ON August 7 Ken Sink and I flew down to Cape Town to pick up a 1960 Riley 1.5 for him. Ken is an avid Riley enthusiast and already owns an exclusive 1933 two seater Riley March special.
We were thrilled with our once-over check-up and found the 53 year old lady to be in generally good condition.
Under grey skies and typical Cape winter drizzle we were soon unpleasantly surprised to see the windscreen wipers come to a halt.
After a stop for a bottle of C thru, which we carefully spread over a “dry windscreen” as per the instructions, we were soon on our way again on the N2 heading for Barrydale, ‘Capital of Riley parts in the Cape!’
These parts are stored in a garage owned by Richard Voigt, another avid Riley enthusiast.
Out of the goodness of his heart he duly loaned us his only spare windscreen wiper motor which he had kept for his own car, and after a delay of half a day, we were back on our way through the now snow covered mountains as the new cold front had caught up with us.
The Riley continued to deliver wonderful low down torque and sufficient power to make for a comfortable, but medium pace, trip back to Margate.
Most of the mountain passes needed only one gear change from top gear or fourth down to third and only once on the entire trip on a very steep ascent did we need second.
Half a century in motoring terms is, however, a long time and we couldn’t help notice how the little Toyotas, Nissans and Citi Golfs buzzed past us effortlessly while we chugged along at a more sedate pace.
I used to think that a Riley 1.5 was quite a fast car, which it was in its day with the top speed of over 80 miles per hour (150kmh).
We tend to take for granted that the magic three figures (100mph or 160km/h is easily attainable by the very smallest of cars today). In fact most cars today are capable of 200 km/h such is progress.
The trip in total took us four days and we travelled via Graaff Reinet and Middleburg and then onto Matatiele and Kokstad.
The car averaged 9.5m per 100kms, or 30 miles per gallon in old language, and used a few pints of oil over the 1600 kms.
All in all, it had been a magnificent trip throughouly enjoyed by both of us as we had gone back five decades in time and taken things in our stride.
This is exactly what classic motoring is all about.
In our case it had been done in very cold weather without a heater but we were warmly dressed and enjoyed it.
A classic car is defined basically as being 25 years or older, although there are some exceptions to this if it is a special vehicle.
One of the great attributes of classic car ownership, besides the physical enjoyment, is that the vehicle appreciates in value over time, provided of course you take care of your pride and joy.
So, contrary to the norm, a motor car can become an investment. Recently, a gentleman on the coast purchased a Riley 1.5 at a very reasonable price, and painstakingly rebuilt it into mint condition and then sold it at a considerably higher price.
Wives often wonder what makes us petrol heads so crazy about our cars but sometimes we can justify it, particularly since classic motoring is motoring for the entire family.
