Was sitting outside this evening enjoying my dinner - assisted by a bottle of red - and, thinking about recent posts regarding ignition timing, happened to reflect that the Riley Pathfinder I own has a knob on the dashboard to adjust the ignition whilst driving. In the 60's when I had a similar car, that proved helpful on occasion when filling up at some petrol stations. I seem to recall 'Curfew' was a brand of petrol that was especially troublesome. Maybe it was Pool petrol left over from WW2 ???
Anyway, here's a piece of Pathfinder history that's always amused me:
In the 50's it was popular for manufacturers to put their vehicles through various tests for publicity purposes (eg the Maudes Trophy for motorcycles). In this case, Riley descended on the Brooklands-like track of Montlhery (near Paris). The track used to be booked by various companies, and was fit for speeds of around 150mph. Also, in those days, people weren't so interested in a vehicle's momentary top speed, but rather how many miles it could achieve in an hour.
In this case (1955), the Pathfinder achieved over 103 miles for the hour - in foul weather and (unlike most cars being tested for speed) with passengers! It was driven by Bob Porter with passengers R. Jeffs, Ms. M porter, and Ms S Porter. Apparently they enjoyed the ride, listening to Wimbledon on the radio whilst circulating. Those were the days......
