Review of SM1500 in the next Automobile mag

[ColinB]

This month's Automobile magazine (April 2019) promises a review of an original SM1500 in May's copy. Enthusiasts of this model may not be keen to read it though as the blurb say "Zack Stirling drives an unrestored example and discovers if it was as bad as its reputation suggests".

[ColinB]

The review is actually very positive and simply points to price being the reason why the SM was unpopular. The sign-off states that "wider appreciation of the SM1500 is well overdue".

[Peter McKercher]

There were only a couple of MG's that could beat them in Southern California and they were heavily modified. Ken Myles built two of them and they wouldn't have been recognizable as MG's. Kelly Buchanan built a comparably prepared Singer Special which Dick van Laanen drove and consistently lapped the competition with it. However, he never completed a race with the car as it wasn't ever fully sorted out.

Lammy Lamoreaux knocked off an entire field of MG's at the Callicoon Races in Sullivan County, but wasn't given the Cup as it was ostensibly an MG race only. A few weeks later he participated in the Floyd Bennet races in New York. In one of the events he blew his engine half way through the race and didn't finish. However, he was so far ahead, the organizers agreed to place him seventh, if I recall correctly, since he was so far ahead of the field when his engine went.

Nothing wrong with the SM's apart from the fact that Singer didn't want to style them and promote them as sports/racing cars

[Phillip]

The Automobile is one of my favourite magazines and the articles are usually well-researched and in-depth.

I look forward to getting my copy to check out the review of this very orignal SM-1500 saloon. A brave and costly attempt at Singer to break into the USA export market.

The Automobile SM-1500.jpg (86.93 KiB) Viewed 3931 times

Photo: The Automobile

It's amazing what a nose job did to change the character of the car when it was restyled. The Hunter, to me, is a more attractive vehicle with the traditional Singer radiator shell in place of the original more American styled front.

I don't think the Automobile would use such headlines for the 4AD Roadster, as it is much better known in the UK than the saloon.

Now, an SM-1500 Saloon with sporting cred would be an interesting beast indeed!

[Peter McKercher]

The SM 1500 Saloons definitely did not race in North America. The SM 1500 Roadster is of course what I referenced

[Phillip]

I finally received my May 2019 issue of The Automobile and have to wag my finger at them a bit for the misleading cutlines about the SM-1500 article. It's not such a downer!

On the whole, it is a balanced, well-researched and unvarnished look at the car through the eyes of a classic car journalist, not a Singerphile...if that's a term! In fact, it concludes on a positive note saying, "Certainly the level of interest and admiration from the public during our photoshoot is proof, if it were really needed, that wider appreciation for the SM1500 is long overdue."

And as to sporting cred, it does indeed exist! Author Zack Stiling mentions the entry of an SM1500 saloon in the 1954 Monte Carlo Rally by the team of Bolton and Rabbitts, who finished 174th, but finished none-the-less!

Peter Brown's Warwick Green SM1500 photographed and driven for the article is a lovely original example and it's gratifying to see this type of Singer getting some decent column inches in such a good magazine. Then again, The Automobile has always been a good supporter of the Marque that way over the years.