1956 ERW RILEY SPECIAL built by Eric Rourke Welford, based on 1935 Riley.
Yes, that's the one! Well done.
Below is the description of the car when it was for sale recently, courtesy of Car and Classic:
QUOTE
This car was built in 1956 by Eric Rourke Welford. Welford was a trained draughtsman who decided to build his own race car, so he set about designing his own tubular spaceframe chassis which he built out of Auster Aircraft T.21 high tensile tubing. The engine, gearbox and rear axle came from a 1935 Riley to which he fitted 4 Amal carburettors. After tuning this set up produced 90h.p. and was capable of 120mph. After he built up the chassis and running gear he purchased a new Microplas Mistral bodyshell in fibreglass and fitted this to finish his car. The car was registered as a E.R.W. Riley special and has the registration number of NJU 983 which it still retains. He got the car built in time for it’s first race at Mallory park on the 19th August 1956, which it came second in it’s class behind a Tojeiro-MG. The second race, at Silverstone on the 6th October was not so good as it failed to finish due to a problem with the engine.
PRESENT DAY
Over the years many things have been changed on the car, suspension, engine, lights etc. What you are buying now is what you see in the photos and the History of a genuine 1950s sports racing car. When finished this car would be eligible for some fabulous events such as Goodwood, Silverstone Historics etc.
The car is registered with the DVLA, but I lost the up to date V5 but still possess the original green log book which was never returned to them. There are some great photocopies of it racing and a copy of autosport with the Mallory park race in it and the car gets mentioned and the results.
I am selling because I must face the fact that I will not have the time to get around to doing this car justice and getting it out there again. So, it is time for someone else to get this old warhorse back on the track.
UNQUOTE
