Differences between series

[jerakeen]

Hi, I'm Colin.

My wife (Sarah) and I want to start a restoration as a hobby and have pretty much decided on a One-Point-Five as a good place to start. We had a Wolseley 1500 when we were first married many years ago so have a soft spot for the car.

Now what we have to decide is which car is right for what we want to do. There seem to be a number of different styles of grille and side trim details and I'm finding it difficult to figure out what style goes with which year. Some have a lower grille that goes right round the corner of the car, some stop just short and some are much smaller. Likewise, some of the side trim is just a simple chrome strip and some are much more complex.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a page that shows the differences?

Thanks

Colin

[rileyrob]

Hi Colin

It's really quite simple - the Mk 1 and Mk 2 (57-61)cars have the same front side grilles that wrap around into the front wing slightly with separate indicator and sidelights whereas the Mk 3 from '62 has the side grille that stops at the wing to front panel seam and a combined sidelight/indicator as on the Mporris Minor, A40 etc.  All cars have completely the same side trim treatments.  Early cars have smaller rear lights too.  Mk1 cars also had the external chrome bonnet and boot hinges but that's about it.  Interior wise it's pretty much the same, early cars had two tone bucket type seats whereas later cars had a monotone treatment and slightly different contoured front seats.

Mechanically they are pretty much the same too except the early cars had a slightly higher ride height which was lowered by an inch or so on later cars giving slightly better handling and they had minor refinements to the engine and gearboxes too but nothing you'd particularly notice these days I'd argue.

Hope you find a nice car and enjoy it.

Cheers

Rob

[jerakeen]

Thanks Rob. That sorts it out nicely for me. It turns out I wasn't looking closely enough at the pictures and the cars with the different side trim and the much smaller lower grilles I was seeing were Wolseleys.

Now I know what we're looking for. We like the grille that extends round the side and I think the external hinges look good so I think we're going to be looking for a series 1. Differences in the handling or performance aren't going to matter to us because we're not planning to keep it standard. The plan is to have it looking fairly standard externally but improve the performance and handling. I'm thinking MGB engine.

I hope that doesn't upset any purists round here

[rileyrob]

These cars often get modified (I have one at the moment) and I've had a couple of cars in the past with MGB engines and both had the MGB overdrive box fitted which is a worthwhile upgrade if you can run to it - just requires minor modification of the transmission tunnel to accommodate it, can't remember now if the gearbox crossmember had to be altered too (too long ago) but there will people on here better than me that can advise on that one.  You'd obviously be sensible to uprate the brakes to match the extra performance, a servo would probably suffice or else go the whole hog and change to front discs.  Depends how far you want to take it but electronic cooling fans, oil coolers, stainless exhausts, alternators, telescopic shocks, anti-roll bars, uprated half shafts, wider wheels etc etc are all easily available and can enhance the driving pleasure substantially if you're planning to use it as a daily driver.  Good luck!

[canuck]

Hello Colin,

Welcome to the fold.  I think your decision is a wise one, the MK 1 looks a bit more 'complete'.  The 'extra' chrome just suits the body style so much nicer.  The later MK2 & 3 cars were slightly lower in stance to the MK 1 and are probably less 'rolly polly' on the road.  One can easily lower the MK1 to improve this.

The MK 1 car also has a larger glove box that the later cars sacrificed to accommodate the internal bonnet hinges. 

I am currently performing a 18G engine to fit into the Riley. This early 3 main engine is pretty much a straight swap where the later 5 main bearing 18G engine will require a bit more 'engineering' to fit into the car.  

Most of all have fun

Bruce 

[Mabel]

Colin

Welcome to the world of 1.5 ownership. Clearly, as Bruce said, the MK 1 is obviously the preferred choice - he has one, I have one. 

When you get your hands on your hearts desires, please post a picture of the before, the during and the after. We like pictures. 

Where are you based? Will we see you at Riley Motor Club stands at shows? 

Cheers

Graham (Bristol)