Singer NINE Le Mans 4 Seater Longtail

Here at West Country Car Sales Ltd we have this absolutely stunning 1935 Singer 9 Le Mans 4 Seater (Longtail). This Singer 9 has got a great history behind it, but it had a bare metal restoration with new hood and tonneau between 2015 and 2019. This vehicle is well known to Singer Owner’s Club from the 1960s. This is a 1935 model where approximately 400 were made and only about 40 remain today.;;CMF 687 was built in Coventry by Singer Motors and delivered in Ivory and Green colours on the 12 July 1935 to the dealer in Harrow Weald, Ray Abbott Ltd. It was sold the same day by Wembley Court Motors to its first owner Mr J.S. Winney of Hampstead Garden Suburb. There are about 40 known survivors of these cars out of a total production of about 400, being only produced in the 1935 model year.;Nothing further is known of the car’s history until 1969 when it was acquired in a poor state by Gifford Wright. Gifford was then a young printing paper salesman who has since been a longstanding member of the Singer Owners Club and is in fact still the Editor of the Club magazine and was then living by the sea at Thorpe bay in Essex. The car, with one or two others he had acquired was intended as a donor and parts guide for his main restoration project, another ‘Longtail’ Le Mans CPA 91 which he still owns to this day.;Following completion of the CPA restoration and casting around for something else to do he decided to embark on the rebuild and restoration of CMF. Both Gifford’s cars were painted green with red wheels and red radiator grilles, and number plates were easily changed in those halcyon days… although of course such thoughts are beyond consideration (but it would have saved on tax and insurance costs, it must be said). Giff had some idea of using the car for historic motor sports, but this idea never matured.;In the May/June 1975 edition of the club magazine Gifford offered the car for sale at ?750 with chroming and seats loosely described as “needing attention”. He was then living in Surrey and eventually the car was sold to a dealer. ;In 1978 it was acquired by John Hankin a car dealer and garage owner of Arlesford, Hampshire. He purchased it from a dealer in Bedfordshire and it was still fitted with non- original seats and poor chroming. The car was driven to the 1978 Le Mans 24 hour race, Singer having been selected for a special display to celebrate the Marques 1930’s 24 hour races. Between the 29th May and 2nd of June 1980 CMF was driven to Holland to take part in the Dutch Singer club’s first Lustrum Rally which now takes place every 5 years. ;At the beginning of 1988 the car was for the sum of ?3,500. Incidently Hankins Garage carried on until October 2001 when the whole business and contents was sold by auction, after three generations of Hankin had run the business. The auction was significant enough to be reported in the Daily Telegraph.;The car was stripped completely prior to a ground-up rebuild by a Singer historian, attended a number of events with the car in grey primer, prior to a proposed respray. In 1990 the car was in a storage unit at Birch Green in Hertfordshire with a vast collection of some 14 or 15 other cars and Singer spares and no further work was carried out.;With the owners untimely death in 2014 his wife had many cars to dispose of including CMF, still in grey primer, partly disassembled and apparently untouched since 1990.;In February 2015 the car was acquired by its current owner in the hope that it would primarily assist him as a pattern and guide in his restoration of another ”longtail” which he had acquired from a friend and which lacked much of its body, having been converted to a two seater trials special in the 1950’s.;On 30th April 2015 the engine of CMF was started with no drama, and appeared to run smoothly; this being the first time it had run in 25 years. In September 2015 the car was taken to Tim Barker at Papplewick, near Nottingham, for accurate fitting of new running boards, front apron and bonnet panels. The new steel apron was to replace one of Dave Hardwick’s early glass-fibre replicas which had been on the car since the 70’s. The original running boards were deformed and corroded and needed replacing.;The next stop was a respray and the original Singer factory build records described the car as ivory and green. When the rear of the body was stripped to bare metal it was found that the original colour was a cream with a black primer which was customary practice at the time. This colour was exactly paint matched by the sprayers in Chelmsford, Premier Autovision, and the wheels detailed in green. It is possible that the factory finish was with green wings, but it was felt that this was not the best look to benefit the Art Deco appearance of the car, and a one colour body was seen as preferable to emphasise the shapely rear end. The respray was completed in May 2017 and new trim and seats were then installed together with a new steering wheel. Finally in October 2019 CMF was picked up from Phoenix Trimmers in High Easter where a new hood and tonneau had been made and fitted, and the car was registered for road use again after nearly 30 years from its last tax disc and MOT in 1990.;;The Singer 9 Sports Car appeared at the Motor Show towards the end of 1932 as a 4 seater and designed by Eric Neale its pretty lines were a hit from the start. Large numbers were successful in the major trials and rallies of the day and in the first 12 months some 61 events were entered and a total of 227 awards won including 13 team awards. This success culminated in a factory entry in the Le Mans 24 hour Race in 1933. The Singer finished 13th in the general classification and became the first British car under 1000c.c. ever to qualify for the Biennial Rudge Whitworth Cup. The car completed 1900 Kilometres and ran like clockwork throughout the whole 24 hours.;From this success sprang the Singer Le Mans 2 seaters and for the 1935 year only the Le Mans 4 seater. The cars were a relatively cheap entry into the motorsport of the day and with the OHC engine , 4 speed gearbox and hydraulic brakes they proved to be more than competitive and broke the dominance of the likes of MG and others in similar classes for some years.;;For more information please dont hesitate on giving us a call as we are more than happy to help.;;Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the above information but errors may occur. Please check with a salesperson.
This 1935 Singer NINE Le Mans 4 Seater Longtail Sports is currently available for £29,995 in Exeter Devon with Petrol engine and Manual gearbox. For more information or to arrange a viewing, click here to send us an email using form below.