Сингер Моторс: История британского автопроизводителя и велосипедного дела

British motor vehicle manufacturer

Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & 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. 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. It also offered removable handlebars and removable rear wheel. While safer, its performance suffered. These were fitted to bicycles. The design was used by Singer & 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 & Co offered an open frame ladies model. Singer & Co stopped building motorcycles at the outbreak of the First World War.

In 1909, Singer & Co built a series of racers and roadsters and entered several bikes in races, including the Isle of Man Senior TT in 1914. 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 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 engine. The Craig engine was replaced in 1906 by White & Poppe engines in Singer's two light car models. These were a twin and a 12/14 four cylinder. These were joined by a White & Poppe engined Doctor's Brougham and two Auster powered tourers, a 12/14 and a 20/22. 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. Production was suspended for the First World War, then resumed afterward. In 1924, the 15 was offered with a Weymann fabric body. Priced from £148 10s as a four seat tourer, it had only rear wheel brakes to start. Meanwhile, the 10/26 became the engined Senior, joined by the new Six, powered by a inline six based on the 10/26's and four wheel servo assisted brakes from Clayton Dewandre. Singer, restricted by a built in site, acquired other companies for factory space. In 1926, they made 9,000 cars. In 1929, with seven factories and 8,000 employees, they produced 28,000 cars, though having just 15% they trailed far behind Austin and Morris which shared 60% of the market. Hampered by their new acquisitions, the cost of new machinery and a moving assembly line in their latest acquisition, Singer's offerings were eclipsed by new models from Austin, Morris, and Hillman; from 1932, these were joined by the new Ford Model Y. The redesign left Singer with a few hundred older chassis, which the company bodied and sold as Deliverys, at £180. The Junior of 1931, with styling resembling the top priced saloon and a "waterfall" grille, which lent the car its common name. The range continued in a very complex manner using developments of the ohc Junior engine, with an , the Ten, the sidevalve 12/6, the sidevalve 18/6 (now ), and the OHV Silent Six (now ).). and was also offered with "aerodynamic" Airstream coachwork; Continuing decline in sales led to financial trouble, and Singer attempted to cut costs, such as by switching back to mechanical brakes on the Nine in 1939.

From 1938 to 1955, Singer Motors Ltd supplied new OHC engines (a few 9HP, a 10HP and numerous 12 HPs plus 4 speed gearboxes) for fitment to HRG Engineering Company's sports cars at Tolworth, Surrey these replaced the 1.5 litre Meadows engines fitted to earlier cars. After the Second World War, the new Roadster and the Ten and Twelve saloons all returned to production with little change. In 1948, Singer's first streamlined car appeared, the SM1500 (designed by Technical Director Shorter

The SM1500 was given a traditional radiator grille and renamed the Hunter in 1954; the high priced Hunter was equally in vain.

By 1955, the business was in financial difficulties and the Rootes Brothers bought it the following year. They had first handled Singer sales just before the First World War. The Singer brand was absorbed into their Rootes Group which had been an enthusiastic exponent of badge engineering since the early 1930s. The next Singer car, the Gazelle, was a more up market Hillman Minx. By 1970, Rootes were again struggling financially. They had been acquired by the American Chrysler corporation, and founder (by then Sir) William Rootes had died in 1964. In April 1970, as part of a rationalisation process, the last Singer rolled off the assembly line, almost 100 years after George Singer built the first cycle. The last car to carry the Singer name was an upmarket version of the rear engined Hillman Imp called the Chamois. With the take over of Rootes by Chrysler begun in 1964 and completed in 1967, many of the brands were set to vanish and use of the Singer name ended in 1970. The site of the Singer factory in Coventry is now occupied by Singer Hall, a hall of residence for Coventry University.