What coolant to use

[Danish]

Interesting to see that your car was delivered on the 11.10.32 and sold a few months later on the 12.01.33.

The 1932 Motor Show at Olympia was held 13-22 October.
KV2446 was chassis 45001 and registered on 23.09.32
KV3106 was also a 9 Sports, chassis 45078, registered 18.11.32
KV3105 (9 Sports), chassis 45007, registered 9.11.32
KV3111 (9 Sports), chassis 45112, registered 30.11.32
KV3117 (9 Sports), chassis 45019, registered 31.12.32

As for mine- 45063 it was delivered and sold on the same day 7.11.32- 3 weeks after the show.

The data seems to suggest chassis' were picked at random from a stack for the production line...

[MJC]

Thanks for the clarification, Brian. I will contact Arthur and get the ball rolling on membership.
I will post a few more photos as suggested for people’s info. I believe that the car was resprayed in the mid sixties and as the ODO only has 500miles indicated, I’m thinking the engine was rebuilt at the same time. The lady I bought the car from has a photo with her in the car when she was 4 and the car looks like it has just been restored. Apparently it went into the shed soon after and didn’t move until I purchased it.

[MJC]

Hi All,
I think I’m approaching max attachment file size so I’ll split the photos up a bit to send them. I vacuumed most of the rat Pooh out of the engine bay for those with delicate constitutions!

[MJC]

Last 2 photos - I don’t want to bore people - thanks for taking interest! The car will need to be reupholstered - there are a few tears in seams that won’t be able to be fixed I don’t think. Interestingly the car has dark red carpet which surprised me - I expected rubber matting.

[mikeyr]

no such thing as too many pictures, over the years that was always the problem of this server, not enough disk space...but nowadays post all the pics you want, we have terabytes of disk space . and this group likes pictures of Singer's.

[jeans_old_man]

They look like the original carbs - 30IF? (rather than the 30FAI factory replacements). Not sure about the steering wheel, though. I wouldn't rush to reupholster - individual panels can be repaired or replaced and it is amazing how well leather can be brought back to life. Talk to a specialist.

[Phillip]

Thanks so much for the photos. What an amazing find!

Original carbs, coil, cut-out, tool clips, tin-top junction box, oil filler cap, and lots more.

All original instruments, starter button, Solex choke cable. Correct interior door handles.

Steering wheel is a replacement Blumels, not the original 'wobbly spoke' Ashby used in 1936 and someone has added a cover to the glove box.

That steering wheel looks like the type with the brown/beige/gold swirl plastic that de-laminates into shreds and shrinks up. Nothing can be done to stop it as it has to do with the composition of the plastic that was used. I have a wheel exactly like it and even storing it in ideal conditions did nothing to help... it just shriveled up!

The original shocks are still there, as is the correct horn and badge bar. Even the radiator mesh is good and the starting handle bezel intact!

Headlights are post-war "cats eyes" as used on the A Series Roadster and the MG TC. The correct 8 inch LD-140's had a flat diffused glass and sharp-edged rim with a knurled nut to secure it at the bottom. Headlamps were Rotax and sidelamps were Lucas.

And, yes, these cars were fitted with carpet from new. Seats were Vaumol leather for the facings and matching leathercloth (Rexine) for the sides of the cushions and the door panels.

The very best of luck with the re-commissioning. I'd preserve as much as possible. It's a lovely car!

[Phillip]

I down-loaded the photos so I could zoom in on the details.

This car also has the original..and very rare...wiper arms, as well as the original running board rubber and end caps!

Here's a period photo of the interior of the '35 Le Mans 4 seater:

I need to correct myself on the steering wheel comment. As you can see from this photo, a 'standard' Ashby was generally used, although the 1935 handbook shows the dash of the LM 4-seater fitted with the 'wobbly spoke' wheel more commonly seen on the 1936 cars.

The fact that the luggage grid and spare wheel cover are also both in place is lovely to see as well!

[MJC]

Hi Phillip and Brian! Thanks very much for the comments and observations about the car. It helps to know what is original and rare as I guess after 85 years this knowledge is slowly being lost. I won’t be starting to restore the car until later in the year - the car came to me earlier than ideal as I have a fair bit to do on the house first up. Interested in the comment about the steering wheel and carbs. Still not sure if that means my wheel is original but it looks like others I’ve seen in Aus. One thing I noticed about the carbs is that the serial numbers are not consecutive -maybe they were just picked out of a pile during assembly or maybe one was replaced in the mists of time.
Thanks again for your interest and I’ll keep you all across developments!

[Phillip]

My pleasure Mike,

It's a lovely project.

The carbs are original and the steering wheel is not. You can see one of the square spoke separators has the Bluemels logo on it. This is the common replacement for the Ashby Brooklands originally fitted to Singers. Reproduction Bluemels wheels are still available in various sizes. Ashby introduced the "Brooklands" sprung steering wheel in the early '30's and it became very popular as the wheel to have on your sports car in the inter-war years. Bluemels licensed the production of the Brooklands from Ashby and made modifications to the design. Construction and quality of the Bluemels wheels were generally better than the Ashby except for the use of that 'swirly' multi-toned finish in the plastic. That version is unstable due to the mix of plastics used and they shrink and delaminate over time.

This is what the original Ashby looks like:

ASHBY-18-A-600x600.jpg (43.61 KiB) Viewed 7162 times

Hope that helps!