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Bundaberg Vintage Vehicle Club Inc |
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ON THIS SITE 1922 Rolls - Royce Silver Ghost 1946 Chevrolet Coupe Cab Truck Local classics |
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1950 Riley 2.5 Litre owned by St John and Pauline Herbert |
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This car was recently voted "Most Popular Entry" at the GVCCC 30th Anniversary rally from a field of over fifty cars. The Riley was originally restored by Allen Pickup from Canberra who St John says was an excellent engineer and traveled to England to work with the legendary Sir Frank Whittle of Jet engine fame. One of the improvements made during the restoration was to replace the half shafts with an upgrade to hardened steel. (half shaft problems were one of the Rileys weaknesses) |
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Also an upgraded vented fan and heater system was installed into the dash top, with parts from a Rover. The heater box for this upgrade was mounted where the battery used to be (photo left) and the battery |
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was relocated under the passenger seat. This eliminated One of the few discomforts that the Riley driver had to contend with. All engineered in an extremely neat and tidy manner. The Riley is fitted with twin SU carburetors and was the first production car to be rated 100 BHP. St John first saw the car when it was being restored by Allen Pickup and was so impressed he offered to 'buy it' if ever it Allen decided to part with it. A few years later the opportunity came along and in 1988 the Herbert's became proud owners |