Category Archives: Mikansue

Rambling about Rileys

By Dave Turner

Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.

It was quite an impressive feeling, as a five year old in the mid 1940s to be driven around in a real car! To such a youngster to be in a CAR was the ultimate joy. The closest to a family vehicle was when dad Ron constructed from numerous parts a Norton motorcycle in an upstairs workshop at home, and rode it down the stairs and out of the front door when completed!

Being in a car was made possible when we moved to live temporarily with grandparents in Hull – Grandad George actually ran a car that we were lucky to travel in on occasions. The car in question was an example of the many variations of the Riley Monaco – in fact the 6th incarnation of the type namely the “Plus” of 1931 heritage. These cost just under £300 – just a few years later one could buy a Ford 8 for a third of that figure.

By this stage in the 9hp. Monaco’s development the car had taken on a more ‘modern’ (for the time) appearance, early 1926 examples called Mark X were made alongside the less expensive San Remo Nine and had very shallow windows positioned at the top of the doors while for 1927 Mark I– appearance was much improved by much deeper glass in the doors. Bodywork was of the then fashionable fabric over a timber frame making for extremely light and therefore lively performance.

Subsequent Mark II, III, and IV came along with various mechanical improvements while the rear luggage compartment was smoothed into the body sides and the roof given a gentle curve from front to back, both of which improved appearance. For 1930/31 the Plus version had a modified chassis that allowed a slightly lower silhouette while the doors extended down to the running boards and the later examples of the 1931/32 Plus Ultra had the door windows improved in shape with a gentle curve to the upper and lower frames and they were hinged at the rear rather than from the B post.

Family trips to relations around the country were taken with Grandpa in his car, in addition we were sometimes accompanied by another very similar example owned by a distant relative or close friends – can’t remember which. These often long journeys were accomplished in quite reasonable times as these Monacos with their 4 cylinder 1,089cc engines were capable of speeds up to 60mph, though not constantly as the roads in the 1940s were certainly not able to accommodate such consistent speeds. The inevitable time came when George stopped driving so the Monaco came into our family, who by then had moved to North Cave, a village 14 miles east of Hull from where Dad Ron drove the car to work every day. By todays standards doing this in a 16 year old car is not unusual but this continued into the 1960s! On top of that the old Monaco was employed to convey the family on numerous holidays that included the Lake District during which brother Alan was caught on camera in August 1960 showing his affection for the old girl.

Another glimpse from the past shows Alan again with Mother Florrie allowing the car have one of two rests that it required during its accent of Hardnott Pass during the same expedition.


Translating these Riley memories into miniature form took place some time ago when my review of the then available models of pre-Second World War Rileys was published in the Bulletin of the Riley Register issue #145 (March 1992). However, this initial look at small Rileys for MAR Online is focusing on early Monacos. Probably the earliest of which came from the Dave Gilbert’s DGM range of distinctive miniatures that was intended to capture the character of pre-war Dinky Toys. This range called Dinky Style had the appropriate catalogue numbers, thus the Monaco was DS 07 and while it replicated the construction method of early Dinky Toy – single body casting held by the axles to the single base and mudguard casting – the body itself is very narrow missing the barrel shape of the real thing, it scaled out at around 1:48.



The majority of Dave Gilbert’s model vehicles were in the 00 gauge model railway scale of 1:76, and another range that concentrates on this scale is Scale Link. Following several years of producing lineside items in metal, in 1981 this range started producing 1:76 scale metal kits for vehicles with an Austin Seven, continuing with a Ford Model Y and a Riley Monaco (SLC 64). This depicts a Plus Ultra beautifully, down to the distinctively shaped door windows although the end result scales out to closer to 1:77. Simple assembly just entails mounting the body onto the base although the interior detail extends to seating, dashboard and a steering wheel. ‘Glazing’ for the windows was not included with the kit but would have been relatively straightforward to create from clear sheet, obviously time available 40 years ago didn’t allow such activity on this occasion!!



Mikansue was another range of metal car kits back in the 1970s, this time in 1:43 scale (0 gauge model railway size) and their kit for the Monaco was perhaps confusingly given the catalogue number 31, duly stamped into the base, when in fact the model was listed to represent a 1934 example and as such featured the shaped door windows with separate plated door handles to fit in the appropriate forward part of the doors. The kit consisted of around 22 separate parts and resulted in a satisfactory miniature. An interesting situation arose when a completed example was acquired many years later as some features were noticeably different to those on the example bought in kit form. Most obvious were the significantly larger wheels that look to have etched spokes, in fact they were closer to correct size than those in the kit which are probably castings., and then the radiator grille was subtly wider and the headlights and their mounting bars far more impressive. The way that the alternative pattern of painting alters the cars character is quite noticeable.


Mikansue Riley acquired in built form note the different wheels to the built kit version below


As a footnote, it was ironic that the old Monaco was drafted in to tow Ron’s next project – a 1934 Kestrel – from Cottingham to North Cave in order to rebuild that car and put the Monaco into retirement. Alan was present in order to record that operation on film that will provide a preview to the next chapter.



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The last of the front engined Lotus Sports Racing Cars

By Peter Stevenson

Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.

The History

The Type 15

While the 1956 Lotus Eleven sports racing car was still an international front-runner in the 1100cc classes, and the new Type 14 Elite road car was moving into production, by 1958 Chapman was looking to add further depth to his range of race cars with the launch of a larger engined version of the Eleven. This broadly mirrored the concept of the earlier 1500cc engined Mark VIII being followed by the larger engined 2000cc Mark X.

The 1957 single seater Lotus 12 had taken full advantage of the newly introduced Coventry Climax FPF engine series and Chapman was quick to see the potential of the larger capacity versions of this new engine in his next sports racing car.  

The new car, the Type 15, looked very much like the Eleven but with an enlarged radiator opening, lowered frontal area, and aerodynamically improved windscreen with a lipped top edge. It also included a range of the technical features designed for the single seater Type 12. The car’s lowered frontal profile was achieved by canting the Coventry Climax FPF engine to lie virtually on its side. Engine capacity could be varied considerably with four options eventually ranging from 1475cc up to 2495cc.

The first Team Lotus Type 15 made its racing debut on 7 April 1958 in the Sussex Trophy race at Goodwood, driven by Graham Hill. The car impressed immediately by setting a new lap record but dropped out of the race with gearbox problems, an issue which had been troubling Lotus for some time. At this time Lotus were still using their own Lotus designed “Queer Box” transaxle/gearbox units. Nine of these Queer Box fitted “Series 1Type 15s had already been produced when an alternative BMC transmission was sourced and made available from July 1958 in “Series 2” cars. Eight of these new Series Two cars were produced between July and December 1958

But apart from the ‘Queer Box‘ issue, for most of its first season the Type 15 suffered from a range of mechanical problems whether brought about by its various re-design features or the stresses arising from the use of the larger capacity engines.

Both works and privately entered Type 15s (of which 27 were made overall) were campaigned with varying levels of success in both the UK and abroad between 1958 and 1960. Team Lotus fielded two Type 15s at Le Mans in 1958. Hill and Allison’s 2-litre entry proved extremely fast (5th fastest overall in practice, ahead of the 3-litre works Ferraris!) however this car plus the smaller engined 1.5-litre entry of Jay Chamberlain and Pete Lovely both retired early. By this time the extreme sideways canting of the cars’ engines had been causing lubrication problems so this canting was considerably reduced for the Le Mans cars (and for all future production models) leading to the appearance of a distinctive long narrow bulge on the bonnet.

A “Series 3Type 15 was developed for 1959 featuring a number of upgrades aimed at improving the car’s reliability including a strengthened frame, differently configured front suspension, and updated bodywork. These Series Three cars were made available with either a (by now improved) LotusQueer Box” or BMC transmission. And by this time the Coventry Climax FPF series also included a substantially uprated 2.5-litre engine that was being used by Lotus in its F1 spec Type 12 cars. Naturally, a number of these found their way into some Type 15s and to clear the top of these engines an even larger bonnet bulge, now with front air scoop, became a feature on “big engined” S2 and S3 cars.    

On the home front, one of the most successful Type 15s was that of race car owner John Coomb’s whose superbly prepared and well-developed 2-litre car made the headlines in the Sports Car event at the 1958 British GP meeting at the hands of Roy Salvadori, beating all the larger capacity cars apart from Stirling Moss’ Lister Jaguar. And later in 1958 Salvadori beat all the big-engined Lister opposition to triumph in the high profile Oulton Park International meeting.

A further Team Lotus appearance at the 1959 Le Mans event in a 2.5-litre Type 15 unfortunately proved no more successful than 1958, but the Type 15s continued to race widely at club events both at home and abroad.  Its days however were effectively numbered as new more competitive rear-engined cars were by now beginning to appear across the race scene.     

Contemporary Press Photograph

Graham Hill in the new Type 15s first race, the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood, on 7 April 1958. The car (#23) retired with gearbox problems.

Contemporary Press Photograph

Graham Hill’s 1.5-litre Team Lotus Type 15 (#5) on its way to winning its class in the Daily Express trophy event at Silverstone on 3 May 1958. Note the absence of any bonnet bulge at this early stage of the car’s development.

Contemporary Press Photograph

The 2.0-litre engined Team Lotus Type 15 (#26) at its first Le Mans appearance in June 1958 with driver Graham Hill in the cockpit. The car was fast but failed to finish. Note the elongated bonnet bulge now featuring on the Type 15s due to the reduced engine canting.

Contemporary Press PhotographBernard Cahler/Getty Images

The second Team Lotus Type 15 to appear in the 1958 Le Mans event was the 1.5-litre engined car (#35) driven by Chamberlain and Lovely. It too retired relatively early.

Contemporary Press Photograph

An early colour pic of the Team Lotus Type 15 in action, this time at the hands of Graham Hill (#18) in the 1958 British Grand Prix  sports car event on 19 July 1958. Hill retired with engine problems but Roy Salvadori won the same 2.0-litre class in John Coomb’s Type 15.  

Cover reproduction of contemporary Autosport Magazine

John Coomb’s very well prepared Type 15 was featured on the cover of the September 1958 “Autosport” publication

Contemporary Press Photograph

The 2.5-litre engined Hill/Jolly Team Lotus Type 15 (#30) at the 1959 Le Mans event now sporting an even more pronounced bonnet bulge with front air scoop to feed the thirsty F1 spec FPF engine.

Contemporary Press Photograph

Graham Hill’s 2.5-litre engined Team Lotus Type 15 (#15) on its way to winning the sports car event at the 1959 British GP event at Aintree on 18 July 1959.  

The Type 17

In 1959, still persevering with front-engined design, Lotus released their intended replacement for their all-conquering 1100cc Type Eleven, the Type 17 sports racing car. The new Len Terry designed car was visually impressive, being much smaller and lower than its predecessor Type Eleven and it was also 110lb lighter. Two engine choices were available, both from Coventry Climax, the well tried and tested 1100cc FWA or the even smaller capacity 750cc FWM. Unfortunately for Lotus, the new car suffered serious handling problems right from the outset and while this was eventually resolved with a revised front suspension layout, the Type 17 failed in virtually every way to emulate its illustrious Type Eleven predecessor.

In support of the sole Team Lotus 2.5-litre Type 15 entry, in 1959 two privately owned Type 17s were entered in the annual Le Mans event, both housing diminutive 745cc Coventry-Climax FWMA engines. While the little cars proved promisingly quick, (the Stacey/Green car was in fact clocked as the fastest ever 750cc class car to race at Le Mans), the Taylor/Sieff car lasted only 23 laps before retiring with distributor failure. The Stacey/Green entry fared somewhat better but it too was forced to retire after 156 laps with a blown head-gasket.

Even with the improved handling tweaks from Lotus, few privateers looked beyond the car’s early woes and only 23 Type 17s were made (compared to some 270 Type Elevens!). And by the end of 1959 the 1100cc class laurels had been completely wrested from Lotus by Eric Broadley’s now all-conquering front-engined Mark 1 Lolas.

But in any case, the days of all front-engined sports racers were effectively coming to an end. And the next new Lotus sports racing cars to hit the circuits were all to follow the rear-engined trend being so emphatically set by Formula 1.

But more about that in a future article.  

Contemporary publicity photograph

Colin Chapman, Mike Costin, Alan Stacey, Innes Ireland, and Graham Hill admire the extremely sleek chassis lines of the new Type 17 at the Lotus works in Hornsey in early 1959.
The Stacey/Greene Team Lotus Type 17 entry (#53) at the Le Mans event on 21 June 1959. This proved to be the fastest ever 750cc car at Le Mans but was forced to retire with a blown head-gasket.
Graham Hill stands behind the Stacey/Green 1959 Le Mans entry (#53) clearly illustrating the little car’s diminutive lines

Modern Historic Racing Photograph

Modern Historic Racing Photograph

Further illustration of how low the Type 17 sat to the road in these two photographs of restored Type 17s competing in historic events

Modern Historic Racing Photograph

A diminutive Type 17 sneakily slips inside a mighty Lister Jaguar which appears huge by comparison.

The Models

Unlike the Lotus Eleven, the Type 15 has been much less widely modelled and the Type 17 even less so. Indeed I am not aware of any contemporary models of either car. 

One of the earliest Type 15 kits came from pioneer UK producers of 1:43 scale white-metal models Mikansue. And (almost inevitably) a scratch built wooden model of a Type 15 was produced by French artisan RD Marmande. 

In the mid-1990s models of both the Type 15 and Type 17 were released in 1:24 scale resin for the slotcar market by Japanese producer H. Model. In more recent times we have (thankfully) seen the resin cast market show a modest degree of interest led by Italian producer Pinko who produced in 1:43 scale both Team Lotus Type 15 entries from the 1958 Le Mans event.   

Resin bodied kits of Type 15s were produced also by Provence Moulage whose 1958 Le Mans entry driven by Cliff Allison and Graham Hill (#26) I have in my collection. This model features very clearly the defined Type 15 elongated “bonnet bulge” brought about by the reduced canting of the car’s Climax engine.

More recently French based MEA Kit 43 has released models of a Type 15 raced at Silverstone by Graham Hill (#5) in 1958 and the 2.5-litre Hill/Jolly Type 15 (#30) from the 1959 Le Mans event. In addition, MEA has also released a particularly unusual version of the Type 15 as raced by Harry Entwistle and Bob Hanna (#27) in the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours. These two 1959 models both feature the more bulbous bonnet bulge and front air scoop of the later Type 15s.

In 1:76 scale, Tony Bellm’s 1980s Piccolino” range offered a tiny white metal kit of a Type 15, one of which I am pleased to also have in my own collection.

Probably due in part to its relative failure on the racetrack, models of the Type 17 are much rarer still than the Type 15. The enterprising Mike Serrurier from South Africa may have been the very first to produce a 1:43 scale kit of a Type 17 while more recently MEA Kit 43 has released a resin based Type 17 in both kit and built versions. My collection includes an MEA Kit 43 factory built model of the Stacey/Greene Type 17 (#53) from the 1959 Le Mans event. The photographs accompanying this article feature a particularly well finished version of this same kit built by Hugo Kuijjer.

An early 1:43 scale kit of a Lotus 15 from UK pioneer white metal producers Mikansue.
H. Model 1:24 scale resin kits of both a Type 15 and Type 17

Photograph Carmodel of Italy

The 1958 Le Mans Hill/Allison 2.0-litre engined Type 15 (#26) as modelled in 1:43 scale by Italian producer Pinko.

Photograph Carmodel of Italy

Pinko’s second 1958 Le Mans Type 15, the Chamberlain/Lovely (#35) 1.5-litre engined car, also in 1:43 scale.
My 1958 Le Mans Type 15 model as driven by Hill and Allison (#26) built from a 1:43 scale Provence Moulage kit.
Bruno Mea’s MEA Kit 43 trio of 1:43 scale Type 15s. Graham Hill, Silverstone 1958 (#5), Hill/Jolly Le Mans 1959 (#30), and Entwistle/Hanna Sebring 1959 (#27). The increasingly bulbous bonnet bulge and front air scoops are particularly noticeable on the two 1959 cars.
Mike Serrurier’s resin bodied Type 17 in 1:43 scale
Hugo Kuijjer’s excellent build of an MEA Kit 43 Type 17 representing the 1959 Stacey/Green Le Mans entry (#53).
An interesting direct comparison in model form between the Lotus Eleven and its successor Type 17 showing clearly the much lower lines of the Type 17. The Eleven (#36) is built from a Provence Moulage kit while the Type 17 (#53) is an MEA Kit 43 factory build.
Another interesting group pic showing the significant evolution of front engined Lotus sports racing cars in the five short years between 1954 and 1959. #42 is a 1954 Mk VIII (MEA Kit 43), #48 is a 1955 Mk IX (Spark), #71 is a 1955 Mk X (MEA Kit 43), #36 is a 1956 Eleven (Provence Moulage), #26 is a 1958 Type 15 (Provence Moulage), and #53 is a 1959 Type 17 (MEA Kit 43). The size difference between the Mk VIII and the Type 17 is remarkable! This was the last front engined Lotus sports racer.
The Lotus 15 in 1:76 scale built from a Tony Bellm “Piccolino” white metal kit

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Mikansue La Salle

By John Quilter

Photographs taken by, and copyright of, the Author.

A number of years ago Mikansue produced a range of white metal kits of American cars under their Americana label. I was recently able to obtain one of these on eBay and set about building it. La Salle was made for a number of years in the 1930s as a sort of entry level Cadillac. Their last year of production was 1940 and they produced two series in that year the Series 50 and 52. This model is of a four door sedan Series 52. They used a side valve V8 engine of somewhat lesser displacement than the same year Cadillacs.

This kit contains a body, base plate with bumpers, wheels, vacuform windows, and a seat insert and fascia. My example which was likely typical of these early white metal kit efforts was not a perfect casting and took a fair amount of finishing work to improve it for paint and assembly. These were sort of cottage industry kits so some modelling skills are needed to produce a nice end result. I also opted to make some changes now that really great photos are easily available of the actual cars on Google images. These were certainly not an option for the maker of the kit back in the early 1980s in distant England where viewing an actual La Salle was highly unlikely.

I relocated and re-scored the boot opening grooves, changed the location of the tail lamps, created a new fascia, and used some Brooklin whitewall tires instead of the hard plastic black wall tires that came in the kit. I also was able to obtain some parts from a 1939 La Salle such as the boot hinges, boot handle and badge and license plate, plus the bonnet ornament all of which enhanced the end result.

After much sanding and smoothing both outside and inside I primed the model and the sprayed it with a medium metallic blue colour which was close to a factory colour in that year. In fact when I was a small boy a neighbour had this exact four door sedan in this colour. The front grille is a bit off, being that it should be of equal width top to bottom but I saw no easy way to alter that. I added a robe cord to the back of the front seat and door and window interior handles although they are barely visible. I also upgraded the headlamps with small clear jewels and encircled them with chrome rings made from stainless wire. Getting the ride height correct took a bit of extra work as well.

I think the end result turned out well and this is a car that no other model maker produces to my knowledge, though Brooklin did produce a somewhat similar 1938 Cadillac 60 Special sedan and phaeton. From my collection I note that Mikansue’s Americana series also included a 1951 Henry J and a 1937 Cord Beverly sedan. I’m sure there were others as well.


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