New Project

[cdk84]

Hi Bill,

Thanks very much. I went to California in December 2017 to see the car because the only others interested were rat rodders, and with the car's rarity that just couldn't be allowed to happen.

As Elvin Bishop's lyrics clearly state, "I fooled around and fell in love". That wasn't hard: I'm visually driven and the car is, to my eye, gorgeous. Driving was the acid test and the car drives beautifully. Add to that the receipts from Delong's for regular upkeep to the car, and it was an easy choice. I think there will be an article about the process coming out in NASOC News in the near future. I love the car, love working on it and learning about it. Unfortunately the SOC has not kept records for ownership on other than the sports models, from what I've been told, so there's little I can learn about the lineage of former owners.

If you, or any of your friends have any knowledge or photographs of BMX 7, I would be most grateful. I've genuinely fallen for the car, as I suspect you understand.

Thanks again for your appreciative comment. If you don't see or receive NASOC News and would like to read a little about the car, please let me know and I'll try to find a way to post the article to you, once it's in print.

Regards,

David

[telco.2]

We fall in love with all sorts of different things - wives too if we're lucky!
The first Singer I fell in love with was a derelict '31 Junior Saloon way back in 1963. Rebuilt it in 12 months and used it as an everyday car for 4 years!!
Life was slower then...
Sold it in the late '80's when prices were high and discovered that the lump in my throat was off set by the bulge in my wallet!!
It enabled me to move on to other Singers.....but still have the same wife!!! How about that for a record??
I'd love to see the article on your car when it's published and as I don't see NASCO news you could email me at
bill.lizzie@btinternet.com
kind regards
Bill

[Phillip]

Hey Bill,

I am the Editor of NASOC NEWS. PM me your address and I'll send you a copy once David submits the final article and photos.

I was the one that pushed BMX-7 under David's nose and acted as the go-between for the negotiations that followed. As Pre-War Registrar for NASOC, I am very happy it all worked out to everyone's satisfaction and that it stayed in the country. The car certainly has a 'soul'!

[ColinB]

I would also love a copy Phillip!

On the Six I have completed the bonnet side panel repair with copper rivets and primed it to bring it all together. I'm quite pleased with the result and it certainly looks better than it did at the start!

[telco.2]

Hi Philip,
That's really kind of you. My address is
Bill Coates, The Winnows, Longsleddale, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 9BA, UK
I'm already looking forward to receiving it!
kind regards, Bill

[ColinB]

I have been diverting myself playing with colours on the bonnet. Although they won't be represented accurately on the screen they are the ones I was looking for which were inspired by a 1933 Sports Coupe De Lux pictured on the ASCO site. (If this ever came up for sale it would give me a real problem!)

The top panels have had 3 gloss coats of Black Blue and are in the darkroom to harden off while the sides have had just one gloss coat of Pigeon Blue to test the colours which are also not far away from the scraps of original paint I can find on her bodywork. The colours, which are off the RAL chart, were specially mixed by Craftmaster in their coach enamel.

I am deviating slightly from the scheme on the original cars which had a lower stripe on the top panels painted in the pale colour. Having played with inks on photos, I prefer the look of the whole top section being dark, and I will adjust the two-tone lines along the rest of the car to accommodate this.

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[Peter McKercher]

Beautiful colour combination Colin.

[ColinB]

Thanks Peter, I think its a good combination and compares well to a scrap of the original two-tone paint left on the car which I cut back to remove the oxidation. She has been over-painted in a kind of royal blue at some point so the original is generally not visible, which is why I will strip and re-paint the whole body.

[cdk84]

Hi Colin, Hi Bill,

Colin, I love that your work continues to proceed apace. Fabulous!

And --as you know-- you don't want to get me started on the subject of [original] colors, oxidation, aging and the various palaver about the distinctions between conservation, preservation and so forth. You know how I get....

That said, I love the two tone color scheme you have chosen. I think it will be a tremendously beautiful car.

One of the delights of spending a weekend with Phillip to look over BMX 7 was learning about the car's possible original color scheme. It would appear the current paint was applied over the original colors, at least in some places. ( The bonnet was likely stripped before receiving its present red color, which looks better in photographs than in person. )

Because the Singer Owners Club has not kept records on other than the sporting models, there is no ownership history on BMX 7. I don't yet have the information from the build sheet, which the club does have. I can't wait to see what the card says.

With that said, during our examination Phillip and I lifted one chrome sill plate, under which we think to have found untouched original color. What we found was rather like the color of a bittersweet berry or a wee bit darker, a persimmon red-orange. There are spots of this color on the door jambs as well, under the current coat of a red that is cooler in tone, with more blue than yellow mixed in.

What we sometimes call the belt line -- the raised 'waist moulding' that wraps around the cabin-- may have been black, separating the persimmon color from a darker red or other color, possibly black. There are vestiges of black at the waist line on the door jamb, along with the persimmon red-orange.

There's a period cigarette advertising card that shows a Singer coupe with black wings, a black roof and waist molding contrasted with red, though not the red-orange we uncovered. Who knows?

Until we see the factory card, everything is conjecture. Nevertheless, it was a great piece of new ownership joy; sharing it with such an enthusiastic expert as Phillip is, was simply superb.

These cars are a privilege to learn from and to steward. I look forward to sharing what we learn as we go along. It's going to be fun. We'll keep you posted.

Cheers

[Danish]

Did someone say signal red and carnation red...

[Peter McKercher]

The factory card for David's car identifies it as Dual Red which most certainly would be Carnation and Signal Red.

[ColinB]

I think its sometimes good to look at how lucky we can be with our projects rather than being preoccupied with the problems created by previous owners. In the case of Big B her chassis was in great shape; the engine has been substantially re-built; she has a new clutch; the differential and gearbox look to be in great shape; and the wheel bearings are new. The other big plus which I only really appreciated today is that Wayne Kerr who bought her at auction owned a garage and obviously had a few old stock pressings for the front valance and the fairing pieces below the sills. I cleaned them off today ready to paint them and realised how hard it would be to get these parts made today. Thanks Wayne!

[ColinB]

I have been working out how to repair the bottom of the doors as they all need doing. Having carefully chopped out the rotten steel that had bonded to, and slightly expanded the folded aluminium I found that if I cut a piece of steel to shape I could slide it into place under the door frame where I would be able to tap the aluminium back over it. The original steel was screwed to the cross piece at the bottom of the door but I can't see any way of achieving that as the angles work against me, so I will get the new steel in place and then bond the wood to it. As the cross piece is screwed tightly to the rest of the frame and the steel will be secured at the bottom by the aluminium I think this will sort it out. If necessary I can screw in from the outside and then fill the holes before painting, but that is a last resort.

[ColinB]

Still focused on door repairs I have managed to get the top rail off through hitting the screws hard through a tough screwdriver after which they unscrewed. This will permit me to put new glass in once I have established all the window sizes and had the glass cut. I will make templates out of plywood. The new steel at the base is permanently in situ, painted on the inner face and gripped by the aluminium which folded back over it well with only one small split which I repaired with araldite. I plan to treat each door as a project and strip and prime each one as I go.

The channel in which the glass runs is in good condition but there is absolutely no sign of any weathering strip at the bottom of the window opening or even of any fixing holes where one has rotted away or been removed. I will, however, find a way of weathering the outer edge as otherwise rain will just cascade into the door - perhaps that is why the steel at the foot of each one has rotted away!

Great news from my friend Dick in North Wales - he has my radiator surround completed and chromed so I plan to drive over there next week to pick it up together with the radiator which he has used to ensure a good fit with the surround. I went this route as Dick was really keen to do it and was less than half the cost proposed by my other friend in Windsor. Apparently in modern plating technique the nickel coat is applied directly to the steel without a copper layer after which the chrome layer is applied. Copper is apparently only applied where there are large defects to be filled. You learn something new all the time!

[Phillip]

Inspiring work Colin!

Amazing how similar a lot of this car is to the Senior that preceded it!

Can't wait to see the re-chromed radiator shell!