1967 Riley Elf

In 1961 BMC announced two new "badge-engineered" versions of its, by now, famous Mini saloon design, namely the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet. The Riley version was the more expensive of the two cars and could be distinguished by its Riley grille and badging.

The new cars used a modified Mini body-shell which featured an elongated nose and front wings to incorporate the upright grille designs, more importantly the rear of the car was considerably different, the longer rear wings provided a much larger boot and gave the car a more distinguished look. Power came from a 34bhp, 848cc A-Series engine, as found in standard Minis, along with all the other usual Mini mechanical features. In 1963 a MKII version arrived which used a 998cc engine to improve performance, a final MKIII came in 1966 which introduced wind-up windows and fresh air facia vents. Production of the Elf ended in 1969 after 31,000 had been built.

The Riley Elf is a very rare sight on the UK roads nowadays and this particular example really does stand out with its period blue bodywork and contrasting white roof. We are informed by the current owner that there is a history file containing over £3500 of service bills including the fitting of a new engine back in 1985. There are ten old style MOT certificates dating from 1995 back to 1985 that indicate that this car saw very little use during that time. More recently the car has benefitted from the addition of a superb set of alloy wheels and is supplied to Car Fest with a brand new MOT.

Surely one of the most interesting variations on the Mini theme, we can't think of a badge-engineered small car with more built in charm and character.