Singer Owner July 1997

Singer Ramblings

Bob Andrew

Your pleas for articles have at last got me into action. As some of you know I have been interested in Singers since I was nine years old when my father bought a 1946 Roadster in the Spring of 1947. It was black with tan leather and it gave the family enormous pleasure. My mother, brother and I learned to drive in it and both my brother and mother had accidents; it stood up really well. I have just remembered that I drove into a farm fence aged 15 and stoved the front in. My brother who let me drive forbode me even to tell my parents. It cost me £5 to be repaired in 1953 which was more than one terms pocket money at boarding school.

My Singer collection is rather unbalanced, a 1951 4AB, 1955 4AD and 1955 4ADT. One of my daughters has a 1956 Singer Hunter. I would like a 36/37 Le Mans 2 seater but when I tried sitting in a couple of cars at the 1995 SND found them very cramped. This I do not remember when I owned a 1936 model back in the late fifties. My Le mans CUU 103 was very comfortable with plenty of leg room and had what I thought was an ideal driving position.

I am still involved in the motor trade but find todays mechanics really are not interested on working on something different. My own mechanics have exasperated me with their disinterest so when my 4ADT finally expired in the Ashdown Forest last July I got Trevor's help. He said petrol pump. I said "can't be" it is new. He was right, but was unhappy with an intermittent tightness in the engine which resulted in completely dismantling and reassembling the engine. It then ran beautifully. I didn't set off for SND as we were at a wedding party till 2am. I set the alarm clock for 6am but was told I was mad to drive all that way (270 miles each way). I turned over and went back to sleep. It was disappointing to miss SND especially at such a fine venue, but it was only a day or two later the fuel pump started to play up. (genuine new boxed S.U.)
These new S.U.'s seem very unreliable. Electronic pumps seem to be the answer. Undoubtedly I would have broken down on the M1. At the beginning of August I drove the 4ADT down to Devon and Cornwall covering a thousand miles. Average MPG was 29 and it ran splendidly. Thank you Trevor!

The blue 4AD has been sitting in my company bodyshop for ages - a hospital job. This is the car with the 4.1/1 CWP, which ratio it pulls very well averaging 36mpg. I asked the bodyshop manager to try to get to the bottom of the rear body cracks. I had paid someone else for this job (including new timber) five years ago. That cost £500. Of course it did not last. However my manager loves the work and is a real craftsman. Unfortunately he has kept finding more and more suspect wood (all available from Trevor)
and the timber previously fitted had not been tied in properly. The car is in primer so nearly finished. He did a superb paint job on the red 4ADT so I am looking forward to the finished result. Incidentally I always found the single carburetor 4AD Roadster (4.8/1 ratio) averaged 33/34 to the gallon but you have to be careful to achieve that. This seems quite disappointing. Even the single carburetor Hunter with its bulk and weight manages an average of 27 to the gallon and 31 on a van. Whilst on the subject of fuel consumption my records remind me the 3 speed box 9 Roadster used to average 34 mpg but my heavier 4AB does less - about 31/32.

Talking of the Hunter, 1996 has been quite an expensive year. My garage was very busy so having had the MOT done there I took it to an excellent man (in his sixties) who has a village garage having been alerted about some corrosion on the underside. He still has the car and keeps finding more and more. Being an expert welder he has had to make up a lot of new metalwork including the inner sills and light chassis parts. He is also cleaning off all the rusty panels and painting in the chassis black.

Earlier last year a mechanic at my garage changed the head gasket due to a water leak, messed it up then changed the oil putting in high detergent 10-30. He didn't tell me until I smelled the piston flow-by smell. I had only done 35 miles but it seems to have been enough to loosen the carbon from the piston rings and increase oil consumption. Of course I changed to Penwrite 20/60 immediately but the tell -tale smell is still present.

Going back to Roadster tail cracks, I am sure there is no cure. The over hang of the body helps induce too much flexibility. Heavier ashframe parts with thicker aluminium covering would help stave off the problem.

I am currently reading the Book of the Singer by Kevin Atkinson. High quality book and a must for enthusiasts - most enjoyable. It must have been a huge undertaking. A happy years motoring during 1997 in your Singer.

Webmaster Note: I believe that the blue 1955 4AD referred to in this article is my present car - I purchased it from Bob Andrew in 2002.