Web Forum for Singer Cars

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the winter wonderland of Michigan, but like Mike I am also trying to get a singer project done by the New Year. I was wondreing what the original colour for the fan and water pump pully on the 4AD's was? I am just about ready to drop the engine back into the frame and am just trying to get the last few bits put on.

thank you

Forrest

Hey Forrest,

The 4ADT that Paul and I had was very original and had never been restored ( now beautifully restored by current owner John Lewis ) The engine was still all painted the primer brown and, if I recall correctly, that included the fan assembly. The ancillaries such as dynamo and starter were black, as well as the air filter assemblies. Carbs were natural metal, as was the exhaust manifold casting.

Many people today seem to paint the fan black, leave the pulley natural metal and paint the water pump the same colour as the engine. I have also noticed that many people paint the engine red rather than the original flat primer brown.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Phillip

Phillip;

Thank you I have now pulled the red 4AD that I had in Stowe out of deep storage and will take a look and see what I can find. As you may recall this car was also very original and I will try to catalog all that I find. It may make a good reference as to originality but as we all know someone has always been there before. I do not think that this car has been touched since 1963, except for the light cleaning that I gave it before Stowe and there are still some walnuts rolling around in there.

Forrest

AND THE ANSWER IS "RED"

i PULLED MY RED CAR THAT I HAD AT STOWE OUT OF DEEP STORAGE TO DO SOME "CAR"CHEOLOGY. THATS A LOT LIKE ARCHEOLOGY ONLY ON A CAR. AS SOME OF YOU MAY RECALL THIS CAR WAS IN POOR SHAPE BUT WAS NOT MESSED WITH TOO MUCH. WE HAD KEPT THIS CAR JUST FOR THIS PURPOSE TO SEE HOW THE OTHER WOULD GO TOGETHER. MOST OF THE PAINT WAS GONE OFF THE FRONT SIDE OF THE FAN BLADES DUE TO SAND BLASTING AND RUST. THE REAR HOWEVER STILL HAD WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE THE ORIGINAL COLOUR WHICH MATCHES WELL WITH SAFETY RED FROM RUSTOLIUM. IT APPEARS THAT THE PULLY AND FAN BLADES WERE PAINTED AS ONE UNIT BOTH ALL IN SAFETY RED AND THEN PUT ON THE WATER PUMP AFTER THE ENGINE WAS PAINTED.

AS A SIDE BAR THE RED CAR (OLD RED) WAS STORRED AT MY PARTNERS SHOP AND THEY HAD A FIRE WITH HEAVY SMOKE DAMMAGE. LUCKY FOR US THE CAR ONLY HAD SMOKE DAMMAGE AND A NEW NICKNAME (OLD STINKY).

STILL HOPE TO GET SOME WORK DONE THIS YEAR BUT THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR!

FORREST

its not really red, its ugly brownish red. And yes, I am pretty sure they assembled the motor and shot it as a unit. I was lucky enough in the late 1970s to see 2 original cars when the original owner still owned them (his and hers cars) both were that ugly primer red and overspray everywhere.

Thanks Forrest,

So our cross-referencing matches up! Primer brown everything!

As Mike mentions, I am sure that the engines were shot with that rather depressing colour once they had been built up as a long block and then had the carbs, manifold, starter and generator added. It was hardly an 'automated' assembly line!

Happy Christmas!