1936 Riley 1½-Litre TT Sprite Competition Sports

Registered by the factory in Coventry in May 1936; logbook surrendered on 16 March 1937 and vehicle disposed of as a rolling chassis.

Purchased as a rolling chassis, re-registered as 2086RL, and fitted with a new body; used as a third team entry in competition.

Acquired in spring 1938; drove the car at Montlhéry and in the Coupe de Paris race in 1939, after which it remained inactive through the war years.

Identity of purchaser not recorded.

Re-registered in the Torreilles area of France as 764 BF66; this was the registration under which Henry Geary located the car.

Former Riley Competitions Department mechanic who had worked on this car; took 15 years of negotiation to secure the purchase, removed the later steel bodywork, and began a lengthy restoration that was never completed before his death.

Also separately acquired the original 1935 competition body and associated period components in 2018; spent approximately nine months reinstating original parts before offering the car at auction.

Car was acquired by a Besançon resident for his son; re-registered first as 430 AU25 and later as 430 AU36 following the son's relocation.

Received the car from her father's estate and oversaw a further three years of restoration work, completed by 2009.

Entered on the predecessor chassis KV 9478 (an MPH racer); co-driven by Dixon and Paul.

Also contested on the earlier MPH chassis KV 9478 before that car was dismantled and the chassis repurposed.

Ran as car number 14 in Riley factory colours.

Co-driven by Sebilleau and Paul, entered as car number 2.

Second TT appearance in 1936, running as car number 22.

One of three Eudel team entries; retired after a multi-car collision in the White House area.

Entered by Eudel's team under Forestier.

Driven by Ferry at Montlhéry circuit; the Pierre Ferry body was fitted at this time.

Contested while wearing the Pierre Ferry body, which is retained as a spare with the car.

First competition outing after the wartime hiatus; driver not recorded.

Original factory competition body removed when the rolling chassis was sold to the French agent Eudel et Cie, who had the car re-bodied for French competition use.

The heavy steel French body fitted by Pierre Ferry was removed by Henry Geary after he acquired the car, and extended mechanical and restoration work was begun but never completed.

Geary was a former Riley Competitions Department mechanic with direct knowledge of the car's original specification.

Restoration work began, spanning a period from approximately 2006 through to completion in 2009 under the care of Henry Geary's daughter following his death.

Restoration bills are included in the accompanying history file.

Restoration work concluded, with the car returned to a usable condition.

The original 1935 competition body and a range of period components — including the fuel tank, front and rear axles, and lighting — were reacquired and reinstalled over approximately nine months, significantly increasing the car's originality.

Components had been held by various private custodians since their removal by the Riley Competitions Department prior to the car's 1937 sale.

Gearbox overhauled; the original four-cylinder engine was retained throughout.

Described as having been done recently at the time of cataloguing.