MASCOT March April 2003

Variations on a Roadster

Bill Haverly

Sometimes they come like this - a Roadster has been customised to a point where a second glance is needed to make sure it really is a Singer Roadster. And I wonder what's under the bonnet? This photo was taken when the Roadster was still a daily run-about but after production had ceased, and just keeping them on the road with whatever parts were suitable was the order of the day. There were no thoughts that someday in the future this ordinary car would become recognised as a 'Classic'.

When I found this photo recently at an Antiques & Collectors Fair, it reminded me very much of when I brought back my own 4AB in the early seventies - it was every bit as much a hybrid as this one and took about 4 years to get running and restore as near as possible to original specification. This car is a 4AD, 'though without the giveaway narrower radiator slats could well have been a late 4AB, as both have high level windscreen wiper pivots and raised 'C' section front bumpers in common. 965 BHK is an Essex registration, dating from August 1954 and the tax disc of August 1966 sets the period around which this picture was taken, so in around only 12 years it had been significantly transformed. To give an idea of the changes made it is worth listing them:

Larger, 8" headlamps are fitted, rim reduced to take the standard Lucas 7" pre-focus light unit, with modified mountings; Sidelamps are the Lucas 1130 pre-war 'torpedo' type; The replacement radiator mascot is very similar to the rocket emblem used on some of the SMX prototypes, suggesting perhaps that the owner shared Singer's view of the way forward; Bolt-on vents replace the bonnet side louvres; Quarter-light wind deflectors together with a shortened version of the door screens; No external door handles are fitted and rubber matting on the step-boards replaces the twin strips. More structural work was carried out at the rear of the car, where it would appear that a two-seater conversion has taken place, incorporating a much larger boot area. Supporting this idea, the O/S rear wing is not standard, and the wing-top line continues across the car with no verticle rear bodywork visible. Also, the hood seems to end fairly abruptly not far beyond the rear of the door.

The back-end modification is the most interesting aspect of this wayward 4AD, and could well have given the powers at the factory some serious thought had they been made aware. As it is, it is a pity we have no view of the rear, which would reveal everything. Never-the-less, all these variations on this poor 4AD give us a great insight to the owner's ways of 'improving' the car. Reading between the lines though, the omens for this Roadster in 1966 did not look good, as it sat on blocks with the rear wheels off, awaiting some unknown repair. Possibly a routine 'oil on the shoes' operation, but in those days if a halfshaft or diff was the problem, it could well have been make or break time for 965 BHK.