Elf was a sign of things to come

Nov 17 2008 Ian Johnson

Elf was a sign of things to come

WITH the car market as it is, the writing seems to be on the wall for some spacious saloons.

The emphasis at the moment is definitely on downsizing, but there will still be a demand for luxury.

There is little doubt that we will be seeing much better trimmed smaller cars soon, but the idea is not new because it was all happening in the 1960s - and carried off very well indeed.

The undisputed experts of the time were the team at BMC, the large British company that turned out such makes as Austin, Morris, Wolseley MG and Riley.

From the late 1950s BMC had become a pioneer of what is now known as badge engineering. That is getting a basic car design and tweaking it to the image of a particular make.

It's big business now, but then it was relatively new and the British market was literally spoiled for choice in both marques and models.

BMC has been often, and I think unfairly, criticised for its policy in this respect, but the fact remains that it turned out some fantastic cars.

The Issigonis designed Morris Mini came under the badge-engineering spotlight and in addition to Mini Cooper models, it was heaved and stretched to become a Wolseley and a Riley in 1961.

The most sporty and expensive version was the Riley Elf which could be distinguished by its Riley grille and badging.

The Elf used a modified Mini bodyshell with an elongated nose and front wings to incorporate the upright grille designs. More importantly the rear of the car was quite different with longer rear wings to give a larger boot and a much more imposing look.

Originally power came from a 34bhp, 848cc A-Series engine as found in standard Minis, but in 1963 a MKII arrived which used a 998cc engine to improve performance.

The final version, the MKIII came in 1966 which introduced wind-up windows and fresh air fascia vents.

Production of the Elf ended in 1969 after 31,000 had been built.

With a somewhat low top speed of 75mph, the Elf redeemed itself with fuel consumption of 32mpg. In its day it would have cost around £500