ado16.info club desk

More of everything that adds up to Magnificent Motoring

The Riley model we featured yesterday was launched in October 1965 at the Earls Court Motor Show in London (alongside the Wolseley)...

...back in 1965 BMC felt they were introducing a new model for a new audience, something very much reflected in the language of the first adverts.

Interestingly the Earls Court Motor Show car was finished in metallic blue paint – should BMC have offered metallic paint as an option for the production cars?

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Riley Kestrel 1100 – 1966

Replying to a comment on our post yesterday we were reminded just how few ADO16 Riley versions were built, just 21,475.

This 1966, Riley Kestrel is a very special surviving example which fetched at auction in April, 2016 over £11,000 with the car showing a warranted 728 miles from new!

The Riley was purchased new by an owner in Yorkshire who hardly used the car before he passed away. Upon his death, his family left the car untouched for years before eventually selling it to Thornfalcon Classics in Somerset who set about recommissioning the car. The Riley was then sold to a collector of low mileage British cars and formed part of a private collection being scarcely used, covering an average of just 14.5 miles per year.

Registered in May, 1966 the Riley is finished in Arianca Beige over Sandy Beige with a Mushroom interior and a finer example you may not find.

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Apache – The Prototype

Of course we have recounted this story before but whilst showing an Austin Apache on our stand at last weekend’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery it was very apparent that most visitors had no idea how the Apache came into being...

...Back in 1967/68 Michelotti was commissioned by BMC to re-style the ADO16 and accordingly he produced this stylish and modern looking prototype. However the design was rejected by BMC but was later in 1970 seen by a delegation from Leyland South Africa who wanted to replace their 11/55 ADO16 with something new and did not want to wait for the Allegro project.
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These pictures only came to light in recent years when Martin Williamson met with the late Ralph Clarke, former Engineering Manager at Blackheath and often affectionately referred to as Mr Leyland SA – Ralph Clarke was largely responsible for the development of the Apache from the prototype to the production model and these pictures came from his own private collection. Some have been marked by the engineers at the time to illustrate various points of change. Also, there are many aspects that differ from what became the production car.

Special thanks to Martin Williamson and to www.mginfo.co.uk/leyland

With a Club Facebook Group of 1,950 members, contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, you can join the only ADO16 club with free and paid membership levels here: www.ado16.info/membership-join