All you need to know about Singer
Born: 1905 Nationality: British
From apprentice to a bicycle maker George Singer moved into car making in 1905, building his first cars under licence from Lea Francis. In 1912 he produced the world's first "light" car, the Singer Ten, which was strong, reliable, and had a reasonable-sized 1096 cc engine that delivered 40mpg. It sold very well and a competition version set many class records up to the outbreak of the first World War.
Military versions of the Ten carried troops in the war, making substantial money for the company. By 1919, back in civilian production, Singer was selling no fewer than 10 main products. In 1927, the Singer Junior was introduced, powered by an 848 cc engine with a chain-driven OHC that was to last in various derivatives well into the Fifties.
The Junior became the Nine after some five years, with its original 8hp engine enlarged to a 9hp 972 cc. A sports saloon based on the Nine established the brand as competitive in the 1933 Le Mans endurance race.
But the Great Depression was in full swing, and led to an increasingly deteriorating financial situation in a company with too wide a spread of products with little rationality of parts. In 1936 the enterprise had to close factories and restructured itself with just three cars - the Bantam, the Super Ten and the Super Twelve.
During the second World War, Singer produced airframes for Wellington bombers, engine mountings for Spitfire fighters, and a number of other mainly aircraft-related parts.
The war over, the company re-entered the civilian automobile market with the Super Ten, Super Twelve and the Roadster. That last became a big export for the company, mainly to the US whose soldiers posted to England had gained a liking for the "British Sports Car".
In 1948, the SM1500 reflected the styling popular in that same US, but wasn't particularly successful until it received a facelift and was renamed the Hunter that it began to sell in numbers.
Through the late 1940s and into the Fifties, the Roadster was improved in a number of versions - the 4A (pictured left), 4AB, 4ADT (which got the 1.5-litre engine from the SM1500 and twin carbs). But some 11,000 copies produced weren't enough to alleviate another financial crisis, and in 1955 the firm was taken over by the Rootes Group.
In 1956, the Gazelle Series I was introduced, with a restyled Hillman Minx body and using a modified Hunter engine and a Rootes 4-speed gearbox. It was sold in saloon and convertible forms (pictured below left), and was the basis for three series of the model up until 1967, when the "Arrow"-bodied cars were introduced. A Vogue larger car launched in 1961, intended as a Gazelle replacement but becoming an added model, lasted through until its own "Arrow" version in 1966. And in 1964, in absolute badge engineering, the Chamois version of the Hillman Imp lasted until 1970.
That year, with the Rootes Group now owned by the American Chrysler Corporation, the Singer name was dropped.
Best Car: The Junior of 1926, or the 1964 Vogue Series III.
Worst Car: Any of the "Arrow" versions, not because they were bad but just because they were no longer true Singers.
Weirdest Car: Possibly a Hunter fitted with a steam engine, which never went into production.