Built on a modified Model A chassis, Sarasota Café Racer Bill Stelcher’s recreated ‘Riley Special’ is powered by a hot-rodded late-model (1932) four-banger.
In 1929 you could buy a brand new Ford Model A roadster for just $385.00. Powered by a 200-cubic inch Flathead four-cylinder engine rated at 40 horsepower at 2,200 rpm, it had a top speed of 65 mph. Back in the day, select Ford dealers and speed shops offered Model T and A owners who wanted more performance two-place Speedster bodies as well as OHV and OHC conversions for their Flathead Fours.
Popular brands of conversion heads included Cragar, Rajo, Riley and Winfield. Modified early Ford Fours delivered V8 performance and powered roadsters and belly tankers (Lakesters/Streamliners) that could be found on weekends at the dry lakes (El Mirage and Muroc) and racetracks in California. They were part and parcel of the birth of hot rodding in the U.S.
Bill Stelcher’s #29 Riley Special, above, had been fitted with a two-place Rootleib Speedster body and in 1999 was re-bodied with an updated version. Sitting on a modified ’29 Model A chassis that’s been lowered four-inches for better handling on road-racing tracks, it is capable of topping out at 100 mph. A vintage ’33 Riley four-port head fitted with dual Stomberg 81 carburetors tops off the Speedster’s ’32 Ford (B) four-banger that’s rated at 100 horsepower!
Built specifically for vintage racing, Stelcher fitted #29 with hydraulic brakes, custom Blockley tires, five-point seatbelts and a roll bar. He competes in “Pre-War” classes at events held by the Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association (VSCDA), Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA), Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) and Vintage Drivers Club of America (VDCA). Venues raced at include Road America, Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Darlington Historic Racing Festival, Blackhawk Farms, Roebling Road and Mid-Ohio Raceway.
Stelcher, who has been racing sports cars since the 1960s, has raced with the Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association (DAARA) on oval tracks at Orlando Speedworld, New Smyrna Speedway, Volusia Speedway Park, Charlotte County Speedway and Zephyrhills. He also competes in F.A.S.T. hill climbs and has run on the “sand” at the Ormond Beach Festival of Speed. One of Bill’s favorite sports racers is the ’65 Elva Mk II he ran in the 1960s, below.
More information and photos and videos of the #29 Riley Special owned by Carol and Bill Stelcher of Sarasota, FL, and other Speedsters can be found at, http://www.myspace.com/billsvintageracing and on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVxzsrfWGY
If you’d like to learn more about the Bonneville and Dry Lakes racing history of Ford Riley Four-Port motors, please visit the Team Vesco site, http://www.teamvesco.com/history.html