Page 31 - May2022

The Interview, continued from p. 30

and ultimately, to be honest, it was a lie.

Q. The make of the car was certainly unfamiliar, but
the story sounds remarkably like others I?ve heard
before. What happened next?

A. My Ohio Riley mentor?s literature included
information on the UK Riley Register club and I
joined it immediately. In a pre-computer universe,
libraries provided virtually no Riley information and
my collected car magazines turned up a single Riley
article but it was not about a Sprite.

After receiving the club?s roster and information, I
ordered a prewar Riley book and created a three
page letter with my thoughts about the car?s needs Above: Zora Arkus Duntov was a Belgian born American
as well as a plea for more information and help. I engineer nicknamed the 'Father of the Corvette'. He was
mailed the letter to 26 listed Sprite owners; I also a professional race driver and in 1954 drove at the
received not only 17 responses but also a cassette 24 Hours of LeMans. Photo through Wikipedia common
tape of a Sprite ride! My Riley learning curve made license
a giant leap. What became my actual Dream Car was created
through circumstances rather than imagination.
I still belong to the UK club ?The Riley Register? that
limits its topics to prewar cars. While the Sprite has dominated my auto thoughts
and resources ever since 1974, my fixation led to
Q.It sounds as if you had a genuine conversion
the purchase of three more Rileys. I still own three
experience, helped along by the ardor of the Riley
of my original four purchases.
missionaries in the UK. Getting assistance from across
the pond has to be more difficult than getting it from Q. The fact that you branched out after the $600
t
local car guys. How did the Brits help you come to discovery of the Sprite doesn? come as a surprise. Car
grips with your first Riley? fever, once caught, is hard to cure. What else ended
up in your garage?
A. I learned that Sprites are well regarded in the UK
and that only about 46 with road going bodies A. After the Sprite came a Riley Lynx Tourer and a
were made between 1935 and 1938. There were Riley Kestrel-Sprite (a performance engine
about six made that were the factory?s premier and designation) saloon very similar to another Kestrel
successful racers at LeMans, the TT circuit, and I sold back to the UK.
other races in the mid ?30s.
As the two-seater Sprite?s restoration and parts
My car turned out to have a provenance. It was accumulation progressed, I also acquired and still
originally bought by the son of the editor of ? own a Bug-eye AH Sprite, a Sunbeam Tiger, and an
Autocar? magazine, brought to the USA in 1939, MGTC (Hallelujah!).
crashed in California, rebuilt and eventually
I've also jettisoned a 1934 Lanchester LA10, a 1965
re-engined (Studebaker!) by Zora Arkus Duntov
Riley Elf (Mini), and a 1935 Austin 7 Pearl.
when he was a New York City mechanic!

At the moment, only the Lynx is driveable with
Perhaps, I thought, this was not the right car to
?road worthy? being a contestable term. Continued
pop a Datsun engine into.
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