4AD Instrument Panel Details

[kabu]

The page http://www.singercars.com/4ax/4ad_dash.html shows different instrument panel layouts for 4AD roadsters. My car is a late model 4ADT, chassis number 3160 X so the correct layout seems to be the last one on the list. And the remains of the panel seems to back this idea.

There is two warning lights in the panel, for ignition and for main beam. Having looked at instrument panel pictures from various sourced it looks like the correct warning light type is this but what is the warning light color? Are they both red?

My car is also missing the instrument panel light switch. Again, pictures from various sourced would suggest that this might the correct switch type (Lucas S50 rotary on-off switch). Does that look correct?

BR/
Pekka

[mikeyr]

Yes, those look correct.

[kabu]

Thanks Mike. Do you know the warning light colors, are they both red?

Pekka

[kabu]

One additional question about instrument panel details. What are the correct starter and choke knobs like? Do they have any text or C/S symbol on them or are they just plain black?

BR/
Pekka

[mikeyr]

I have seen both Red and Green and also both Red.

The starter/choke knobs are brown and they are engraved with the letters "Starter" and "Choke" on them, they look like Bakelite.

Mike

[mikeyr]

Ugly pictures but here is my cars dash, its very original.

unfortunately the shadow of the steering wheel covers the "START" button but you can see it a little anyway.

The entire dash

[kabu]

Thank You again Mike, this is really helpful.

Actually it might be a good idea to collect all this information and detail pictures to some website. Hmm, maybe I should put them on my site.

BR/
Pekka

[mikeyr]

You are welcome to put them on your website but this website is where I think they should be, it was after all created for my 4AD initially.

Have you looked here http://www.singercars.com/4ax/4ad_dash.html

or here http://www.singercars.com/4ax/

I have several hundred gigabytes for storing pictures of what ever details you want.

I will be taking several hundreds of pictures of my 4AD before it gets sold since it is so original I figured it would be good for future reference.

Mike

[djcraig]

Hey . . .speaking of authentic . . .I seem to recall that my 1954 4AD instrument panel was some kind of wood covered with vinyl (Pleather) overlay . . .and you, Mike , commented that mine was the first panel that you had ever seen with a vinyl overlay. The car is long gone (Mexico?) but when you came to NE for the 2000 STOWE event, you wrote that comment somewhere . . .point being that to be authentic, some of the roadsters out there should have a plastic covered panel !!!!!

[Paul Bouchard]

Dave,

Good point! The '54 4ADT that Phil and I recently acquired also has a "pleather" cover on it. The steering wheel too is a cream colour vs the usual black. Expect the unexpected when it comes to Singers!

Paul

[Peter McKercher]

Absolutely. My 4ADT had a vinyl covered fascia. I assume all the last few years of roadsters did. It looked very nice, certainly in keeping with the style of the mid Fifties. The MG TDs of the same era did as well, so it was definitely an industry trend.

[mikeyr]

Whoa, whoa there horsey...

ALL 4AD's had "leatherette" covering the dash, they most certainly did not have Red Narra dashboards like mine. When I say my dash is original, it has all the correct instruments and knobs/switches/lights in the proper location.

The leatherette looks awful and I had a chunk of Red Narra that I made my dash out of, I can cover it with vinyl in about 15 minutes if you want it to be ugly and original. And you are right Craig, yours was the first restored or driver that I had seen with the leatherette, I have never seen a restored car with it as the wood is so much better looking. I do have enough vinyl from the seats to do the dash as I was planning on covering it until I got the Red Narra I am fairly convinced that the wood was whatever the then UK equivalent of Philippine Mahogany as I have torn apart several 4ADs that had what sure looked like Philippine Mahogany.

p.s. Red Narra is a now near illegal exotic hardwood, really hard to find these days of maintainable forests.

[kabu]

This is definately new information to me. All the pictures I have seen show roadsters with a wooden dashboard. The dashboard on my car is in bad condition and far from being original but there is some piping around the glove box opening tha looks original. Indeed, when I examined the remains of the piping and its cnstruction closer it definately looks like the panel has originally been covered with grey(ish) vinyl. Apparently the vinyt has been deteriorating rapidly on these cars and the vinyl has been taken off and replaced by wood surface. On my car the whole dash has been covered with this plywood that has been painted black. The plywood even blocks the glove box opening. The remains of the vinyl on my dash shows that the vinyl has an uncommon grain pattern, it has tiny "island" shaped patterns and not the usual leather grain. Does anyone has an idea where I could find this type of vinyl?

Mike, you are absolutely right, the correct place for the collected technical information would be on this website. If I manage to get this into some structured format I will send it to you so that you can put it here.

BR/
Pekka

[Paul Bouchard]

Pekka,

Our 4ADT also has a "leatherique" or vinyl cover, an original feature for this car & year. From the photo you can see how some small animals used some of it to make their winter nests during the almost 40 years that the car sat idle. The steering wheel on this car was a cream colour... also interesting!

Here is a photo of the dash:

[kabu]

Thank You Paul,

This is the first photo I have seen with a vinyl covered dashboard. This raises further questions, the colour in your picture seems to be brown biscuit or tan. However the remains of the vinyt in my cars dashboard are quite clearly grey. The remaining parts have been on a location that has not seen sunlight so they shouldn't have faded that much. So the question is if the dashboards came in different colours, maybe depending on the car and interior colour? (or maybe just what Singer managed to get Anyway, your car also has different dashboard colour than the seat and door covers are. My car is black with red interior, which is the original specification according to the factory records obtained via British Singer Club. And now it seems like it had grey vinyl dashboard.

Paul, would you be so kind and clarify me some further details on the dashboard. I have a pattern on how the vinyl was attached on the glove box opening from my own dashboard. Figuring out the fixing around the gauges and the top of the dashboard is also straightforward. How is the vinyl attached to the bottom of the dashboard? From the picture it liiks like it has just been bent around the bottom edge and then propably nailed to the dash wood and there is no seams there. I assume the vinyl is of the non-stretching "rexine" type which is harder to get around corners neatly. Could you get be a detail picture on the bottom edge of the dashboard. Also if you could ge a picture that would show the grain pattern on the vinyl. It might be difficult but does it have typoical leather grain or different small "islands" pattern like in my dash vinyl? And finally, could you measure how deep is the glove box bottom from the front surface of the dashboard. My car does not have a glove box at all so I need to fabricate one.

Best Regards,
Pekka