Singer Motors Guides, Photos and Videos

Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer and Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer and Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.

Singer Motor Co was the first motor manufacturer to make a small economy car that was a replica of a large car, showing a small car was a practical proposition. It was much more sturdily built than otherwise similar cyclecars. With its four-cylinder ten horsepower engine the Singer Ten was launched at the 1912 Cycle and Motor Cycle Show at Olympia. William Rootes, a Singer apprentice at the time of its development and consummate car-salesman, contracted to buy 50, the entire first year's supply. It became a best-seller. Ultimately, Singer's business was acquired by his Rootes Group in 1956, which continued the brand until 1970, a few years following Rootes' acquisition by the American Chrysler corporation.

George Singer began his bicycle-making business in Coventry in 1874.At the time, he was foreman of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company, from which he resigned. He was joined in the business by J. E. Stringer, his brother-in-law. It appears Singer was inspired to produce a bicycle safer than the Ordinary (penny-farthing) type standard at the time, by cyclist George Dominy. Singer did not alter the large front and small rear wheel design of the Ordinary, but by raking the front forks (a first) did make it safer. He patented the design on 24 October 1878.

He followed this with an 1879 model having a large rear wheel and small front wheels which could be folded aside. and in 1885 with a tricycle, rear wheels driven by chain, which also featured a handbrake (designed by Singer and his associate, R. H. Lea) on the rear axle.

In about 1888, Singer introduced the Rational, a diamond-framed model with wheels the same size, each about 30 in (76 cm) diameter. It also offered removable handlebars and removable rear wheel. While safer, its performance suffered. Nevertheless, it proved popular with cycle tourers.

In 1895, Singer Cycle faced a £600,000 "floatation by that egregious company promoter" Terah Hooley, but survived. It also weathered an industry slump in 1898 that wiped out many British bicycle makers.

Singer Cycle Company began producing motor cars in 1901.

Singer Cycle began motor vehicle production in 1901, purchasing the manufacturing rights to the Perks and Hooch Motor Wheel, a one-cylinder engine contained in a spoked aluminium wheel, known as a motorwheel. It was a 222 cc (13.5 cu in) four-stroke designed by former Beeston employees Edwin Perks and Frank Birch. A unique feature was that the engine, fuel tank, carburettor and low-tension magneto were all housed in a two-sided cast alloy spoked wheel. It was probably the first motor bicycle to be provided with magneto ignition. It was perhaps the only motorcycle engine of its era with reliable ignition. These were fitted to bicycles. The design was used by Singer and Co in the rear wheel and then the front wheel of a trike.

In 1904, he developed a range of more conventional motorcycles which included 346 cc two strokes and, from 1911, side-valve models of 299 cc and 535 cc. In 1913 Singer and Co offered an open-frame ladies model.

Singer and Co stopped building motorcycles at the outbreak of the First World War.

In 1909, Singer and Co built a series of racers and roadsters and entered several bikes in races, including the Isle of Man Senior TT in 1914.George E. Stanley broke the one-hour record at Brooklands race track on a Singer motorcycle in 1912, becoming the first ever rider of a 350 cc motorcycle to cover over 60 miles (97 km) in an hour.

Singer's first tricar was the Tri-Voiturette. It was powered by a 2 1⁄2 hp (1.9 kW) engine, and offered in two models, the No. 1 (passenger facing backward) and Mo. 2 (passenger facing forward); both fitted the passenger seat well behind the rear axle.

At the 1902 Cordingly Show, at the Islington Agricultural Hall, Singer showed two commercial variants of the Tri-Voiturette, the Motor Carrier, one for tradesmen, one for dairymen.

The Tri-Voiturette was replaced by another tricar, which had two front wheels and a driven year, more horsepower, and a coachbuilt body, but with the passenger now in front of the driver.

The first Singer-designed car was the 4-cylinder 2.4-litre 12/14 of 1906. The engine was bought in from Aster.

Singer made their first four-wheel car in 1905. It was designed by Scottish engineer Alexander Craig and was a variant of a design he had done for Lea-Francis having a 2-cylinder 1,853 or 2,471 cc (113.1 or 150.8 cu in) engine.

The Craig engine was replaced in 1906 by White and Poppe engines in Singer's two light car models. These were a 7 hp (5.2 kW) twin and a 12/14 four-cylinder. These were joined by a White and Poppe-engined Doctor's Brougham and two Auster-powered tourers, a 12/14 and a 20/22.

For 1907, the Lea-Francis design was dropped and a range of two-, three- and four-cylinder models was launched, using White and Poppe engines. The Aster engined models were dropped in 1909 and a new range of larger cars introduced. All cars were now White and Poppe powered.

Singer experimented with a cyclecar, powered by a transversely-mounted aircooled engine in 1911-12. Instead, the company built a light car, the Ten, which debuted in 1912 with a 10 hp (7.5 kW) 1,096 cc (66.9 cu in) four-cylinder engine; its main drawback was a three-speed transmission built into the rear axle. The Ten was the company's first big seller. The same year, two years after George Singer's death, the "bicycle wheel" radiator emblem was deleted. That year's primary product was a 16/20, powered by a White and Poppe engine.

Complete article available at this page.