The Riley 4 / Sixty Eight and Riley 4 / Seventy Two are cars produced by BMC from 1959 to 1969, under the Riley marque. They are closely related to the Pinin Farina-designed MG Magnette Mark III and Wolseley 15/60 and the simpler Austin A55 Cambridge Mark II, Morris Oxford V pair, sharing the MG's rear styling and engine (with a milder cam). This Riley was the most expensive car in that series.
This model's introduction, using the same engine, did not affect production of the smaller-bodied 1½-litre Riley One-Point-Five sports saloon which continued until 1965.
Riley 4 / Seventy Two
Just before the 1961 Motor Show, in October, the car became the 4/Seventy-Two. Closely related again was the 16/60 update to the Wolseley car. The engine was now 1.6 L (1622 cc), and Riley again got the twin-carb version with 68 hp (51 kW). It also used an improved suspension with anti-roll bars. The wheelbase was 1 in (25.4 mm) longer, through the moving of the back axle rearwards, and the front track was increased by 2 inches (5 cm). These modifications to the wheel locations were made at the same time to all the BMC Farina saloons, and were seen as an answer to criticism of the indifferent road holding of the 1959 cars. Borg Warner automatic transmission became an option in the Riley at the same time, making the Riley the first mass-produced car in Europe to adopt the Borg-Warner 35 system following Borg-Warner's establishment of a plant at Letchworth to produce a transmission package that ten years earlier had been developed for US applications.
Further modifications to the suspension a year later included 'recambering the rear springs' to improve ride and roadholding, but from the outside there was little to distinguish the later Rileys from the models as they had appeared in 1959, and the car continued very little changed until its withdrawal in 1969.
The 4/72's main competitor, appearing in 1963, was the Humber Sceptre from the Rootes Group – with an 85 hp engine, 6-speed manual (four direct ratios plus overdrive 3rd and 4th) or 3-speed automatic (post 1965) and a more modern interior it thoroughly trounced the 4/72 in reviews of the period.
When an automatic 4/72 was tested by The Motor magazine in 1962 they recorded a top speed of 81.3 mph (130.8 km/h), acceleration from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 20.6 seconds and a fuel consumption of 26.5 miles per imperial gallon (10.7 L/100 km; 22.1 mpg‑US). The test car cost £1186 including taxes. The manual car was £1087/
The 4/72 was sold as the Riley 1500 in Argentina and as the Riley Comet in Austria.
On the road
In October 1962, Britain's Consumers' Association published its fourth Which? car supplement to their magazine. The Riley had been compared with Fiat 1500, Peugeot 403B, Ford Taunus 17M and VW 1500 and the British Sunbeam Rapier. The association reported that the Peugeot and the German Ford had the most virtues and fewest vices.
The report noted that its most severe criticism of all was of the Riley's handling, with increased speed it changed from understeering to oversteering. "It was not a car in which our testers drove with much confidence or pleasure". The Riley's braking system was considered to have more limitations than the other cars' systems.
Source: Wikipedia
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