Le Mans recreation

[Impromptu]

Hello all,

New forum member here. I am also new to pre-war motoring and in particular to Singer cars.

Since some time I've been looking in getting a Singer 9 Le Mans. I found 2 cars for sale in the Netherlands, both with non-factory bodies. I finally decided to get the one with a Replica body recreation. The registration document mentions the built year as 1935 and it uses a low chassis. There seems some confusion when the body was put on the car, either in the 1970s or the 1990s from what I've been told. The car appears well maintained.

Could anyone say if it's possible to get more information on the original car's specifications and how?
Thank you in advance for your help.

[mikeyr]

The UK clubs will have the information based on the chassis number, they can get you how it left the factory.

This page will show you where to get the serial numbers to give them.
https://www.singercars.com/9-le-mans-se ... locations/

[Impromptu]

Thank you Mike. I’ll try to reach put to one of them.

As soon as a have decent photographs of the car, I’ll share them on this thread. Perhaps someone recognises the car and may be able to uncover part of its history.

[Peter McKercher]

Sounds like you are talking about the Lemaitre car chassis #48424. If so, it was originally a standard 1933 Singer Nine Sports, painted red with red wheels. It was shipped to Holland May 10th 1933. The original owner apparently commissioned coachbuilder Lemaitre to do the body modifications. Phil Avis did a story on it in the NASOC News Issue 6-2022.

[Impromptu]

The Lemaitre car was the other car I considered. And that one comes with lots of history.
This one was presumably rebodied end of the 1970s in the style of the replica cars and uses an underslung chassis instead of the high chassis of the Lemaitre. It also has a significantly later chassis number (not sure if I can publically post the number), which I assume explains the 1935 registration.
I’ll try to attach a photograph of the car.

[Peter McKercher]

Really nice looking car. Was it rebodied to race?

[Impromptu]

There is very little history supplied with the car, so I don’t know. I bought it in Belgium, but It was imported in the Netherlands in 1990 and stayed there until early this year. There are a few stickers on the car from car events over the last 2 decades, but I know nothing more. It would be nice to learn more about the car and its history.

[tvdwerf]

Try the Dutch Singer club, I also have a list from cars / numbers / licence plates, in some magazines.
If the car was from a club member, the details are written there.
If I know the Dutch numberplate, (or chassis number) I can look in the Singer songs from 2006 if there was a club member who owns the car that year.

[Impromptu]

That would be great if you have access to that data. The old Dutch registration was DE-63-98.

I contacted the Dutch Singer club and I am in the process of becoming a member, but it will likely take untill after the summer before the process is competed.

As Peter implied, I think I would enjoy participating in vintage races or similar. There must be a few events where this type of car would be eligible to participate, although I am not familiar with them yet. I saw a Singer LeMans at LeMans Classic compete this year, but I’m unsure if this car would be elegible.

[mikeyr]

There is a 33 Singer that competes at Laguna Seca Historics every year. I will be there tomorrow and see if he is here this year

[Peter McKercher]

Does he attend every year. Haven't heard from him for a long time.

[tvdwerf]

Yep,
its is in the list.
written as a 9R replica from 1935, from mister *****.
It was A D.S.O.C. member in 2006
Send me a PB, and I can give more details.

[Impromptu]

The Laguna Seca event seems to have some lovely cars competing. Too bad it’s somewhat far from where I live.
Thanks for sharing though.

[Phillip]

Hi Jan,

Congratulations on the purchase of your "TT replica" Singer - one that we can really call a TT Replica! It's been around quite a while and I believe I downloaded some history on it some time ago. I will have to dig into my backup drives to see what I have.

I have researched the Lemaistre car and the story does not hold up to research. It was a standard Nine Sports when sold and I provided all of the information about it in my article, some of which was quoted in this thread. It was not ordered as a chassis and even the Singer company told the owner of the time that they could not verify any provenance beyond it being a standard car when sold. That said, I am sure the real story of what happened to it after is every bit as interesting!

I consulted on the restoration of "Green Wings", the 1933 Nine Sports owned by Ron Stauber and often raced at the Historics. As he says, he's generally lapped by the pace car, but he puts on a great show and has been a wonderful ambassador for the Marque. It's interesting that he is listed as participating this year, as the car was recently spotted at a show in New England - a long way from California - and Ron is living on the east coast, at least part of the time it seems. Not that that would stop him...lol!

You did very well to buy the Singer you did and I am sure you will get great enjoyment out of it.

Cheers,
Phillip

[Impromptu]

Hi Phillip,

I never thought of it being a real Replica, thanks for pointing that out. I feel all of a sudden far less guilty to ask the forum for help, it makes it sound far less of a 'frankenstein' car like that

I have seen some of the Lemaitre car documentation as well, and indeed the previous (long term) owner spent quite some efforts (unfortunately in vain) to clarify it's history pre-1950. Living in France, it would be the French part of the history that would be of interest. It's history since 1951 is however very, very, well documented.

I would definitely be interested to read more if you find back some history about my green car. Thanks in advance.
Teake was so kind to reach out and he suggests me to contact the Dutch SOC secretary to confirm the name of a previous owner in the early 2000s.

It's still a mystery to me why a 1935 registered car can have an underslung chassis. I contacted the British SOC for any information they may have with the chassis number.

Presently I am in the process of changing all the fluids. Brakes are done, and I intend to do the engine next. I read somewhere on the forum I can use the 20W50 classic motor oil also for the gearbox. Can anyone confirm this? I also like to exchange the differential oil. The original booklet indicates Castrol D, but I could only find Castrol D140 for sale these days. Would that be a suitable replacement or rather another oil?