The other day I got to thinking about what first got me interested in
owning a British sports car. I think it was a ski trip that a friend of
my dad's invited us on. It was just the three of us in my dad's
friend's Singer 4-seater roadster. For me it was an uncomfortable but
fun ride wedged in between all of our gear in the back seat. I was
about 12 at the time. Later, when I was old enough to drive, I wanted a
Singer. Actually, I really wanted an MG TD or TF but a TD in reasonable
condition cost $500-$600 which was about double my net worth at the
time. Of course, a TF was even more. But $200-$300 was the price range
an average condition Singer. There used to be a lot of them around in
southern California then. In fact, I almost did buy one. I pretty much
had the deal worked out but just couldn't convince my parents to lend me
the extra 20 or so dollars needed to close things. My promise to let
the car sit in the driveway until I could save up enough for
registration fees and insurance somehow didn't wash with them. Anyway,
I had to wait a couple of more years before I got my first LBC, a '51
TD.
So what ever happen to all of those 4-seater Singer roadsters? I
haven't seen one in years. I couldn't even find one listed in the
classified sections of any of my sports car mags. For anyone who has
never seen one, it looked a little bit like a T series MG with clamshell
fenders and squarish radiator grill up front (not the little sedans that
were later sold in this country).
Roland Dudley
cobra@hpcilan.hp.com
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