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In 1875 George Singer formed Singer & Co to manufacture bicycles in Leicester Place, Coventry. By 1901, Singer had acquired the patent for the motorised wheel and stared to produce motor bicycles and tricycles. The Singer motorised wheel was discontinued in 1904 but manufacture of a more conventional motorcycle continued.
A motor car was exhibited at the February 1905 Motor Show; 8hp and 12hp models were on show.
In 1906 the company departed from their horozontal engines and offered cars with White and Poppe or Aster engines. The White and Poppe engines were the 80x90mm version in two, three and four cylinder variants. Aster engines were the 84x110 and 95x130.
Collecting the 1908 Singer
Collecting the 1908 Singer
In May 2019 I purchased this 1908 Singer project. It had been a donor car for the other surviving 12/14 so quite a few components were missing, and many more were worn out. The engine had thrown a rod at some point in it's life and although it had been repaired it would have been very risky to use it in that state. The wooden wheels were loose, the back axle (which had started life on the 1907 car) had dysfunctional repair work from an earlier failure. The sheet metal work had holes in many places and the original car body had been replaced with a utilitarian pickup.
June 2024
June 2024
With the mechanics fixed over the previous years and several excursions to get to know the quirks of the vehicle we reinstated seat boxes in the back to allow the carriage of passengers. There are still several tasks to complete:
Reproduce the whittle leather fan belt.
Tidy up, sandblast and paint the front mudguards.
Adjust the battery box lid.
Make the exhaust cutout.
Fit a nearside mirror.
Fit tread material to footboards.
Fit locks to seat panel
Make nicer cushions.
Weld nearside drive spider to reduce free play.
The engine fitted to this 1908 Singer is the 80x90 four cylinder White and Poppe.
The 12-14 h.p. Singer Car
The 12-14 h.p. Singer Car
STANDARD SPECIFICATION
Frame
Pressed steel, deep channel section with rolled steel underframe and central cross member.
Engine
12-14hp four cylinder, 80mm bore x 90mm stroke; normal revolutions 1650 per minute
Valves
Mechanically operated, interchangeable and placed on opposite sides of the engine. Adjustable tappets.
Lubrication
On the "splash" system, supplied from half-gallon dash tank fitted with special gravity drip feed and auxiliary sight-feed hand pump.
Carburettor
White & Poppe gravity fed. Automatic air supply. Petrol consumption about 25 miles per gallon.
Ignition
High tension magneto and ordinary high tension. Working on separate plugs.
Cooling
Horizontal gilled tube radiator, with fan mounted on ball bearings behind. Gear-driven water pump.
Clutch
Leather-faced cone with special engagement springs and accessible adjustment. No end-thrust. Dustproof ball thrust collars. Oldham coupling between clutch and gearbox.
Gearbox
Speeds
Transmission
Rear Axle
Steering Gear and Engine Control
Wheels
Front Axle
Brakes
Wheelbase:
Track:
Total Length:
Total Width: 5ft 4in
Weight Complete: almost 19cwt (965kg)
History and Vehicle Registration Number
1908 Registered from new as SA-441 in Aberdeenshire, we are lucky this car has retained the original registration number. We do not know who the original purchaser was (or what body style was fitted). If you are able to offer any assistance with tracking down the early history of this car, please get in touch. Perhaps you are a descendant of the original owner. It was an expensive car, so perhaps it was purchased for use on a country estate or similar in Aberdeenshire.
???? Car converted to a pickup truck/wagonette.
1921 (or later) Tax discs introduced and a tax disc holder fitted to the truck body, car must still have been used on the roads at this point.
1945 (April, so WWII is still in progress) SA-441 is owned by the Basingstoke Motor Company.
1950s Car is purchased by the XXXX family in Hull and used as a donor car for 6
2019 Purchased by myself from the XXXX family in Hull, with the intention of driving it to my birthday gathering in 2020!
2020 The car was running (although with a few issues), but my party was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.
2021 Some running in an debugging between lock downs etc. First proper road run of around 20 miles.
2022 Car attended the Singer National Rally in Warwickshire but unfortunately had broken the previous weekend. A taper pin had fallen out of a timing gear and damaged the gear teeth.
2023 New timing gears fitted early in the year, car taken to the NEC in November and displayed on the Singer Motor Club stand.
2024 Added seat boxes, attended the Black Country Museum festival of vehicles.
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