These books by Piet Olyslager were printed in 1961, each book covers the following periods :- Book No. 1 1770-1901, No. 2 1901-1910, No. 3 1910-1922, No. 4 1922-1929, No. 5 1929-1932, No. 6 1932-37, No. 7 1937-1939, No. 8 1940-1948, No. 9 1948-1950, No. 10 1951-1952, No. 11 1953-1954, No. 12 1954-1955, No. 13 1955, No. 14 1955-1956, No. 15 1956, No. 16 1956, No. 17 1956, No. 18 1956, No. 19 1956, No.
20 1955-1957. They were published by the Sunday Times and Spar (a "corner shop" chain). Each
book is approx 9 x 9cm (3.5 x 3.5 in) printed on stiff card and contains
approx 28 - 30 cars with a brief description. Rileys appear in several
of them, see below.
Below - From book 4 :-
RILEY - Great Britain 1927
Type "Brooklands", 2-seater sports racing car.
4-cyl. o.h.v. engine in line.
Bore and stroke 60x95 mm.
Cubic capacity 1,089 c.c.
Max. b.h.p. 50 at 5,000 r.p.m.
4 speeds.
Max. speed 90 m.p.h.
Below - From book 9 :-
RILEY - Great Britain 1948
Type 2.5 litre, 3 seater sports Tourer.
4-cyl. o.h.v engine in line. Bore and
stroke 80.5 X 120 mm. Cubic capa -
city 2,443 c.c. Max b.h.p 100 at
4,500 r.p.m. 4 speeds. Max. speed
95 m.p.h
Below - From book 14 :-
RILEY - Great Britain 1955
Type "Pathfinder", 4/5 pass. Saloon.
4-cyl. o.h.v. engine in line. Bore and
stroke 80.5 x 120 mm. Cubic capacity
2,443 c.c. Max b.h.p. 102 at
4,400 r.p.m. 4 speeds. Max speed 100 m.p.h.
Below - From book 14 :-
RILEY - Great Britain 1955
Type 1 1/2 Litre, 4 Pass. Saloon.
4-cyl. o.h.v. engine in line. Bore and
stroke 69 x 100 mm. Cubic capacity
1,496 c.c Max. b.h.p. 56 at 4,500
r.p.m. 4 speeds. Max. speed 77
m.p.h.
The complete set of 20 books below has just the 4 Rileys above, with approximately 30 cars per book that makes around 600 from manufacturers A to Z.
Below - A sample cover with the Spa banner on the bottom of the cover
Also published by Piet is a larger book "Illustrated motor cars of the world" which includes the above 4 Riley pictures and another 2, all with a different description underneath the picture as opposed to being on the backs of the other books, see below.
2 different covers
Spar "Sparkies" a set of 60 plastic discs either in blue or green with pictures on the front with 2 of the Rileys shown above, from the 1960's.
20 of the discs could be stored in a "steering wheel" holder available for 2 shillings and 6 pence (half a crown) so 3 would be required for the complete set.
They were advertised in the childrens magazine "The Victor" to encourage boys to get mum to go into Spar for their shopping.
In the 1950's and 60's in The Nederlands Virginia cigarette packs were printed with "Full Speed" car pictures and information which were designed to be cut out and collected in albums, there were 2 or more albums one of which housed 192 of the cutouts with just the 1955 Riley listed in the contents, the others must be in other albums (no contents list or quantities available to confirm this but the 1927 car shows as album II). I have not shown the Piet Olyslager pictures here as they are the same as the ones shown above.
Adverts for "Full Speed" -