George Singer and the Singer Company
The Singer Factory in Canterbury Street. ({Photo by M.Stratton, Ironbridge Institute)
The five Singer factories in Hillfields.
Singer Van, 1931
This van, photographed at the Museum of British Road Transport, was found in 1970 in an old building in Leicestershire. A tree with a foot thick trunk had grown in front of the door. The van had been inside for some time! The vehicle was lovingly restored by the museum and then used for the collection of exhibits from around the city and was in constant use until very recently, when it was decided that the 10 h.p. engine and cable operated brakes was not really capable of dealing with modern traffic.
1951 Singer (1502 cc)
Singer resumed production after the Second World War with pre-war designs. However in 1948 they started production of an entirely new full-width 1.5 litre saloons (the SM1500) to compete with the new Austin A40 range. At that time cars for the home market were scarce, most being exported, and Singer were able to sell all the cars that they could make. When normality returned the shortcomings of the model and its £799 asking price could not compete with other mass produced British cars and it was the last but one mass produced model made by Singer before it was taken over by the Rootes Group in 1956. This car can be seen at the Museum of British Road Transport.