MASCOT January - February 1994

ROADSTER NOTES - 'And the dashboard's genuine leather'

Bill Haverly

Deep in the mists of Roadster folklore are a number of legends which have been passed down to us over the years. One old chestnut says that the 9 Roadster in standard form is capable of a top speed in excess of 70 m.p.h. Though it's true that the maximum power of the 1074cc.engine at 5,000 r.p.m. gives a theoretical output of 69.5 m.p.h., few of the cars road tested during the production period went faster than 65 m.p.h. when speedo error was taken into account. There is always a marked difference between bench tested figures of course, and the engine in the car on the road, and it is possible that confusion between these figures and go fast speedo readings have contributed to claims of exaggerated top speed.

Another long standing belief is that the wooden instrument panel fitted to all production cars was originally made of mahogany. This seems to stem from the fact that panels on cars up to 1952 were stained dark brown and varnished before leaving the factory, giving an appearance superficially of a dark close-grained hardwood like mahogany. Though I have long doubted this theory on grounds of availability and cost of this expensive hardwood at a time of austerity in the British car industry, it was only after examining the many cast off original dashboards collected for my article on instrument panel layouts that things became clearer. When stripped, all of them were a very light coloured short grained wood broken up occasionally by long streaky markings. It is a bit softer and noticeably far more lightweight than the quality West African hardwoods. All the 4AB dashboards I've seen have used it.

The wood on these panels proved to be obeche, or o-beech-chi as the dictionary pronounces. 'A large very common West African tree, found in lowland rain forests, which grows to a height of 150' and is noted for its light coloured timber. Obeche is nearly white to pale straw, with no clear distinction between sapwood and heartwood. When first used for motor bodywork and cabinet making in the mid-thirties it was often called 'satinwood'.

Roadster instrument panels had two distinct phases. The stained wood and varnish period lasted until 1952, when a change in panel layout brought about a new appearance, the beige vynide covered dashboard. This development using leathercloth was dictated more by economy than design, and came about in the following way.

All post-war Roadsters had virtually the same panel outline, though on the board some of the smaller instruments moved positions between series. Changes for 1951 series 4AB needed a new hole for a hand dipper switch to the right of the speedo. This feature continued on the early 4ADs but in late 1952 a decision was made to revert to the floor mounted dipper, and relocate the horn button from over the ignition switch to the scuttle rim near the speedo.

These moves left two unsightly holes in stocks of unused panels sitting on the shelf, so a cover up operation was devised. The holes were plugged with wood and leathercloth glued over the top surface. At a stroke panels were salvaged and the appearance of the wood no longer mattered with this neat solution which served until the end of production.

Though obeche was used on many dashboards, there's little doubt that other woods were used throughout the years. With shortages of raw materials often affecting production, there were occasions when Singers could hardly be choosers. My thanks to Dave Wordsworth for identifying obeche 'the light hardwood' via the Watford timberyards. In replacing the 4AB's instrument panel, he has decided to give mahogany, walnut and
teak a miss, having tracked down a large plank of obeche at a very reasonable price. The suggestion is that originality is not necessarily expensive.