of Ray Boche this summer when I was able to locate a former owner of Jim “Mac” McMahon’s 1950 green drophead with the front plate EIRE. Mac calls the drophead Kelly Riley.

It was in Ireland in last year that we first met Mac and his wife Gary. Less than a year after arranging for the loan of a car to Jim and Nancy Fletcher in California the Fletchers had responded with an invitation to drive their second Riley, a beautiful black RMA saloon called Lola, on the RM Club’s Irish Tour, three-quarters of the way around the island. Two days into the tour of twenty or so Rileys Mac and Gary, from the Washington, D.C. area, joined us with a rented modern car. I remember meeting them as our group took a fleet of taxis to a pub far from our hotel in Tralee. We contemplated liquid refreshment sufficient to make taxis back to the hotel a choice more intelligent than risking our Rileys at night on strange Irish roads with Guinness beneath our belts.

Then, almost a week later in Wales at the RM Club’s annual encampment, at Brecon, we were delighted to discover that Mac had much earlier been asked by the organizing committee to be the evening’s featured speaker. His eloquence and humor did much to raise the stock of all North American Riley owners among the rank and file of banqueting members. He revealed that he was late joining the tour because he and Gary visited Ballymena in County Antrim, from whence his maternal Irish grandmother had come. Later, he revealed that his McMahon ancestors were from County Monaghan.

As a bearer of the surname which gave our marque its name, I realized that I had not a clue what part of Ireland my people came from. I knew that Victor Riley’s people came from County Cavan, but did not know from whence came my own. I wanted what Mac had, a sense of what chunk of the auld sod had nurtured his forefathers and –mothers. It didn’t help that a day after Tralee in the West Country my wife had posed me in front of a ruin of an abandoned farmhouse and said, “This can be the old Riley place.” And before we left Ireland, Nigel and Jean Trotman had stopped their support car to tour a famine ship near Waterford that had carried immigrants from Ireland to America. I could not step on board. I felt like a descendant of slaves asked to set foot on a slaver. Thus started my personal Irish genealogical investigation and it all grew from Mac’s mention of his Antrim grandmother. He and Gary had been to Ballymena.

In the months since that time of perusing baptismal and marital records on Mormon microfilm and scouring cemeteries in Michigan and New York, I have learned that my Irish great great grandmother Mary Crilly came from Briarhill Townland in County Louth and her people farmed land owned by the Bellew family, whose castle is at Barmeath. We were nowhere near it on the Irish Tour. I have yet to learn where her husband, Owen Riley, came from. I am still on that case.

In responding positively to our invitation to attend the rally of Rileys in Indianapolis this September, Mac expressed the hope of discovering from co-participants more about the early ownership of his drophead, I began several feverish days of documenting the genealogy of its ownership. Not their origins as much as their identities.

When acquired with an assortment of agricultural vehicles in 2005 by a man in South Carolina who was not interested in owning, the car, the identity its former owner came from the RM Club, the car had been registered to an address in Woodland, California, not far from Sacramento. Mac wrote to Stanley Poole at it. He never received an answer, and there the matter lay.

I obtained the full RM Club file on the car by email from Gordon Webster in the UK. It revealed an owner preceding Stanley Poole, a Martin Pattengale. A Google search led to a man by that name in Fallon, Nevada, and after much massaging of public record data online from exotic sources I got first a fax telephone number and finally a voice telephone number. I called Martin Pattengale and was able to learn for Mac that we had a former owner who would be helpful, and, better than that, was a self-confessed packrat who would search both his intact memory and his vast collection of file boxes for ownership records and photos of the car. Mac and Martin Pattengale were set by me to talk about the car that each of them has owned.

Martin Pattengale remembered his Riley in much the same way as Ray Boche. He mourned it. He retained a strong fondness for Rileys, once having urged the late Bill Harrah without success to add a Riley to the Harrah Collection of classic cars. Although he no longer has a Riley, Martin Pattengale collects Ford Rancheros and has an AC Cobra.

I will continue to help Mac flesh out the genealogy of his drophead, its succession of ownership. Pattengale bought the car from a young man in Riverside, California, where Martin was completing his graduate work at the University of California at Riverside. It had been found in a declining state in a barn and the discoverer had revived it. After graduation, Pattengale drove it to Woodland, in Northern California, where he began work. The drophead drove from Southern to Northern California as fast and powerfully as any other car. After four years Pattengale sold it to Stanley Poole, who bought it for his son. We plan to learn more about the Pooles, owners of downtown business property in Woodland.

Poole or his son pulled the original engine, B4455, out of the car and replaced it with Mercury V6. Pattengale was genuinely dismayed to learn that from me. He loved the Riley engine and would not have replaced it with Cologne, German iron had the decision been his. (Mac retains the original engine.)

One dealership the car may have come from originally is Hornburg Motors, at the west end of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, the same dealership from which my drophead, originally almond green, was purchased in 1951 by a man from the Hancock Park neighborhood. I am told a high percentage of Nuffield Motors export Rileys were green. Hornburg was able to sell them as is. Other dealerships repainted some of them to more easily sell them to Americans, who wanted their foreign cars red.

A couple of months ago I was showing my no longer green drophead at a British car show in Woodley Park in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and a man with a faint British accent looked at it and said, “I thought I knew every Riley in the Los Angeles area, but I don’t know this car; tell me its history.”

He identified himself as Michael Manes.

“You should recognize it, Michael,” I said. “You used to own it.”

We had spoken years earlier, but only by telephone. He spent a most of the next several hours of the show with the car. He could not let it alone. Once a Riley owner, always a Riley owner at heart. As I have said elsewhere, we don’t own Rileys, they own us. He didn’t say so, but I could tell part of him wished he hadn’t let it go. Like Ray Boche and Martin Pattengale.

If you would like a further update on the genealogy of Mac’s drophead, join us at St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis at 6 PM sharp September 19, the details of which, as part of the Indiana British Car Union’s Indy British Motor Days, are supplied on this site. I can testify, based on an Irish Tour and a banquet in Wales, that Mac’s a mesmerizing speaker.

Shown above: James “Mac” McMahon’s Kelly Riley, owned before him by Stanley Poole, of Woodland, California, and Martin Pattengale, of Fallon, Nevada. Click on Mac’s car; it gets bigger.

Please cut and paste the above address into the URL box in your browser and when the page comes up select Indy British Motor Days 2008.

We shall begin Friday night with an event for Riley attendees only, a dinner at 6 PM sharp in the Directors Room at St. Elmo Steakhouse in downtown Indianapolis, a drive of a quarter to half an hour from the hotel. If you will be attending, please reserve seats at the Riley dinner by email to John Riley, at jr@rileymotorclub.com.

In keeping with the tradition we inaugurated upon the last minute cancellation of Victor Riley as featured speaker two years ago at Lime Rock and Los Angeles, we will ask all Riley owners after dinner to speak briefly about their cars. After dinner we can join the locals for drinks at the hospitality suite back at the Brickyard Inn.

The ICBU event features a well-planned Saturday all-day rally in the countryside around Indianapolis. As an attendee without car last year, we was able to catch a ride in a local MG. The puzzles to be solved are ingenious and offer utmost challenges to both driver and passenger navigator skills. We urge you to book and attend the ICBU dinner at the Brickyard Inn Saturday night.

Sunday, cars will be shown in the fields surrounding an American Legion Post in Carmel, an upscale Indianapolis suburb. Sandy Turner, once editor of Rileyfax, the former journal of Riley Motor Club USA, is a prominent local Riley owner. His drophead will require lots of imported company, as all Rileys attending will be judged as a class.

The last time the club was able to arrange a Riley only class for judging was in 2006 at the Palos Verdes Concours. Do not feel your car must be in excellent condition to attend. And if your car is unassembled or not able to travel, please consider attending without your Riley. As we have discovered at Riley events over the past few years on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s the Riley people who make the difference.

Please direct all questions about this event to John Riley at jr@rileymotorclub.com.

In days of yore this event drew as many as ten mostly postwar Rileys. Let’s hope we can double that on short notice and attract some earlier and later Rileys as well.

Shown above, Riley attendees at Lime Rock, 2005, Palo Alto & Palos Verdes, 2006; Directors Room at St. Elmo Steakhouse.

Note: substantial price reduction at bottom of this article.

As the owner of a completely frame off-restored post war Riley drophead convertible, that version of the postwar Riley 2&½ liter saloon with a tonneau-bar-tensioned convertible top, I take a special pride in having taken care of a car that spent from 1979 to 1998 in a garage decaying. Thanks to my expenditure and the incredible craftsmanship of Hema Ratnayake, one of the five hundred Riley drophead convertibles ever made returned to the highway. Only half of these still exist.

Derek Wadman bought one of them five years ago. It had been the project of a man in Winnetka, Illinois, a town I know well. I went to high school there. This fall I will attend my fiftieth high school reunion as a member of the New Trier High School class of 1958. Somewhere in that town a man worked on Derek’s drophead. He installed a Ford straight six engine coupled through an adapter plate to the original gearbox and rear axel.

Here is Derek’s description of work on the 1951 car:

Overall it is 50% through the restoration stage.
- Entire chassis and car body interior have been cleaned and coated with ‘Por 15’.
- All fenders, running boards, hood and side panels and trunk lid are primed.
- Rear body and doors need work.
- Gas tank professionally cleaned and sealed. New electric fuel pump.
- New wheel bearings, brake shoes, some piping and system overhauled.
- Needs interior and top (I have a very good and reasonable ‘North East’ US contact).
- Car comes with a $300 ‘Easy Wire’ (still in the box) kit.
Included is a new $525 (boxed, but tested) full set of ‘Dolphin’ antique gauges.

As a purist, I lament any drophead raised from the dead without its original engine. As a realist, I realize that not every owner and restorer shares my belief. My drophead has its original Jaeger instruments. Derek’s does not. We are not really the owners of these cars. They own us. Some of them who have lost their engines and steering wheels still require restoration. Derek’s drophead is one of them.

Its firewall was moved backward to accommodate the new engine. However it achieves restoration, whatever its power plant, it will always remain one of the most special cars ever built. For the truly obsessive, it would be possible to find a replacement RMB engine, and replacements for the original instruments and rebuild an original drophead. But that degree of dedication to the marque is rare on this side of the Atlantic, but not unheard of. It is, of course, up to the new owner. It is most important that there be one. At least someone who will let the car own himself or herself.

Derek’s price is the same was for the RMA below, $11,000. He can be reached at derekwad02@aol.com by anyone who wishes to be owned by this perfect car. He hopes whoever buys it will complete its restoration with the Ford engine or restore it to stock Rileyhood. He would prefer it not be chopped or further modified.

For those of you who might wish to undertake restoration of this fine automobile but do not have the skills to achieve it themselves, let me recommend the services of Hema Ratnayake of Azusa, California, at HEMAVINTAGEAUTO@msn.com or Steve Tate of Yakima, Washington, at Bontate@aol.com. Both of them have extensive experience restoring Rileys for paying customers. Either of them could well take over the restoration that proved beyond Derek’s stewardship. Or, if you have the skills yourself, even better. A replacement Riley engine for this or any other Riley requiring a 2&½ liter engine is available in the west from Steve Tate or in the midwest from Dave Norton of Saline, Michigan, at iswc2@yahoo.com.

Those who attempt restorations of Rileys and deliver them into capable hands deserve special commendation in the world of Magnificent Motoring. Anyone wishing to buy one of Derek’s Riley RMs who wishes to transport them to either Hema’s or Steve’s workshops in the west would do well to use the services of Intercity Lines. They are easy to find on the internet. Tell them we sent you.

PS: To readers of the companion item below, do not confuse John Sims “Shipwreck” Kelly the football player and husband of a socialite with Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly the famous flagpole sitter of the same area. Not all Shipwreck Kellys were created equal or purchased beautiful Riley automobiles.

The owner listed this auto for sale on eBay and despite spirited bidding the highest bidder came less than five hundred dollars below the seller’s reserve price. This car is that bargain many would-be drophead owners have dreamed of, but the seller is not going to give it away. He will, however, still entertain reasonable offers.