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)
Here are the photos of the 'press prototype' that was shown in The Light Car & Cyclecar, November 4th, 1932. Chassis production started at 45000, so your car, at 45006, is a very early example and perhaps the oldest known of the Nine Sports. It will be interesting to see what the factory record card will show. Contact Martyn Wray in the SOC and he should be able to help with that.
1932 Nine Sports Prototype_1_Web.jpg (81.91 KiB) Viewed 5424 times
You can clearly see the vents that were not used on the final production model. The round mirror was not a production item either.
1932 Singer Nine Sports Prototype_2_WEB.jpg (67.84 KiB) Viewed 5424 times
The rear shot is a bit weird as the spare wheel looks bent at the top!
You can also see the Rotax tail lamp that was only used in 1933 before the Lucas 'Pork Pie' was fitted from 1934 on.
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
Wow - Its amazing you've got those press photos!
And its great to be learning different things about the car - I had no idea the significance of those vents. And the fact that the car is such an early example - I would never have known that the chassis line started at 4500!
I cant tell if its just the photo, but is the prototypes spare wheel offset to the left and not centre? Looks a bit strange!
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge! I'll get in touch with Martyn Wray and hopefully find out more about the car.
Thanks George, I'm very happy to help out and keep the interest in Singer cars alive - especially the pre-war examples. I've been collecting Singers and Singer related material for over 45 years, so found a few good things in that time.
I would also look into the registration number 366 UXB. Do you have the original logbook? I'm curious because the 3 number / 3 letter type came into use around the 1950's. The plates from the early 1930's would be 2 or 3 letters followed by 3 numbers. For example, my '33 Sports is AGX-857, which is greater London area. My 1934 Sports is DL 8675, which is the Isle of Wight. The format was reversed in the early 50's when they ran out of the older system combinations.
Yeah, that rear shot of the car looks kind of weird. Not sure if it is just the angle or quality of the photo, but it is odd. I have some of the 1.5 Sports that show it has Magna wire wheels but they drew knock-off spinners over the top on the photo! That was also a prototype photo. The production car did have knock-off hubs.
Cheers,
Phillip
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
The history and documents that I have with the car are.... patchy.... to say the least! The furthest back I can find is 1962 when the registration book was re-issued.
I know the non original number plate was always something that irked my Grandad! But since I was young I was told it was put on because it stood for "Un Xploded Bomb" (Whether there is any truth to that I don't know, I'd have to ask my Grandad).
All I can find from my file is that in 1989 a Mr George Victor Lupton requested that the registration "TV 7337" was registered to the car. But whats odd is that I've found a tax disc from 1972 which shows the cars registration was already "TV 7337".
Where the 366 UXB plate came from, I have no idea, and I'm not entirely sure where I'd find that out. I assume the heritage certificate would state the original registration plate though, right?
2 other things of interest from doing a bit of digging around (See the image of the registration book)
Firstly, something I already knew, note the cars colour was green, then crossed out and stated as blue, now its white. So at least 2 colour changes in its past, who knows if there were any more further back.
Secondly, which I had not noticed, the registration book states a more original sounding engine number - 44841.
TV 7337 is registered to a grey Mercedes currently taxed until June. Presumably somebody sold the registration not realising how much they were devaluing a historic vehicle.
As Brian says, the original registration number was probably sold and a cheaper "age-related" plate purchased. TV is a Nottingham prefix introduced in 1929, according to my data. It will be interesting to see if this matches up with the address of the first owner on the factory record card.
As far as colour schemes go, most of the options offered for the 1933 model year Sports were two tone; ivory was the main body colour with either light blue, signal red or apple green wings and valance. Interiors were a darker shade of the secondary colour. Wheels were either ivory or the secondary colour. Solid colours were the signal red, or light blue. Wheels were ivory in this case and interiors a darker version of the main colour. My 1933 Sports was light blue with ivory wheels and the 1934 Sports was ivory with apple green wings and wheels. Again, the factory record card will have those details on it for your car.
Look forward to hearing more!
Cheers,
Phillip
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
Yes I've seen it's registered to a Mercedes so the number plate was definitely sold on at some point. It's a shame because I'd prefer it to have the original plate, but at the same time I've grown up knowing the car with the 366 UXB reg so I do like it - It holds memories for me!
I had a good chat on the phone earlier with chairman Arthur Michell whose sending out a copy of the factory record card so I should receive that next week!
A few interesting things came from the call...
The TV 7337 number plate is likely the original as the car was first sent to a dealer in Nottingham (I think I'm remembering that right I'll confirm when I get the card)
Out the factory the car was cream with green wings and green interior (which matches up with your colour combinations Phillip posted). The wheel colour wasn't mentioned on the call so I'm not sure what the wheels originally were.
And finally it does seem that it could be the earliest 9 known to the Singer club. Arthur's notes suggested that the chassis number 45026 (I think it was) is the oldest known to the club prior to now.
Looking forward to seeing the factory card now and its nice to be discovering a bit of history of the car!
That's great news George and glad to hear that my hunches were pretty much on target. I'm looking forward to seeing what dealer sold the car and who it went to.
My factory record card was interesting in that it said the car was ivory with apple green wings and apple green upholstery. In the way it is written, it implies the wheels were ivory but a photo taken of the car when it was nearly new clearly show the wheels as apple green. The car was also fitted with the optional clutchless gearchange unit, which has sadly long since gone, along with the original engine and gearbox. It had an MG YA engine and box fitted when I got it, but I was able to assemble a 1934 Singer set from spares I already had.
Look forward to seeing the record car when you get it and congratulations on owning the oldest known surviving Nine Sports!
Cheers,
Phillip
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
I've downloaded it so I can rotate and read it in detail...
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
Hi Phillip and George,
I’ve been following your conversation on the forum and I’m hoping you might be able to give me a few clues about my cars. I have just purchased a LeMans Car No 63896. There is no history known of this car other than it has resided in a garage for 50 years!
I’m from New South Wales in Australia and I was hoping you might know if I can get a heritage certificate for this car. It is solid red with dark red upholstery and currently has silver wheels but I believe they were originally red.
My other Singer is a 1954 4AD, Chassis No 4AD3328X. Do you know if I can get any heritage info on this car?
Any info I can get helps to round out the cars story so I would greatly appreciate any thoughts you have. I attached a picture (hopefully!) of the LeMans for interest.
Hello Michael. You should be able to get the factory details for your car from Arthur Michell who holds the records. Lovely car by the way which looks ready to roll!
Hi Colin,
Thanks very much for your response. Now for a very basic question. Are you able to help me with an email address for Arthur, please?
I only picked up the LeMans 2 days ago and it is very complete but I know very little about them technically at the moment so I might well be haunting the forum! From what I can see it is a great resource for all of us stung by the Singer bug.....
This looks like a very original car - even down to the correct rear lamp and running board rubber strips (but not the hood!). You can find Arthur's telephone number under 'spares registrar' on the UK Singer Owners' Club website here:
Apologies for not being able to respond sooner, but it looks like Colin has already sent you in the right direction. I've also had great support from Martyn Wray in the past. He is Club Secretary of the Singer Owners Club - UK.
Also echoing Colin's sentiments, congratulations on the discovery of a true time-warp '35 Le Mans 4 seater. What a lovely unmolested car! If you can post more photos of the interior, dashboard and under the bonnet, I am sure many of us would appreciate taking a look.
Cheers,
Phillip
Your Friendly Canadian Pre-War Singer Specialist, Collector & Historian, Editor & Pre-War Registrar & Canadian Contact -NASOC
Singer Enthusiast for over 40 Years.
'28 Senior, '33 & '34 Sports, '36 Le Mans SS & Bantam
