The Riley Nine was one of the most successful light sporting cars produced by the British motor industry in the inter war period.

[citation needed] It was made by the Riley company of Coventry, England with a wide range of body styles between 1926 and 1938.

The 1,087 cc four-cylinder engine had hemispherical combustion chambers with the valves inclined at 45 degrees in a crossflow head.

[2] Kay Petre and Dorothy Champney took 13th place in the 1934 Le Mans race in a standard bodied Riley Imp with competition chassis and drivetrain.

[3] After the car's 1926 launch, Mark 1 production actually started in 1927 at Percy's engine factory, due to some resistance in the main works to the new design.

It was such a critically acclaimed success that after fewer than a thousand cars had been produced the works quickly shut down side-valve production and tooled up for the new Nine in early 1928.

The Mark III was a gentle update of the II at the end of 1928, evolving stronger wheels and a different arrangement of rods to the rear brakes.

In an attempt to keep costs down Riley entered into an agreement with Briggs Manufacturing to produce a steel (non coach-built) body for a newly designed chassis.

This new chassis was introduced in 1936 and incorporated such features as Girling rod operated brakes and a prop shaft final drive for the Nine (though the 12 hp variant retained the torque tube).

The Riley body was composite wood and metal, coachbuilt, and a style-leader — fabric top, centre-lock wire wheels.