The Singer Story (Kevin Atkinson, Veloce Classic Reprint Series)

Author: Kevin Atkinson, Hardbound, 256 Pages, ISBN: 9781874105527

Here is the definitive history of one of Britain's oldest, most important and influential car manufacturers.

George Singer started building bicycles in Coventry in 1874 and, by 1905, his company was building cars and motorcycles, too. Later, the company would concentrate on the manufacture of cars and commercial vehicles, achieving great success in sales and motorsport until, in the early 1950s, things began to go wrong.

By 1955 Singer was absorbed into the Rootes Group and slowly lost its distinctive identity. In 1970 the last car to carry a Singer badge was built - signalling the end of a great Coventry marque and hammering another nail into the coffin of Britain's once
outstanding motor industry.

Born in Sheffield, England, and brought up in Cheshire, Kevin's first motoring memories are of the family's 1968 Singer Vogue.

The chance find of a vintage Singer oil pressure gauge whilst clearing his grandfather's garage, led to his re-introduction to the Singer marque and resulted in many rides in the passenger seat of a 1936 Sports Nine during classic trials.

Kevin soon had the chance to buy a 1935 Independent Suspension Nine which required total restoration. Of course, the restoration took much longer than expected, but was completed some years ago, and these days the car shares the garage with a number of Singers, including a 1930 Junior, and a car which has taken over the role of restoration project; a 1913 10hp.

Much of the research for this book was carried out whilst Kevin lived in Kenilworth, near Coventry, with all its Singer connections, but Kevin has since settled overseas, in New Zealand, with his wife, Julia.

Kevin is both the historian for the UK-based Singer Owners Club, and the President of the Singer Owners Club of New Zealand.