The ex-Works, Barnes/Langley, 1934 Le Mans 24-Hour Race, 1936 RAC Rally-winning
1934 Singer 1½-Litre Le Mans Sports
Registration no. KV 9246
Chassis no. LM14
Engine no. G7545

Coventry cycle manufacturer Singer first ventured into the world of powered transport in 1901, making tricycles and motorcycles. Tri-cars soon followed, with motor car production proper commencing in 1905 using proprietary engines. The first Singer-powered model - the 10hp - debuted at The Cycle & Motor Cycle Show in November 1912. Because it weighed less than 7cwt and was under 1,100cc in capacity (actually 1,096cc) the 10hp Singer was classed as a cyclecar, which explains the choice of venue. But unlike the majority of contemporary cyclecars, which were flimsy affairs of limited practicality, the new baby Singer was a proper light car and thus a development of immense significance. Priced at £185 at launch and produced for more than a decade, the Ten was an immense commercial success for Singer and is regarded as a landmark model in the history of the British motor industry. With its foundations as a major motor manufacturer established, Singer went from strength to strength and by the end of the 1920s was Britain's third largest car producer behind Austin and Morris. Like rivals MG, Singer recognised the validity of the adage 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' and pursued an active competitions programme during the 1930s, commencing with the Sports and Le Mans versions of the Nine that had been introduced in 1932. The Le Mans had resulted from a successful venture into endurance racing, when a Nine Sports took 13th place in the 1933 Le Mans 24-Hour Race. But it was in trials events that the sporting Nines proved particularly effective, successfully challenging the previously dominant MGs. Capitalising on the Nine's success, in May 1933 Singer had introduced a 1½-Litre Sports based on the existing six-cylinder 14hp model, and predictably followed that up with a Le Mans version in '34. The six-cylinder 1½-Litre's 7th and 8th place finishes at Le Mans in 1934 would prove to be the highlight of its endurance racing career. In trials, rallies and other competitions though, the 1½-litre Singer remained a force to be reckoned with. This is the Singer works team's 1½-Litre (chassis number 'LM14', competitor number '25') which finished 3rd in the Rudge-Whitworth Cup and 8th overall in the 1934 Le Mans 24-Hour Race driven by Stanley Barnes, the Singer Competitions Manager, and works driver Alf Langley. It also entered the Ards TT that year but was timed out after pit stop problems. The other 1½-Litre car at Le Mans in 1934 was the Fox & Nichols prepared private entry driven by the aristocratic paring of the Hon Brian Lewis and John Hindmarsh (competitor number '26'). Both cars were driven to the circuit. A contemporary report records that the Lewis/Hindmarsh car was timed at 105mph with 'LM14' 'not much slower'. 'LM14' completed 1,615 miles at an average speed of 67mph. When Singer withdrew from racing in 1935 following the infamous accidents in the '35 Ards TT involving the Singer Nines, the works cars became part of the highly successful Autosports team run by Stanley and Donald Barnes. Three of the 1½-Litres were remodelled for trials and rallies with various modifications and known as the 'Three Graces' (and individually as 'This, That and t'Other' – 'LM14' being the latter). Among its long list of achievements is 1st overall in the 1936 RAC Rally, driven by Alf Langley, and numerous successes in trials such as the Sunbac Colmore Trophy Trial, the Exeter Trial and many others. These three so-called 'Crabtracks' survive in the UK but one is in pieces and yet to be restored. 'LM14' was driven by various Autosports pilots pre-war including J F A Clough, who purchased the car post-war. In 1948 Johnny Clough installed the 1½-litre four-cylinder B37 engine as fitted to the rare and desirable Singer B37 competition cars of 1937, the only year of their manufacture. (We are advised that 1½-litre six-cylinder Singer engines are now being remanufactured and so the possibility exists of returning the car closer to its racing specification). 'LM14' continued to have success in trials and rallies with Clough at the wheel and some of the trophies he won are included in the sale. Later in 1948 the car was sold to Leslie Rawlinson from Belfast, one of the founders of the Singer Owners' Club, who passed it on in 1951 to Monte Carlo Rally driver Ian Titterington, cousin of 1950s Grand Prix driver Desmond Titterington. Ian raced it throughout Ireland - Cork, Dundrod, Wicklow and at Phoenix Park. Titterington one recalled how, in a practice for a warm up race for the Irish Grand Prix, he and the Singer shared the Phoenix Park circuit with Juan Manuel Fangio. The Argentinian had arrived late for practice and had been allowed to join the others, screaming passed 'LM14' in his BRM V16 at shattering speed. Purchased by the current owner in 2004, the Singer has been the subject of a major engine rebuild using a Phoenix crankshaft and con-rods, high-lift camshaft, new radiator, four-branch exhaust and overhauled running gear including the 4.1:1 final drive, all of which was undertaken by a renowned Bugatti engineer. We are advised that the car can top 90mph and is in fine order. Described as in generally excellent condition mechanically with good bodywork and paint, this historic Le Mans competitor is offered with VSCC 'buff form', old-style logbook, sundry restoration invoices, current MoT/tax, Swansea V5C document and a huge history file containing numerous contemporary photographs. The subject of many press reports, the Singer was picked out at the 2008 Le Mans Classique by Alain de Cadenet of Classic & Sports Car magazine as 'rakishly sporting' and, the following month, by Mick Walsh in the same journal as one of the star cars of the 1930s. 'LM14' was also displayed at the NEC's Classic Car Show that same year.