--40a and 158 Riley Saloon (1947-55) possible variation

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Thu, 04/10/2014 - 19:50

dinkyfan

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--40a and 158 Riley Saloon (1947-55) possible variation

A good friend and fellow Dinky collector/restorer sent me the two photos shown below. This is a Riley Saloon, which he bought on eBay, with the intent to restore. The second photo shows it restored, along with another vintage Riley, also restored in the same color. Notice that the first one has only part of the license plate area...nothing below the front bumper. The second one shows what is normally present. He said upon inspecting it prior to the restoration, that it did not appear to him to have been modified....also one would wonder why someone might remove the lower part of the plate.
The question then is, has anyone else seen this? I looked through all of my Dinky references and did not see this even mentioned. Comments please!! And no, he did not take any other photos of the original model, and it does have the small lettering on the baseplate.
Terry

Fri, 04/11/2014 - 12:27

buzzer999

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I have four of these and they all have the 'complete' number plate.

I do not remember seeing one with a smaller version

Dave

Fri, 04/11/2014 - 19:46

starni999

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Hi Terry,
Interesting! Just checked my five and all have the full plate, right across the age range too, so one to look out for!
Cheers
Chris Warr,

Fri, 07/11/2014 - 15:58

buzzer999

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Here is a 40a Trade Box with six Riley Saloons

All six cars have the 'complete' number plate

Dave

Tue, 07/15/2014 - 18:53

dinkycollect

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Both mine (large and small lettering) have the full size numberplate.

Peculiar.

Tue, 08/05/2014 - 15:46

Dinkinius

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Terry

Unless I need to have my eyes examined, but the shape of the windscreen looks different, more square, and the model appears to be sitting lower than the one on the left.

Bruce

Wed, 08/06/2014 - 04:20

dinkyfan

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Bruce
I will have to ask my friend to bring both of them next time we meet, so I can look at them closely. It is important to realize that both of these have now been restored, although I doubt he did more than strip and paint them, so I will look at that windscreen area to double check that.
With regard to that smaller front license plate area.....we are both now of the opinion that a previous owner must have filed it off for some reason. He looked at it very carefully prior to restoring it, and did not see anything obvious, but the fact that no one else has ever seen this also lends credence to it being modified.
Terry

Mon, 08/11/2014 - 20:01

hoort

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Checking my Rileys, I found one with the smaller numberplate.
It is the green one in the middle, play worn, but not tampered with.
No filing to the underside of the numberplate. It featured in the wheel variations thread because of its red wheels.
It has small letters on the baseplate.
Could well be a variation. I have an early full trade box which I have not checked yet.
Rob

Mon, 08/11/2014 - 21:14

dinkyfan

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Rob--
Thanks for posting this, and possibly verifying that the variation did exist. I had about given up, and thought that possibly one of the previous owners had filed it off, but when my friend first received it, is still had it's original finish on it, and it would seem odd to file off the license plate bottom, but not re-paint model. We should confirm the bases of these two to see if they appear to be from the same time frame...would guess so! I would think Jacques might like to include a photo in his Dinky Encyclopedia.
Terry

Tue, 08/12/2014 - 08:10

#10

starni999

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Blimey Oh Riley! :laugh:
CW.

Sat, 08/16/2014 - 01:43

#11

dinkycollect

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I would certainly add this variation to the Encyclopaedia if Rob could send me a large photo with possibly only two of the Rileys and better light on the dark green one.

Thank you Rob.

Tue, 10/21/2014 - 17:02

#12

dinkycollect

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Photo by courtesy of Dave Busfield.

While reading the excelent last issue of "THE JOURNAL", I looked at my Encyclopaedia and found two more pictures of the Riley without a number plate.

I suppose that this confirms the variation.

Tue, 10/21/2014 - 17:18

#13

dinkyfan

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Jacques--
Thanks for posting this. I would think that we have now seen enough examples of this to confirm that it is in fact another variation, and I would like to credit my good friend and fellow Dinky collector here in California, Don Gardner, for being the first to notice it. It is always amazing to me that something like this has gone undiscovered for so long.....but it does happen!
By the way, I also wanted to ask you if you intend to mention the somewhat strange observation that several of us made last year or so regarding the Guy Van "Spratts".....the lower level red trim at the bottom of the van body has been hand painted over, it appears to make a wider strip of red. My guess is that these were made with a narrower strip of red first, with the cream color under it, and then someone decided it needed to be solid red. We I first brought this up, several other members checked theirs and discovered the same thing. It would be interesting to try and find out if this was always done, or did Meccano finally paint them this way from the start, and not have to hand paint them afterwards?
Curious as to your thoughts and those of others as well.......I don't think Rob was active here when it was first discussed, and he likely has several of these to check out.
Regards,
Terry

Tue, 10/21/2014 - 21:06

#14

hoort

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Hi Terry,
I checked my Spratts, I only have one, an early 514. It clearly has a wider red strip of paint over the lower level red trim.
It would be good to check a later production 917. I will look out for one!
Kind regards,
Rob