Riley Elf
We meet a dedicated owner who transformed a down at heel Wood & Pickett coachbuilt MkIII Riley Elf into a head turning mini limousine.
Breathing a new lease of life into a neglected Wood & Pickett MkIII Elf.
We’re used to the owners of a few of the cars we feature in Classics Monthly being reluctant to get their pride and joys wet while we’re doing a photo-shoot. Working around the weather is all part and parcel of being a classic car journalist, but when we had a phone call from Graham Smith asking if there was anywhere we could photograph his car indoors, we were intrigued to know what was going to turn up. When Graham went on to say his recently restored Riley Elf was going to be transported to John Colley’s Derby-based studio in a covered trailer, we were left wondering just how special this booted Mini was going to be.
As it turned out, Graham’s MkIII Riley Elf was indeed a very special example as it had been transformed into a mini limousine by the Park Royalbased coachbuilder, Wood & Pickett.
First registered in early 1968, this luxurious little Riley had enjoyed a very illustrious past as its first owner was the late Captain Douglas-Morris RN, a noted collector of naval campaign medals who went on to become an Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen in the early 1970s.
Prior to purchasing the Elf, this distinguished former Royal Navy engineering officer was already the proud owner of a Regal Red Silver Shadow and wanted a smaller car to drive around London. The brief Douglas-Morris gave to Richard Miles (Downton, London), the company who supplied the Riley and supervised its conversion, was to produce a small car with the same level of equipment and performance as his Rolls-Royce.
To boost the power output of the MkIII Elf’s 998cc A-series engine, Richard Miles increased the engine’s swept volume to 1164cc and fitted a Cooper S head with big valves. A close ratio gearbox, competition brakes and magnesium rims with Michelin XAS tyres were added.
The total cost of the mechanical part of this Riley’s extensive conversion almost equalled the Elf’s 1968 on the road price of £695, but there was far more expenditure to come before the project was complete.
With the first part of the Elf’s transformation into a high performance pocket-sized limousine ticked off the list, Wood & Pickett were charged with the task of refurbishing the little car’s bodywork and interior to match as closely as possible the quality and specification of the owner’s Silver Shadow. This conversion wasn’t a one-off job as the demand for luxurious versions of BMC’s humble little Mini and its booted derivatives had increased significantly after Radford had launched its coachbuilt Mini de Ville in 1963. Despite the success of Radford’s luxury Mini – the comic actor Peter Sellers was huge Mini de Ville fan – by the end of the
decade Wood & Pickett were providing tough competition with their own upgraded Mini, known as the Margrave.
External modifications to this 77bhp Elf included reshaping the leading edge of the front wings to accommodate a pair of rectangular Cibié headlights. As well as having bespoke fog lights set in the chrome air vents, this Riley’s bootlid was modified so it hinged from the bottom rather than the top as on the standard car. Originally painted light grey, the Riley’s remodelled body was repainted in the same shade of metallic red paint as the owner’s Silver Shadow and the interior re-trimmed in ivory Connolly leather. However, the most striking external addition was the timber-framed wickerwork applied to the Elf’s flanks and bootlid. A second fuel tank was added to increase the range and extra creature comforts included an eight-track tape deck, electric windows, veneered door cappings, Margrave leather clad dashboard, bucket-style front seats and a full length Webasto folding roof.
A period road test of this expensive conversion when it bore the registration mark RN70 stated how the Stage Two tuned engine could be spun up to maximum of 6500rpm and performance through the gears to 70mph was indeed on par with the owner’s Silver Shadow. The article went on record how the tester appreciated the luxury fittings and how impressed he was with the Elf’s zero to 60mph time, which came up in a very respectable 11 seconds. At the end of the article the car’s owner reported how delighted he was with his bespoke Riley, as it could reach the legal limit as quickly as much bigger cars, while the Elf’s demure size made it easy to park. However, all this extravagant luxury didn’t come cheap, as Wood & Pickett’s final invoice for the conversion added up to a shade under £1500 on top of the price of the car and the mechanical modifications.
When I asked Graham how he came to own this rare Wood & Pickett built Riley, he told me how he’d bought it in 2003 from his friend, Trevor Ripley who had built up an impressive collection of Minis, including an original Heinz Hornet, one of 57 specially prepared cars offered as a
competition prize. “My Elf was in a sad state when I bought it and was fitted with a pair of outrageous bull bars,” explained Graham as he went on to explain how shabby the car’s interior was. “At least it was all there and thankfully none of the seat facing were badly damaged, but it took a lot of work to bring it the leather back to life as the colour coat had cracked.”
Graham described how his wife, Gala, had spent one long cold winter stripping away the faded colour and renovating the Elf’s leather seats with kits supplied by Woolies and the Furniture Clinic. “Gala got really involved with refurbishing the car’s interior and even went on an upholstery course to learn how to deal with old leather.” When I asked Graham, who was a potter before he retired, what had been done to the Riley’s bodywork, he walked around the car and explained how the sills and wings had been replaced. “Colin Davis over in Tetford in Lincolnshire restored the bodywork and he had to modify a pair of Heritage wings to take the Elf’s unique square headlights,” added Graham as he recalled how difficult it had been to locate a replacement set of Cibié lamps and chrome rims.
“We finally located a pair of rims in Germany as these were used on a French-built convertible – don’t ask me which one – and the Elf’s replacement bonnet strake came from Holland.” Noticing how I was admiring the quality of the car’s paintwork, Graham explained how it had taken five batches of Regal Red topcoat to get the metallic content of the paint to match the original colour. “We didn’t bother with replacing the fancy wickerwork as this decoration was originally designed for the Mini and it finished rather oddly halfway along the Elf’s extended boot.”
Looking at the standard of the Riley’s restoration, it’s little wonder that Graham won’t take his car out in the wet, although Graham recalled how the rebuilt Elf had come home in 2014 in the middle of a rain storm.
All the mechanical work on Graham’s Riley was entrusted to Paul Fish in Wrawby, Lincolnshire and the Stage Two engine, which has only covered 54,000 miles was painted the correct shade of green before being reinstalled into the freshly-painted shell. Holding the Elf’s door open while photographer John focused on the interior, Graham told me how he’d replaced all the carpets to the original specification and had all the woodwork professionally restored.
“It took us five years in total to rebuild this car to its current standard and I daren’t add up what we’ve spent on the restoration so far,” said Graham as he handed me the car’s extensive history file.
This upmarket Riley’s first owner was obviously very proud of his mini limousine as the history showed how in 1975 the car was returned to Wood & Pickett’s workshop for a very expensive refit. A multi-page invoice in the bulging file showed how a further £3100 had been spent replacing panels, applying new paintwork and modifying the interior to match the company’s latest Margrave Elite specification. A further invoice from Wood & Pickett revealed how the leather interior had been re-Connolised free of charge and that it had cost £18 to modify the leather-faced squab on the passenger’s Recaro seat as it was too high and a further £72 was spent making a pair of new headrests.
Commenting on the Riley’s service history, Graham agreed how the first owner must have spent a small fortune on this very special Riley during the timed he owned it. Unfortunately the Elf’s history file fizzled out in the early 1980s when it was sold to a new owner in Cornwall, and Graham confessed he’s been unable to find out a lot about what happened to his car after that date.
According to Graham, Wood & Pickett didn’t convert many Riley Elfs, as they mainly concentrated on Minis and he thinks this one could be the sole survivor. “That’s why our Riley is so special and why it takes pride of place in my modest collection,” smiled Graham as I asked him how many cars he owned. “The reason I’m grinning is because my collection’s a bit spread out and its very varied. I’ve got a Chevy Caprice station wagon back in the States where we used to live and a 1936 Rover 10 Woodie and a few other classics in storage over in Lincolnshire. There's also a few more tucked away where we live in Nottinghamshire. When pressed to list his collection, Graham took a deep breath and reeled off Series One Land Rover, Porsche 911 Taga, Saab 96, Silver Shadow, MGA, MGB GT V8, a pair of Rover P4 110s, a P6, two ’59 Minis in bits and a Mitsubishi Pinin. Not a bad collection and I feel sure we’ll be featuring a few more in future issues of CM – let’s hope the weather holds out or should we book John’s studio now?