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.

The 1950 Riley RM Drophead Coupe offered 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.

Developed just before WWII, the RM series' 2.5L 100-hp engine continued to feature Riley's signature double-cam valve train layout, whi...