1950 Riley RM Drophead Coupe

While American car designers plunged into new forms and fads as soon as possible after WWII, many British automakers continued to offer updated versions of their pre-1940 products into the early 1950s. The grim realities of an England struggling to find its post-war economic footing created a situation that resulted in some wonderful automobiles; cars that carried the sweeping lines of Europe's finest pre-war sport models into a new era.

Developed just before WWII, the RM series' 2.5 liter engine continued to feature Riley's signature double-cam valve train layout, which dated to the famed Riley Nine of 1926. The camshafts flank the cylinder bores in the block, operating inclined overhead valves via pushrods. The design enabled the engine's hemispherical combustion chambers.

The Riley RM was offered during 1948-1951, in 4-door Saloon, Sports Roadster and Drophead Coupe. Only 502 RM Dropheads total were produced, for both home market and export.

In 1952, Riley was acquired by British Motor Corp. and would soon thereafter lose its traditional distinctions; the final, fully badge-engineered Rileys would appear in 1969.

The 1950 Riley RM Drophead Coupe presented here is a fine example of an upper mid-market post-WWII British car built to pre-war standards by a long-established and proudly independent automaker. The genuine wood interior trim, leather seating, cabriolet top with exposed landau bars, rear-hinged doors and vestigial running boards combined to present, for one last round, a car redolent of a golden but forever lost age.

Descriptions & pictures by bonhams