Le Mans recreation

[Peter McKercher]

Good heavens Jan, don't feel guilty about ownership of this car. It appears to be well executed and it is a Singer. I would point out that Dave Hardwick started to build a replica as well and unfortunately did not finish. However, it is now in the hands of another club member who is completing the car. He is immensely proud of it.

[Phillip]

Hi Jan,

Well, the irony is that the four original TT cars are often mistakenly referred to as "TT Replicas", which, of course, they aren't! I own the only known copy of the sales brochure intended for the actual "TT Replica" that Singer was planning to sell. As we know, the Ards crash of three of the four cars put paid to any further thought of that, but, as the brochure shows, it was the intention of the company to sell "replicas" of those cars...hence the misnomer. BTW, you are in good company as Dave Hardwick had built another "TT Replica" which was sold to Martin Crabbe, so there are a few out there.

Regarding the 1935 dating, the factory record card for your chassis will certainly confirm its identity, but it is possible for an underslung car to have a 1935 registration. The 1936 cars were introduced in the latter part of 1935 so some early examples would have been built before the beginning of 1936. UK registrations are done by date, not by year of manufacture. I have a 1929 Singer Senior that is registered as 1928 because the license was issued in November of 1928. In 1936 the chassis numbering system changed and this is another indicator of provenance. Five numbers were used up until 1936 and four numbers after. For example, my 1933 Sports is 48454 and my 1936 LM is 5324.

Regarding oils, 30 is good for the gearbox and 140 for the rear diff. Make sure the oils are "non-hypoid" (marine oils are very good) as hypoid type oils contain additives that will attack non-ferrous metals.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Phillip

[Phillip]

Hi Jan,

Well, the irony is that the four original TT cars are often mistakenly referred to as "TT Replicas", which, of course, they aren't! I own the only known copy of the sales brochure intended for the actual "TT Replica" that Singer was planning to sell. As we know, the Ards crash of three of the four cars put paid to any further thought of that, but, as the brochure shows, it was the intention of the company to sell "replicas" of those cars...hence the misnomer. BTW, you are in good company as Dave Hardwick had built another "TT Replica" which was sold to Martin Crabbe, so there are a few out there.

Regarding the 1935 dating, the factory record card for your chassis will certainly confirm its identity, but it is possible for an underslung car to have a 1935 registration. The 1936 cars were introduced in the latter part of 1935 so some early examples would have been built before the beginning of 1936. UK registrations are done by date, not by year of manufacture. I have a 1929 Singer Senior that is registered as 1928 because the license was issued in November of 1928. In 1936 the chassis numbering system changed and this is another indicator of provenance. Five numbers were used up until 1936 and four numbers after. For example, my 1933 Sports is 48454 and my 1936 LM is 5324.

Regarding oils, 30 is good for the gearbox and 140 for the rear diff. Make sure the oils are "non-hypoid" (marine oils are very good) as hypoid type oils contain additives that will attack non-ferrous metals.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Phillip

[Peter McKercher]

A minor correction on Phil's post. The owner is Martyn Cragg.

[Impromptu]

Peter, Phillip,
Thank you so much for your encouragement and for the beautiful pictures of Dave Hardwick’s car. My car doesn’t nearly look so clean, but it has some patina shall we say.

Thank you for the tips on the oil Phillip, I’ll pay attention when ordering.

Just for fun: photograph when it was delivered and from our first (200 meter) test drive.

[mikeyr]

Well the Singer was not at Laguna Seca Pre-historics this past weekend, he is registered for the Historics this coming weekend but was a no show for the pre-weekend.

For reference, the pre-weekend is where you get track time to practice and fine tune the car but also where you get your grid position for the qualifying race on the next weekend. the pre weekend is optional but almost all cars show up as it can help you in qualifying positions and also get you some track time. So if he shows up next weekend, he will start last on the grid. For this Singer that is not a problem, he is not out there racing but more for pleasure of track time. At every classification there are always some that are really pushing hard and racing and others just having a good time.

I don't go to the historics anymore, I have gone for decades but my hotel which costs $234/night this past weekend is $581/night next weekend with a 4 night minimum so $2,400 for the weekend. Add to that $150 for the 2 day tickets or $205 for the 4 day tickets and I can fly home to France for less money, so now I go to the pre-weekend and see the same cars play. I save my money and visit my Mom in France instead but i do miss the races.

[Phillip]

My pleasure to help Jan. That is a lovely car and I think you definitely made the better choice.

Here's a photo of Martyn's "Replica" along with his original TT car AVC 481. This car was owned by SOC member Peter Fennell who raced it in the 50's and 60's. It was rebuilt by Peter years later, but sold on to the Gibson brothers who started another rebuild, but eventually sold the project on to Martyn. On a visit to Hardwicks Martyn then discovered the unfinished "Replica" and was able to purchase it off the family. So he's not only got a replica TT car but a real one too...lucky man!

Martyn_TT Cars_WEB.jpg (94.27 KiB) Viewed 97964 times

Cheers,
Phillip

[Impromptu]

Thank you Phillip: I really like the photograph of both cars side to side; indeed a lucky man to have both. Maybe one day I will see an original TT car in the metal, so I can see how much differences there between my Replica and the originals.

I am quite impressed by the cost for attending such a race weekend to be honest. I understand the price is a function of offer and demand, but at that price demand must be huge. Probably very justified, but still.

I wouldn't mind just participating on a small scale event. I cannot race well in any case, so just an outing on a circuit at some point would already be cool.

[mikeyr]

There are far less expensive races but the big one is Monterey/Laguna Seca and it runs the same weekend as Pebble Beach Concours so it gets all the big dollar cars and hotels are booked months in advance. Sonoma in wine country of California is reasonable as is Buttonwillow both of them have more pre-war cars on the track where Laguna Seca is more 1950s and up, Now, only 2 interesting classes pre-1927 and a 1927 to 1945 class. When I started going, there were far more pre-war cars. Of course the price of the race is minor compared to getting your car to the USA As I mentioned a lot of the cars are just out on a Sunday drive on the track for pleasure, the ones in front are racing hard for fun.

There were events in France, I have been to a few in the past but not as well organized as here, the ones in France were more of small clubs doing rally's or around big events like Le Mans.

Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing and seeing more of your car. It is quite a prize.

[Impromptu]

Sorry for not having followed up this thread for so long, but the registration of the car is taking a very long time. The next hurdle is a technical inspection, for which I thought pre-1960s cars to be exempt in France, but apparently not for the 1st registration.

In the mean time I reverted to simple maintenance. I opened the rocker cover to adjust the valve clearance. I tried to set them to 0.004” and 0.006”. What seems surprising is that on the rocker shaft support opposite the distribution side, a set screw seems missing (see photograph). Can anyone tell is this is an issue and if so, what size screw should be put in?

[mikeyr]

If you want to reply via. a private message, please do Jan. Roughly where are you in France ?

Reason I ask and left it public was for others in France, but if you want to reply via PM please do. IF I retire in July, note big IF, still not sure I am doing it, I will be in France for 3 to 6 months immediately after retiring and would love to see some Singer's. I may even hop over to the UK for a few days. I plan on visiting many parts of France, I will primarily be in the Bordelais at my mothers, but plan on Orleans, Lyon, Mont St. Michel, Aix, Sete, etc...so I will be all over.

[Impromptu]

Continued work and removed the sump from the engine. I removed also the oil filter (mesh), since I got an new one to replace it. To my surprise the old one has a tab on the top used to locate it on the oil suction pipe/disc. The new one doesn’t. Does anybody know if the tab on the top is a modification made to fit it to my engine, or is the new one really missing this fixation/locating part?

The old filter doesn’t clip into the top, only this tab does. The springy fingers below the filter push it on the sump bottom onto the disk with the oil pipe towards the pump.

All feedback appreciated.

[mikeyr]

Mine had a tab but it was brazed on so don't know if original.

[jeans_old_man]

Mine had a tab. It helps to hold it in place whilst fitting the sump.

[Impromptu]

Thanks for the feedback. I’m going to add a tab in that case. Will see how to attach it.
Will keep you informed on my progress.