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)
US8155 is a well travelled car. First registered in Glasgow, Scotland in 1934 it was acquired by a G.I. and taken to the USA. When he passed away his son took it to California. After a couple of resprays when the colour changed from Ivory to green to blue, and an engine rebuild that involved some welding to the block, it was retired in 1969 with faulty brakes.
After being acquired by Mike Rambour around 2000 It spent the next twenty years in Mike's air conditioned garage before setting off on it's latest journey to Cheshire, England.
Last seen in the US attracting a crowd on an outing to Queens English
An update on progress on the 1 1/2 litre.
Bought myself a steam generator and a band saw and attacked the rotten wood underneath the doors. I tried steam bending the wheel arch timbers but couldn't achieve the tight radius so I finished up cutting them out of some offcuts of oak that I had.
I had some serious help from John Parker to take the engine out - actually he did most of the work and it's now waiting for transport to his workshop for overhaul. Can't wait to open it up to see what state it is in.
Looking good, as I mentioned to you already. I was told by previous owner that the car was running fine and on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles when the brakes failed, that was in 1968 and that is last time car ran I was told. But to be on the freeway, engine must have been more or less ok at the time. Of course...he was trying to sell the car to me. The last California registration was 1968 so at least that implies he was telling the truth. I really didn't think that much wood needed replacing, I knew about the wood in the back at the bottom of the body and figured there would be some other wood here and there, but since I never took it apart I didn't know about the wheel arch being bad, I assumed it was good. For my LM, I laminated wheel arches, made a form and laminated 1/8" ash that I resawed on band saw down to 1/8". of course I then purchased a body so those went to waste.
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
So far it looks like the old crack repairs by brazing have been successful. There is a lesson to be learned there! Just waiting for the final results of the cylinder head pressure test.
great news on the block. Maybe I should find who brazed it and have them braze the head (that is a joke,since the car was last registered in 1968, I am sure the block was done back in the 50's or 60's and long gone)
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
One of the core plugs was an old English penny (pre 1960s) so the work was probably done in the UK! A plate on the radiator says it was repaired in Glasgow which ties in with the Glasgow registration number, US8155.
The local singer dealer was Armour & Melvin Ltd. and they clearly liked the big cars. Here is a period picture of another 1.5 Sports in Glasgow that was later aquired by the Gibsons.
(that is a joke,since the car was last registered in 1968, I am sure the block was done back in the 50's or 60's and long gone)