Hi Gang…

For nearly 15 years I’ve worked with members of the North American Singer Owner’s Club (NASOC) to help document the history of Singer custom bodied sports and race cars in America.  Initially my interest was in the Glasspar bodied Singer sports car built by Bill Tritt in early 1952.

Click  Here  To  Read  Stories  About  The  Vaughan-Singer  Glasspar  G2

But what I learned about Singer during my research piqued my interest.  All Singer 4AD Roadsters built in England from 1951 to 1954 were built for export and the majority of these were sent to America.  This makes the Singer 4AD Roadster an English sports car but one where the history, performance, sales, racing and more is nearly all American.  That “twist” in its history is what grabs my interest – and hopefully yours too.

During their day, Singers weren’t unknown as they are today.  Instead they were well-known with a solid racing history across America and celebrity appearances and endorsements on both coasts.  It’s truly a fascinating story to learn about this sports car marque.

With a powerful engine, Singers were well-known to excel in their race events and not surprisingly they were a candidate for being rebodied to update their style – just as many MG’s were rebodied with fiberglass bodies in the early and mid 1950s.  It’s a very cool history and one that includes a custom-built Singer sports car both designed and built in 1955 by the former chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – Jules “J” Heumann.  It doesn’t get any better than that gang 🙂

Let’s take a look at some of these American Singer Specials that were built and their history.  And away we go.

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The American Special-Bodied Singer Sports Cars Of The Early Postwar Period

1955  Jules  “J”  Heumann  Singer  Special
Design  Based  on  Cisitalia Nuvolari  Spyder
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1954  Arnt-Buchanan  “Van  Lannen”  Special
Design  Based  on  a  C-Type  Jaguar
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1954  Multiplex  186
Race  Car  /  Sports  Car  –  Designed  and  Built  in  Berwick,  Pennsylvania
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1954  Allied  “Cisitalia”  Swallow  Coupe
Lost  To  The  Years  Until  2015
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1953  Perry  Fuller  Special
One-off  Design  Ultimately  Used  to  Create  The  Singer  SMX
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1952  BMC  Singer  by  Kjell  Qvale
Just  a  Few  Built – One  a  Race  Car  and  One  A  Sports  Car
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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1952  Glasspar  Vauhgn-Singer
Custom  Built  For  Bill  Vaughan  As  Show  Car  in  1952
Click  Here  To  Learn  More

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Summary:

There were quite a variety of special-bodied Singer sports cars in America in the fifties, and more remain to be found today.

We found our Allied Swallow Singer Special just a few years ago – undocumented until that time.  How many Victress S5 or other special bodied Singers may be out there?  Hopefully some of you may find those very cars and share them with us here at Undiscovered Classics.  And we know that more than two BMC Singer Specials were built by Kjell Qvale.  It’s a handsome car and we hope to find one of these examples in the near future.

Peter McKercher of the North American Singer Owners Club and I have recently completed the Singer section of Undiscovered Classics which focuses on Peter’s research and writings on the Singer sports car history in postwar America.  Additional information is included in this part of our website from the North American Singers Owner’s Club (NASOC) and includes history on the sports cars, race cars and special-bodied Singers.  While Singers may have been well-known across America in the fifties, today they are not, and it’s just that kind of “lost story” that makes it interesting to “dig into the data” for all of us.

And what would Undiscovered Classics be if not for sharing unique, lost and worthwhile stories like Singer sports car history in postwar America.  I think those of you who appreciate sports car history will enjoy delving into this newly created section of our website below:

Click  Here  To  View  The  Singer  History  Section  of  our  Website

Hope you enjoyed the story, and remember…

The adventure continues here at Undiscovered Classics.

Geoff