Web Forum for Singer Cars

Hi, can someone enlighten me how carpet is attached to the rear of the front bucket seats?

The metal backrests have thin plywood 'tacking strips' riveted to the back inside edges. If you have the bare original seat backs you can see the holes.

The leather seat facing folds over the edges of the metal back-rest and is tacked into place. The carpet panel has a 'Hidem' band stitched around it and this is used to tack the carpet in place. The bottom edge of the carpet panel usually has a "leatherette" flap that folds under the seat back and tacks to a wooden cross-piece that is screwed to the front lower edge of the seat back.

This design seems to have been standard in the sports cars from 1933 on and all the way up until the seat became fully covered in vinyl or leather as used in the 4AD.

Hope that helps!

Thanks that allmakes sence. I don’t have any original seats but was given some old 4A as templates, so i am building from scratch - the one thing that I am not clear on is the piece of wood cross piece screwed to to the front lower edge of the seat. Does anyone have some photos?

In the attached photo (4AD) there appears to be a solid section of wood across the inside of the front bottom - is this the piece you mean?

Yes, you can just see the wood strip, but it is shaped to allow the seat back to fold forward.

The basic design barely changed from mid-thirties!

Hope that helps!

FYI.

Here are two shots of an original pre-war seat back with original leather upholstery.

The carpet had rotted away and had been replaced with leatherette, but you can see how it is assembled...
Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Phillip

Bucket seat repairs are covered in the book "Singer Sports Cars of the 1930s"

Yes, well covered in what is an indispensable reference manual. Well done David.

Both David Andreassen's books are a good reference.

My Light Six seats have a family resemblance: there is a wooden strip around the metal back to which the leather and carpet are tacked.

Super photos as these are original seats and you can see exactly how they were done.

The only real significant difference in design is the seat pocket!

Singer didn't change too much unless they had to, or if they went to a new supplier. The inner door pull handles on the early Nine Sports are the same as those used on the cars of the 1920's. The basic scuttle design used on the 1935 Le Mans lasted right though to the 4AD!

And speaking of reference books, my mate Ashley Crossland covers the rear seat back construction, tacking strip and wood fillet at the bottom in his excellent book, "Roadster Repairs Revisited" Vol 1, pages 216 & 217.

It's worth mentioning that the plywood 'tacking strips' that the upholstery is tacked to, is fixed onto the seat back with 1/8" bifurcated rivets. The wooden fillet is secured with four #8 wood screws. The tacking strip is 3/16" plywood @ 1/2" wide, although I have seen it wider than that on some seats.

Hope that helps!

Thanks - any chance of posting copies of pages 216-17?

Hi, looking at the old backs above, it seems to carpet was tacked on first and then the hidem added?

I have ordered David’s book so will check it out. If I remember my 4A had 2 inch strips around the back, but it didn’t have carpet nailed on. It is hard to believe that 1/4 inch tacks into 3/16ths ply holds this altogther and that they don’t tear out when little old me sits in the seats!!! I might have to go further on my diet.

Hey Darcy,

While digging up other material, I came across this:
An original 1930's seatback showing the carpet panel and leather overlap around the seat back and Hidem banding to good effect...