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Riley 2½ Touring Saloon. (1937-38)

Although listed for almost the entire production period, it is unlikely that many were built. Initially launched in September as the cheapest model in the new big 4 range, by October orders were being discouraged and it seems that the first car was not running until late November.
The Touring Saloon was essentially a Briggs (Falcon / Merlin / Victor) body mounted on a bespoke Big Four Chassis. Initial attempts to fit the body to the standard chassis, and to put the engine into a 12/4 car proved unsuccessful, and so a new chassis was hastily designed, having most in common with the V8 chassis, but utilising parts from a range of other models. However, there were still many problems in mating the two together, and it is believed that only 1 made it out of the factory.
There are claimed sightings in the 1960's of one example (believed to have been registered DHP238), but none are known to have survived since. General consensus is that 2 or 3 were completed, out of 6 initially planned. One was sold to a customer, and the others were development vehicles, which may never have been registered. All would have been essentially hand built 'specials', and the almost insurmoutable problems of the model may have led to it's early trip to the scrapyard.

Chassis Types 38BX