For now, I lumped all the pre-war cars together, I would LOVE for there to be enough demand to split it into groups (hint...hint, post here about your pre-war Singer)
Looking back I think I must have been crazy to take this old car on, but I'm glad, at this stage, that I did. I don't think she has seen a public road since around 1960 so I'm planning to take her out this year even if I haven't got a windscreen!
I have ordered some padding and some webbing: on a Zoom call to the Australian club it emerged that the seats might have had webbing strung between the top and bottom frames which would provide a foundation for padding so I'm going to try that.
Colin, we both must have been crazy, the 34LM I purchased really should have been scrapped, but I wanted one so badly that I got it. The wood was rotten and a large amount of it was missing due to rot, the motor was frozen solid and had a large plate bolted to the side where the first crankshaft had removed itself from the motor once already. No starter or generator/magneto, no dizzy, no dash instruments, Ford headlamps, radiator with hole, so much fiberglass on the gas tank that the car could confuse itself and think it was a SMX and 3 wheels and I still wanted it. To be fair, I got it at a fair price for its condition but it was really a parts car or maybe not even that and should have been scrapped. 20 years later and it will be on the road soon, I will miss the March deadline for its 90th birthday, family health issues with parents and not worked on it since just before xmas.
Sometimes these cars are a labor of love and sometimes a labor of stupidity.
Mike Rambour. Site Administrator
1953 Singer 4ADT (sold), 1934 Singer 9 Le Mans, 1934 Singer 1 1/2 4-Seater Sports (sold), 2009 BMW K1300GT
actually, what I really noticed is he saved enough money for a flight to California to help with mine
I am discouraged with the lack of progress last 2 months on my own car but it will come, the winter storms that hit Calif. are gone and my garage only flooded once. This summer will be pouring concrete to stop flooding forever. But I have come here daily to see Colin's progress.
Mike Rambour. Site Administrator
1953 Singer 4ADT (sold), 1934 Singer 9 Le Mans, 1934 Singer 1 1/2 4-Seater Sports (sold), 2009 BMW K1300GT
Life often intrudes into our hobbies Mike! I'm looking forward to updates on the LM when you get back to her.
John G has told me that his seat base was upholstered by a furniture restorer quite a while ago so may not be completely authentic but I will still add further stuffing to my seats.
Yesterday I sewed up the top of the seat for the passenger's side in about an hour and stuffed the flutes for that and the back that I had previously made, all by lunchtime. So as I had hoped the second one is proving to be easier and quicker largely because I didn't have any decisions to make. I suspect the piping will still present a challenge although, again, I know what unconventional method worked for me last time!
Well it has been a funny week - my wife was prescribed statins for a marginal cholesterol issue and she has had a really bad reaction to them (they are now in the bin). So my family matters took a lot of attention for a few days, but now she is on the mend I have assembled the covers for the second seat which are loosely placed on the spring base in the photo. I'm just awaiting the additional stuffing I have on order before I fix them into place. The right hand flute looks a bit saggy but it just needs to be pulled into position and maybe plumped up a bit more.
The two front seats are sewn up and in the car for storage while I wait for the padding to arrive to fill around the sides. I'm having a bit of a problem with securing the Hidem banding on the back as the thickness of the material to be nailed varies, and the wooden plates secured to the frame are quite thin. No room for error so it is loosely held in place with tacks while I consider a solution.
In the meantime I will start on the back of the bench seat. The original cover was the best of the bunch although not useable unfortunately, but the springs and mesh are in great shape. I think this one will be easier than the front seats.
The whole interior is looking fabulous! I wouldn’t pad the sides of the front seats, just the tops and then tension the sides carefully. The back seat looks in remarkable condition. Is that felt padding? You must be very pleased with the results so far.
I found that the hidem binding required tacks that just penetrated the plywood on the back of the seat. I think I ordered 3/8” from the internet.
Thanks Brian, I'm pretty pleased with the overall look and the interior is starting to smell of leather which is very nice. The padding on the back seat is indeed felt and from what I can tell that was all there was apart from the padded flutes on the cover. I intend adding felt all over the mesh before the hessian goes on to make it a bit more luxurious. On the seat back there is a wooden backing piece to which the springs and leather are attached, and fortunately I repaired that quite a while ago.
I have one whole hide left of the two I bought from Martrim, and although it is pretty large I think I will cut the main pieces for both parts of the rear seat at the same time to optimise use. I realise that with a fluted cover you can join two pieces together quite easily and invisibly, but I would prefer working with whole sections.
The rear seat back cover is sewn up and the side piece added on one side. I hope to do the other side today so i can put it in the car. The seat base needs a bit more care as the mesh has corroded away and some springs were missing. I have bought replacements which need to be tied in.
Rear seat cover tacked onto the wooden support and in the car just to see how it looks. I'm quite pleased. (The door cards are exactly the same colour as the seat - it's just the effect of the flash in the rather dark barn)
Thanks for the benevolent pressure Brian - I'm really glad I had a go at it. So far as other projects go Peter we are all crazy enough to do it all again, although I would have to sell something to make a budget and to release space in a shed (unless I build another shed...). .
Phew - last piece of sewing completed with the rear seat base. It isn't fully sewn to the springs yet but it is a major milestone. I had to buy another hide as the pieces were so big and it is a different colour to the rest being more towards the black end of the scale. I don't think this will matter when it is in the car.
I drove the Six out of its shed this week to show the Singer Club of Australia who were interested in my journey with the car. She is looking OK though very dirty after a year in the barn. I have to mention the radiator surround which was made for me by a well known Singer expert in the UK. I was little negative about this when I posted pictures at the time, but I have come to regret that as I get to appreciate it over the last couple of years. I hope he will read this as he may have been rather hurt at the time. As the saying (almost) goes, speak in haste and regret at leisure..
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