RILEY SPECS - COLOUR SCHEMES

as Old as the Industry, as modern as the Hour

See Also:

  • Pre-war Riley Bodies
  • A Note on Riley Model Names
  • Pre-war Riley pricing

    Over the years Riley produced a huge variety of bodies, and those bodies were painted in an even greater variety of colours. Some were single colour, but many were two-tone, and a few had three different colours. The split again varied between models, and even different years on the same model and included the following options, where A and B indicate different colours:

    RoofAbove
    Coachline    		Below
    Coachline    		Wings &
    Running Boards    		Wheels
    1
    A
    B
    B
    A
    A or B
    2
    A
    A
    B
    A
    A or B
    3
    A
    A
    A
    B
    A or B
    4
    A
    A
    A
    A
    A or B

    On a few cars, the wheels could actually be a third colour, often Ivory or black. Upholstery colours also varied considerably, and on open cars there were different colour hoods and Tonneaus occasionaly available, although the majority were Black.
    To further complicate things, as the cars have been restored over the years, the variety of colours and combinations has greatly increased, with many cars now sporting very attractive schemes that were never available from the factory.

    Some Examples:

    Below are some of the standard combinations available from the factory, although many other combinations were also produced, few used different colours. The coachline also varied on different models, sometimes being just below the window line, other times in line with the door handles, and at the rear it could either follow the base of the rear screen, or sweep down to the tail. For example, the Kestrel 9 didn't have a coachline at all, just the line around the roof, whilst the Adelphi 12/4's coachline split at the rear to follow both options, and the Briggs bodies had both a roof line and coachline. Cars with spare wheel covers often had them in the contrasting colour, whether the colour of the wheels or not.

    Year
    Available    		RoofAbove
    Coachline    		Below
    Coachline    		Wings &
    Running Boards    		WheelsInterior
    1932-4Black Black Black Black As interior
    Brown = Ivory     		Red, Green,
    Brown, Blue
    1932-4Black Black As Interior Black As Interior Blue or Red
    1932-4Black As Interior As Interior Black As Interior Blue or Red
    1932-4Black Black Grey Black Grey Red
    1932-4Brown Brown Fawn Brown Fawn Brown
    1932-4Grey Grey Grey Grey Green Green
    1932-4Open Top Open Top Ivory Red Ivory Red
    1936Black Black Black Black As Interior Red, Green, Brown
    1936Black Black As Interior Black As Interior Blue or Red
    1936Grey Grey Grey Grey As Interior Green or Blue
    1936Battleship Grey B. Grey B. Grey B. Grey As Interior Red or blue
    1938Black Black Black Black As Interior
    Beige = Ivory     		Red, Green,
    Beige
    1938Sea Green Sea Green Sea Green Sea Green Red Red
    1938Battleship Grey B. Grey B. Grey B. Grey As Interior Red or Blue
    1938Red Red Red Red Red Red
    1938Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue / Ivory Blue / Beige

    Red could indicate anything from Scarlet to a deep Maroon, and there were also a variety of Blues and Greens on offer, although not necessarily simultaneously.