Singer cars - a forgotten British car manufacturer? Ft. Gazelle, SM1500, Le Mans & more
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- Опубликовано: 24 дек 2024
- Vintage and classic Singer cars, in ancient b&w photos and also in more recent colour shots at car shows, form this compilation here on the Old Classic Car channel.
The Singer marque spent its latter years - 1956-onwards - buried within the mighty Rootes Group empire. For many years prior to WW2 the independent Singer Motor Company enjoyed sales figures comparable to the likes of Austin and Morris and were a very common sight, and this continued right through into the 1950s and 1960s.
Cars such as the Gazelle and the Chamois were based on lower-spec'd contemporary Hillmans, ie the Minx and the Imp respectively - badge-engineering wasn't therefore just a BMC speciality - while the Vogue's underpinnings were those of the Hillman Super Minx. Singers were positioned comfortably above the Hillman offerings within Rootes Group dealerships, and were priced accordingly.
In this compilation I've dragged together a broad variety of pre- and post-war Singers, inevitably not every model ever made has made it in, but nevertheless this should give a reasonable overall view of the cars typically produced by this manufacturer over the decades before they disappeared for good as new car offerings in 1970.
The surviving examples of these classic British cars are a comparatively rare sight now. Here you'll find pre-war models such as the sporting Singer 9 Le Mans, plus the Singer 9 saloon & coupe, the vintage Singer Junior saloon & coupe, and more. Post-war Singers include the SM1500, Hunter, Gazelle, Chamois, Vogue & Roadster. Over 95 photographs in all were pulled together for this upload.
Our family's car history includes a pair of pre-war Singers, namely an open-top Singer 9 Sports, and a stylish Singer 9 Coupe, both from the 1930s.
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Some beautiful stuff in this collection. I love the Rootes Group cars from late 50's to the end of the 60's. One of my all time favourite cars is the Sunbeam Rapier from 1965.
What a great collection of pictures! Lovely to see some of the old cars from when I were a lad, some considerable number of moons ago now. It’s lovely to see them remembered and/or restored......and I could quite easily listen to you all day too 👍🏻
Reminds me of a 66 vogue i bought as an unfinished project....in its day a reasonable alternative to Ford or Austin Morris. The Rapier H120 motor and o/d box fitted were its achilles heel. Welding finished it duly sat in the garage for 9 months unused waiting for carburettors. Never arrived. Sold for £150 and the years of regret that comes with a snap descision. Thanks for the great work yet again.
Great video ! Brought back memories of my 'Rootes Period'! I had all three Vogues and the Gazelle, as well as the Hillman Minxes (3), Hunter, and the Sunbeam Rapier. My favorite? The Vogue 1500 cc with the wraparounds rear window, bought for a tenner because its Australia-bound owner was going to ditch it at Heathrow! It ran smoothly and utterly reliably for years, and never used a drop of oil. They were good cars, all of them.
Nice collection be they B & W or colour just nice to see these old cars. Quite a number around at the time along with Hillmans. Thanks Rick.👍👍
Another lovely video on a British car maker of yesteryear. Thanks for the road views, that I knew when younger. Peace be unto you.
Another fine collection of photos from OCC 👍👍👍
Nice to see so many SM1500 s. Had forgotten about them having not seen one for years.
I noticed many examples of those cars over here in Western Canada(Vancouver Island) round about 1968 -1975! FINE BUSINESS! CHEERS from HERE!
A Singer Works was located on Canterbury Street, Coventry which I passed every day to and from school way back when. Finished cars were parked on the opposite side of the road, on a bombed site, always with a maroon paint finish and a gold leaf paint line running along each side. Back then, environmental issues were not to the forefront and i can well remember passing by a paint shop fan extraction unit on a wall facing the sidewalk spewing out fumes and maroon paint residue!! Good video, thank you
I learnt to drive in New Zealand in a 1950 Singer SM 1500. Later we had a Gazelle. We drove that until it fell to bits! A family friend had a Singer 9. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Some lovely cars in that lot and quite of few I have never seen before. Thank you.
Thank you a lovely video brings me back through time .
The singer gazelle convertible was my dream car for many years,I am now thinking the sunbeam rapier fastback might be my car of choice. Great content as always thankyou
Hello again from New Zealand. The photo at 16.10 has two cars, but the far away one is a phase one Standard Vanguard. Cheers.
Hi, really nice collection of photographs, got a couple of singers with my father 1951 singer 4ab roadster, 1935 singer le mans special speed and a very rare 1933 kaye don coupe. All of them we use on a regular base to events and even roadtrips through france.
Great, that sounds like a fine selection of cars!
The first car featured, Singer Vogue, was very classy and a nice green colour. Much nicer than the bland Arrow cars. But at 0:51 is my favourite Gazelle in that gorgeous blue and cream flash. My Dad had one and there is a B&W photo of it amongst the phtos I sent you a while back. The older I get the more stylish they seem compared to today's cars. A close 2nd is the lovely blue Le Mans at 4:23. Nice to see the distinctive Singer Owners Club badge on some of the cars. I learnt how to haul out engines and gearboxes, decoke cylinder heads, grind in valves, grease nipples (the automotive kind!) and even change tyres with tyre levers under the tutorship of my Dad on all his Singers from the 9 Sports Coupe through to the Gazelles. Thanks for bringing back happy memories on a Sunday evening Richard!
Very interesting seeing these lovely Singer cars. My favourites though has to be The SM 1500. I saw one some my years ago in Sydney when I was visiting Australia.
The Vogue was also produced in Australia, by Rootes Australia, and was marketed as the Humber Vogue. It was introduced in 1963 and was followed by the Vogue Sports which was fitted with a Sunbeam Rapier engine that provided a 35 percent increase in power to 85.5 hp (64 kW; 87 PS). The Vogue Sports also featured improved suspension, brakes and wheels. The Rapier-powered Vogue III was introduced in early 1965 at which time the Vogue Sports was discontinued. Australian production of the Vogue ceased in 1966 following the takeover of Rootes Australia by Chrysler Australia.
Wow! Such a brilliant video. I have so much interest in Rootes, my sister was a pay clerk there Late 60s and in the 70s (when it became Chrysler UK). Our house, growing up was about 3/4 mile from the Rootes building in Small Heath Birmingham. My first car in 1972 was a Hillman Husky pre 1963, which I paid £5 for, it was scrapped after I wrote it off, being a young, irresponsible driver. Whilst I served in BAOR, Germany, with the Army I didn't bring my LHD Toyota Celica o to Blighty whilst on leave. The day after landing here I would look in the local paper Jalopy corner, and buy a car that had tax and "ticket" for at least two weeks, the length of leave, and run it around, scrapping it the day before returning abroad. In 1976 I bought a 64 Humber Sceptre. I still classify it as the best car I have ever owned, even better than new ones I have had. It saddened me that it couldn't go back to Germany with me. I have also driven many Commer vans, but that's a different story.
Thanks again for another great compilation video.Back in the day the salesmen at Rootes showrooms must have been quite adept at up selling the hillmans in favour of these beauties.
Enjoyed my Sunday fix thank you Richard. My green Singer Hunter behind the Gazelle was sold to an American guy, a Professor Singer believe it or not, who shipped it to the States. The man crank starting the black Singer Hunter was my stepfather. Norhing to do with me but the plate was transferred and I believe the car does survive.
Love the Singer Chamois! Preferred single headlight ones! Don't know but perhaps headlight change was to bring it in line with the Sunbeam Stiletto! [best named car ever]
Great video, be nice to timeline them in order of launch/manufacture to see the changes to certain models like the Gazelle, Minx etc.
I bought a Singer 9 Le man's 1933, from an old guy in Aberporth, back in 1968! One of the first cars with 4 wheel hydraulic brakes that actually worked! Took me ages to find the starter .. Press the accelerator and hey presto, disconnected upon starting and vacuum! 🤔👌
I was amazed to learn that there are approx 25 Singer Hunters left in the UK. I thought the misty/moisty atmosphere woul have crumbled them ages ago and the reason the photos of them are in NZ was the gentler weather. I don't know how many Singer made but they were the Allegro of their age. Not even Noddy would have been seen in one. The engine carried over into the Minx based car .... I can't think why when the 1494 Minx engine was stronger and more powerful/fuel efficient. Singer was a dead duck when Rootes bought it out. The factory had several floors where some assembly was done then the car had to go upstairs or downstairs. Rootes used it to good effect as a spares storage facility.
Favourites: #1 10:21 Chamois, #2 2:26 Chamois and #3 22:42 Chamois. 😁👍
I’m in US. I own a 1959 Singer Gazelle lll LCX Convertible Pearl Grey/ Pippin Red, very similar to the one pictured at 7:12.
Wow it's a rare car here so must be almost extinct in the US!
My brother had a SM1500, but with a few mechanical issues. Still, they were quite a pleasant car to ride in, but I was too young to drive then, and never got to drive one.
Thanks for checking out this upload!
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My friends dad had a Singer Le Mans in the back garden covered with tarpaulin's and much vegetation. His dad kept saying I will restore it one day and after 50ish years he finally did and then sold it. It's likely still about today maybe even in one of these pictures but only thing I remember about is it was red
singer heaven
Coming from Luton as u guess I’m a Vauxhall man but I have memories of my late grandparents leaving me their singer Hunter in blue I think a 1956 model registration RMJ700 which I think was Bedford registered ? I always wondered what happened to this lovely car ?
In September 1955 the Hunter 'S' was introduced, this was an economy variant with painted rad grille bars, no arm rests or chrome strips. i wonder if any have survived?
Your images of many in New Zealand reminds me of a YT video of a British car museum there back in the eighties where there were at least six Hunters!
I always liked the shape of them as the rear view very similar to the stillborn Jowett CD saloon JKU 399.
Good point, like you say very similar to that oddball Jowett proposal
@@oldclassiccarUK Are you Rick?
@@isleofthanet Indeed so!
@@oldclassiccarUK You remember me then with my Victory Industries model cars, some pix we put on your site? Am still plodding along and rebuilding a Victory Velox into an Australian 'Ute'
Regards
Alan
@@isleofthanet Wow that's going back a bit!
24:57
Is that not a Gazelle wagon behind the blue sedan?
Could well be, the stripe is a match
What a wonderful trip back in time, thank you. To me the Singers and Sunbeams were considered Mid to upper management motor cars, far too upmarket for my lowly status. Such a shame Rootes Group paid scant regard to rust protection as I believe the engines and transmissions were quite good.
Glad it was of interest, also see an earlier collection of images that I put together of Rootes Group cars
Would love to find an SM for sale, I have seen a couple of Hunters but the SM never pops up .
Guess you'd need to put the word out within the owners clubs to stand a chance of finding one now
Great vid OCC ............ have you any pics of the Singer vans?
Mmmmmm not sure that I do
@@oldclassiccarUK I think they're pretty oddball, I can only remember seeing one, ....... and that was a state of advanced decay in a breakers in the late 60's
Bought out buybthe Rootes Group and then were BADGE ENGINEERED with Hillmans and Rovers
By 1929 Singer was the third biggest car manufacturer in Britain, behind only Morris and Austin.
Yep: SM 1500 did embody Rover P4 styling
- though Rover modelled theirs on Studebaker Champion
Cool.
🚗📻🙂
Grandad had a Singer Vogue, an upmarket model of the Hillman Hunter but not as posh as the Humber Sceptre.
I had an SM1500 once. Circa 1962/3. It wasn't very reliable though, so I didn't keep it for long and bought a 1955 Austin A90 Westminster instead.
I might be wrong but didn’t the Hunters have glassfibre bodies.
Tony, Dersingham
The bonnet was GRP I believe, although I think they may have reverted to steel after a while due to quality issues
The Chamois got twin headlights in October 1969
Ah righty, thanks
To what email address should I send a photo of my dad's old Singer Gazelle 869 GNK?
Hi dodgenut@4onthefloor.co.uk will get to me, thanks
Interesting that you pronounce it "sin-ger" rather than "sing-er". Was this the approved pronunciation by the company? And was that the same pronunciation as the sewing machine company?
Ummmm not sure, I wasn't aware that I was pronouncing it in any particular way tbh, certainly not a conscious thing anyway :-) Thanks for watching.
What's so bad about a diesel BMW? You sounded disgusted when you said it. I'm not a BMW fan, but I do like diesel power, especially locomotives. JMHO.
Just not my thing
The BMW is not what some would consider a “classic “ [ unless it were to be a “Classic “ BMW.]
🚗📻🙂
The early 60's Singer Vogue and Gazelle with the oval grills and wrap around rear windows were very nice cars I always thought, quite classy. The Arrow series were very bland and boring in comparison.
Please please stop the Music
I find the music quite relaxing while viewing these wonderful photos
Relaxing music, taking us back to more relaxing times. Be honest one can hardly hear the music its very subtle.