Description From a deceased estate; fully restored over a 14-year period and only 17,900 miles since; one of the nicest we have seen During the late 1920s and ‘30s, the Coventry firm of Riley produced some of the best small sporting cars in the world, whether saloons, tourers or out-and-out sports cars.

One reason was the excellence of the power unit, an innovative 1,087cc four-cylinder, twin-cam design by Percy Riley that was good for 60mph and 40mpg.

Other reasons were lovely coachwork and fine handling, largely the work of Stanley Riley who had a gift for chassis, suspension and body design.

A bewildering variety of models were produced in this era, including the Monaco, Biarritz and Kestrel saloons, the Lynx tourer and the Imp, Sprite and MPH sportscars.

A big step forward came in 1932 when Riley launched a new version of its Nine chassis called the ‘Plus Ultra’.

This was considerably stiffer than previously and was also dropped to give a lower seating position and create more...