Saturday, February 24, 2007

Cars as Stars...

This is probably one of the most famous pre-war Singers in the world of film: A 1935 Le Mans Special Speed Model driven with verve by Michael James, AKA Peter O’Toole in the 1965 comedy ‘What’s New Pussycat?'

Besides featuring a Singer car, the movie was notable for making a household name out of Singer Tom Jones, who sang the theme song written by Burt Bacharach..”woah woah”...
Who can forget that!

It was also Woody Allen’s film debut and his first produced script. Other stars included Peter Sellers, Romy Schneider and Ursula Andress who, in very James Bond style, parachutes into the passenger seat on the way to the film’s climax at Chateau Chantelle.

NASOC member Gene Abbondello will probably note with some satisfaction that the French registered Singer is fitted with his favoured yellow headlamp bulbs!

Actually, Singer cars have appeared in more films that you’d think. Take a look at the amazing Cars in Film Database at www.imcdb.org/vehicles.php?make=singer&model=

Photo courtesy Cars in Film Database
Film brief courtesy Wickapedia

Sunday, February 18, 2007

A Brand New Baby...

It's the summer of 1936 and Mr and Mrs Revecomb of Revecomb Motors look pleased with their latest delivery.

It's a 1936 Singer Le Mans Special Speed Model and fresh off the boat from England, ready for shipment to its first owner waiting with anticipation down in San Diego, USA

This little blue car is just begining 0ver 70 years of adventures to date and still going strong and know to all as 'Baby Blue'

Look may she roll!

Photo courtesy of Gladys Revecomb / John Beresford

Saturday, February 17, 2007

The Third Man?

The time...June 1937.

The place...Los Angeles.

The man...Mr T. H. M. Taylor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The car...a light blue 1936 Singer Nine Le Mans Special Speed Model.

This photo accompanied an article by Mrs Taylor that was printed in the January 1938 edition of Popular Motoring, the Singer Company in-house magazine. It chronicles the Taylor's adventurous drive from Vancouver down to Mexico and back again. All-in, they travelled over 5,000 miles in three weeks at an average of 41 miles per gallon and the Singer never missed a beat. Not bad!

Here's the mystery: Revecomb Motors only sold ONE Singer Sports car via their dealerships in Vancouver and Victoria. That car, according to Gladys Revecomb, was sold new to a US resident and shipped to San Diego. This would have been my car, as discussed in this blog.

Toronto was the other popular city for British cars in Canada and a number of Singers were sold there. As mentioned in a previous post, Jack Luck's car was probably the 2nd of 3 officially imported 1936 Le Mans models sold new in North America and it lived in Ontario for much of its life, possibly going to the USA later. It is also possible that car was originally painted ivory and apple green. So where does Mr T. H. M. Taylor's car fit?! Unlike 'Baby Blue', my car, which was shipped down to California and worked her way north, this car was based in Vancouver and drove south.

Is there some convoluted way that my car and Mr Taylor's are one and the same? Unlikely, I expect, unless the Revecomb information is off and the car was traded in by the Taylors and shipped to the USA after to be purchased by Irene Fergusen.

So was this car a private import, but still one of the original three, as reported in the factory ledgers?

Any leads gratefully received!

Photo courtesy the Avis Collection

Please show good manner and ask permission to use any photo or text from this blog

Friday, February 16, 2007

Number Two?...

Could this 1936 Singer Le Mans be the second of three cars originally imported new into Canada?

Taken somewhere around Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 1950's, it shows proud owner Jack Luck at the wheel. Jack, a designer by trade, was an early member of the Singer Owner's Car Club as formed by Keith McDowall and which has grown into the current UK Singer Owner's Club. Jack designed the original club badge, another Canadian connection.

It's interesting to note the similar modifications made on Baby Blue, my Singer, and Jack's car back in the '50's, including bumper bars and a conversion to Lucas 700 series headlamps.

Photo courtesy The Singer Owner / Keith McDowell

Please show good manners and ask permission to use any photos or text on this blog- Thanks!
Racing Red...
Here's a great snap of Jean Burkhard, wife of Jack Burkhard, preparing to take my Singer out for a run around the cones at a Gymkana somewhere in Los Angeles circa summer of '53. The car is sporting a fresh coat of fire engine red on the body and a slightly darker shade of red on the wings.




Not to be out-done, Jack Burkhard's friend Curt Parker puts the Singer through its paces with a young John Burkhard in the passenger's seat taking photos.
Photos courtesy of John Burkhard
Please show good manners and ask permission ot use any photos or text from this blog - Thanks!
Just The Facts Ma'am...

It's certainly not uncommon for the facts to get blurred or mistaken when you're dealing with rare marques like Singer and 'experts' often make assumptions. Given the scarcity of information about these cars, it's not surprising perhaps, but when information is being 'archived for future reference', it begs the proper crossing of 'T"s and dotting of 'i's'.

This photo of an old familiar face appeared recently in an e-mail missive archived on singercars.com and, yes indeed it is my own car, 'Baby Blue' a 1936 Singer Le Mans Special Speed Model as seen in earlier posts of this blog...although I was not credited as the current owner in the actual archived message.

According to the message text, the photo was taken in 1949 at the Cal Club Time Trials in Van Nuys, California and the car was driven by David Addison, further credence to the car's early competition history. It was owned at the time - and likely purchased new (although more on this in a later post!) - by a Miss Irene Fergusen of San Diego who emigrated to the Middle East probably late in 1952. By then, she had clocked up about 60,000 miles in the car. Irene must have been quite a character!

The car is claimed to be in it's 'original darker hue' (of blue) which is incorrect. British lacquer paint and leather trim did not fare well in the California climate and a few years is all one could expect. It had been painted black during Irene's ownership and had been upgraded with chrome bumpers and tan canvas spare tyre covers. This is confirmed by areas of black paint that survive under the present light blue, along with traces of red paint, with the factory original light blue appearing under all.

The Singer was purchased by Jack Burkhard- not 'Burkhardt'- in the fall of 1951 after Irene had left the country. In the spring of 1952, Jack painted the car a two-tone red and 'souped up' the engine for more competition work. Jack was a friend of the gang that produced Road & Track magazine at the time. They were all true sports car enthusiasts and so he was asked to provide the car for a feature in the March 1953 edition of the magazine. After Jack sold the car in late 1953, it was repainted back to the original light blue by the next owner, William Smith, who ran British Motor Works in La Jolla.

The Singer Owner's Club in the UK confirms this car as being one of the three Singer Nine Le Mans that were officially imported into North America prior to the second world war, so it never had a British registration number. Amazingly, I purchased the Singer with only 67,000 miles on it and am most probably the fifth owner. Most of the cars history is pretty much known from new and I have been in communication with the family that owned the dealership that imported the car (and who supplied photos of it when new) as well as John Burkhard, son of Jack, who also supplied photos taken during his Dad's ownership. John actually learnt to drive in the Singer and used it as daily transport for a while.

The car was shipped new to British Columbia, Canada for Revecomb Motors, either to their Vancouver or Victoria office. The Singer then lived most of it's life in California, first in San Diego, then Los Angeles, then La Jolla, then back to San Diego. Tom Turner purchased the Singer from William Smith in late 1961 and shipped the car with him when he moved east to Chicago. There it stayed, mostly in storage, along with Tom's other cars, until I purchased it from his wife Betty. Tom had passed away and it was very important to Betty that the car went to someone who would really care for it, a caveat of the sale being that they had first refusal to buy it back!

I still keep in regular touch with Betty Turner and she enjoys hearing about the exploits of the 'Little (light!) Blue Car'!

Photo courtesy www.singercars.com

Please show good manners and ask permission to use any photos or text from this blog - Thanks!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

The Next Generation...
Here's a great photo of young Kit Keyser, son of Eric and Jane Keyser in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

When they were living in the UK, the Keyser family bought this 1937 Singer Nine Le Mans from Paul Barnes, a member of the British Singer Owners Club. Paul had bought it from Tony Raynor, also a member of the SOC. Tony subsequently emigrated to California and is now the Historian for our North American Singer Owners Club.

The car started life as a Sports 4 seater, of which only 19 were produced before the Nine range of sports cars were phased out in 1937. The car had already been converted to a two seater by the time Tony bought it. The Singer was featured in The Autocar magazine at the time Paul and Tony were arranging the deal back in August of 1978. The Keysers were considering selling the car, but Kit has developed an interest in the Singer and after a visit from Phillip Avis, our NASOC Pre-War Registrar, have decided to keep it and get it back on the road. Congratulations!

Look for the full story in issue 2-2007 of NASOC NEWS!

Photo courtesy Eric & Jane Keyser

Please show good manners and ask permission to use any photos or text from this blog- thanks!