Note* This will roughly be the format for VHRR Member's cars (and others as they come to hand) - History of cars plus thumbnails on the left hand side. Click on the thumbnails for a larger size. When we get more than one, I'll preface all this with an index.

History of Singer le Mans Special GLU610 Nigel Gray September 12, 2006 

First iteration 1934                                                         Started life as a singer le mans 1934-the four cylinder nine version.

Second iteration 1954                                                          Rebuilt as a Holden special by Frank Murphy in 1954.  Holden bored to 2.2 litres.  Modified main bearing caps and camshaft bearings.  Pretty hot camshaft.  Three 11/8 SU carburettors.  Mated to Fiat 501 crash gear box via Holden clutch.  Singer remote control grafted onto gearbox..  Holden diff mated to Holden clutch.  Holden half shafts tapered into Singer hubs.  Engine reputed to produce 140 BHP.  Chassis boxed and stiffened with very strong X section in centre.  Hydraulic Ford ten shock absorbers.  Running gear and brakes original-brakes ten inch hydraulic.  16” wheels to rear-originally 16X600 tyres, now 16X525.  Front wheels were 19” later fitted as spares and replaced by 16”.

Competed in Hill climbs, sprints and races (Moomba meeting in 1955-programme in possession.).  Sold to my Brother Peter Gray in 1956 who competed as before.  Bought by me in May 1957 due to need for funds on part of brother.  In race format but windscreen hood and side curtains provided.  Sat on cushion with another in the boot as back rest-was quite comfortable but not exactly roomy for passenger as carburettors minimized footroom.  Cockpit was pop rivetted aluminium sheet.

I fitted road equipment and homemade seats (about three variations over the years to 1968) and used it as everyday transport.  Could fit the 3 kids in the boot when young

Car was road registered in 1954 and has remained so ever since.  Was reliable transport, very quick-ate XK 120’s at the traffic lights.  Only breakages, one screwed off half shaft, one broken half shaft, sheared drive shaft between clutch and gearbox.  All fixed OK.  Rust got the mudguards about 1960 so fitted Dusting cycle guards.  Painted car white but grew out of that phase and returned it to Singer Blue.  Has been repainted about every ten years

I  estimate total road mileage between 1957 and 2006 as between 150,000 and 200,000 miles.

Third Iteration                                                                  By 1968 the Holden was getting tired  and gudgeons in particular were very noisy.  Final stimulus was lack of room for passenger feet although many passengers were carried.  I sold the Holden   plus gear box to a hot rod enthusiast for fifty pounds and, on the advice of Norman Firth, bought a three main bearing Rootes group 1600cc pushrod with aluminium head, actually obtained from a 1965 Humber Vogue, together with gear box , Reputed to have done 85,000 miles before wrecking.  This dropped in nicely via new engine brackets and mounts (Mark V Jaguar).  The gearbox housing was split so Norman gave me an old Hillman box and  fitted the parts from the box I had bought.  Paul England (Terry Lukins) organized a new tailshaft.

With much help and advice from Graeme Hoinville the engine was installed and a new square tube subframe for the body scuttlemade up, most of the wood removed, the aluminium body pop rivetted to the square tube and fibreglassed all over.  The rear section was done with angle iron.  This made the body very strong and added almost no weight. The rear section is  bolted to the chassis by four bolts and the front ditto. Fitted foot pedals and clutch cylinder from the Humber vogue and a Holden brake cylinder to give extra capacity-fitted new copper brake pipes..  Firewall    and internal cockpit originally fibreglass over  1/8 plywood pop rivetted to tube-later  1/4” aluminium sheet  relaced firewall.

Steering always sloppy despite good balljoints and king pins.  Had replaced the Singer box with a TC box with Harry Firth modification in the early sixties but still only average.  In 1992 fitted a Datsun 120Y box, later reconditioned-perfect result.  Fitted new ball joints as found some at Hillman spares, old ones kept-are actually OK.  In 1968 fitted two universal joints to column.

As a precaution had new front stub axles made up (Kerry Luckins again) and welded to the hubs.  Right drop arm has been welded (broke on a curb).  Left original.

Modified side curtains and new hood.

Ran car with Humber carburettor for a year before discarding-with Hoinville welding manifold and gift of two 1 ½ SU’s .  Also loaned 16” wheels for front with less offset than rears-which were fitted by frank Murphy in 1954-extra spokes added.  Head off at this time-measured engine  Bore 81.5 mm, stroke 77 mm, inlet ports 33 mm, exhaust 26.5 mm.

Note-wheels-the pair with extra spokes are the  rears-if fronts fitted to rear they scrape chassis.

Ran car until 1979 when decided to fit new rings and hotter camshaft.  Replaced bearings, Camshaft turned out to be Sunbeam Alpine profile-altered to Wade 140 profile.  Much fiddling with carburettor needles, timing,  but remained lean up to 3000 revs for several years despite tuning by Ian Tate.  Power excellent 3000 to 6000 revs.  Around this time ran diff bearings-not replaceable-Norman Firth fitted Torana limited slip diff, 3.95 ratio, courtesy Philip Morris.

1989…Straightened front axle-lost its camber over time.  King pins done, Front wheel bearings, reset and painted springs, fitted hardened bolts to front spings plus new bushes.  Fitted new ball joints.  Angles were-camber L +1/4, R +11/2, castor  L +41/4, R +41/4 (castor wedges fitted ), toe in ¼”.  Fitted Aluminium firewall and floorboards plus bucket seats from ?Datsun.  Electric fuel pump replaced with noisy Japanese.  Top radiator hose-Hillman Hunter CH753 (5221265).  Cleaned up brake drums-already oversize by 100 thou.

Fitted new aluminium dashboard with Jag 420 G rev counter and speedo(calibrated.  Rev counter set for four cyls but reads 25% UNDER.  Temp gauge fixed again (mercury tube breaks every five years or so)

1993…Entered Albert Park re-enactment,  Very enjoyable but over next two months developed  a miss and thick smoke from breather.  Engine OUT.  4 broken rings-one each cyl., compression down on 3. blown gasket, bits knocked off camshaft, minor bearing wear.  Engine rebuild by Ian Tate-complete-bored to 1656 cc, 30 thou off block, crank ground and drilled to improve oil flow, modified tin/lead bearings, new camshaft bearings, cam reground after rebuilding, timing cover modified plus new chain and tensioner, new valves and valve guides, 35 thou off head= compression ratio from 8.6 to 9.6 to 1.  Valves sit fairly deep but OK.  Polished and cleaned out inlet and exhaust ports, large amount off flywheel, new ring gear, new clutch plate but pressure plate OK.  Water pump rebuilt.  68 kilowatts on Ian’s dyno.

Bought crash hat and decided to compete after retirement.

1994.  Diff noisy-fixed and rear end attended to.  Hubs  resplined. Cast steel brake drums all round courtesy Morry Lunney of SOCA, two Holden oil seals each side.  Polyurethane spring bushes all round and retempered springs-half inch higher, replaced rear shockers with Monroe.  Note spring bolts all 7/16 (??9/16)BSF.  Axles lapped into hubs-R side proud by 3/8 so needs washer-Ian Tate says don’t worry.  New brake pipes at rear plus hoses and all brake cylinders done, also clutch cylinder.  All brake posts freed up except RR at bottom.  Soldered petrol tank and replaced pipe with neoprene one.

Ran in Morwell Hilllclimb-45.8 secs.

1995.. New extractors fitted, carbys  bushed and repaired –new rods and butterflies (Wilson carburettors).  Tuned Anthony Tate-68 KW with much better performance low down-power comes in at 2500 and is OK below this.

1996-battery explosion, much cleaning required.

1997…Viccisitudes!! TWO towbars through radiator in three months, one my fault, other when parked.  Radiator repaired and shell rechromed.  Brakes tackled-rears have always locked up first-Ian Tate fitted harder linings to rear- FIXED!.

ROB Roy 30.36 secs

1998… Morwell 44.93, Geelong sprints 17.53 secs. Rob Roy 29.87

1999…FINALLY, after 42 years,  fixed intermittent leaking of diff oil from  axle-Ian measured half shafts which are polished.  Left side is 30 thou less than right.  Correct (Holden) seals (2 per side) fitted-no trouble since.  Extended front shocker brackets by ½ inch and fitted Konis to front-on soft setting.  Plated exhaust with ceramic inside and aluminium outside.

Rob Roy 29.78.

2000.  Rob Roy 29.97, Sandown-manage about 85-90 MPH down straight but never had anything but a headwind

2001..Rob Roy 30.14  Sandown regularity 2.00 min-ran with hood up in wet.  Morwell just over 44 secs

2002… Sandown 1.58.  Geelong  17.51.  Rob Roy 29.56 (best ever)

2003…Ran RR wheel bearing.  Ian Tate replaced both sides and sleeved LF adjustor for brake.  Converted to unleaded petrol plus Valvemaster additive.  Problem with tuning turned out to be stripped thread on front jet-John Cheal fixed and fitted standard no. 5 needles-perfect.

Sandown 1.57.  Geelong17.20-classwin over Jag 21/2, Alvis 3 litre, BMW 328,

2004.  Oil leaks much improved by Louis Santin-bigger breather

Sandown-wet and hairy.  Rob Roy-? time

Over five years difficulty getting reverse after competition-requires pressure across to L and move into 1st and 2nd repeatedly-fixes it.

2005…Fixed and rechromed radiator shell (some rust) and mudguard brackets plus tie rod and draglink.  Painted front of engine, generator and front chassis.  Toe in 3 mm (Beaurepaires)

Sandown  great, Rob Roy 30.91-driver slipping!  Philip island-time2.41-seemed pretty slow-the headwind doesn’t like the frontal area!  Seemed to have a slight misfire on the long left hander-uncertain about this

2006. repaired and rechromed L screen nut

Summary of brakes-are-checked twice yearly, thin nuts were made up years ago to stop wheel hubs bottoming, RR locks up slightly early but  brakes are well balanced and effective-soft pedal from time to time.  RF is out of balance-due to a mysterious slice missing from the hub-done before I got car.  Wheels need to be replaced to match the V marks on hub.  Balanced dynamically some years ago but cant get it done anymore-this year added a small weight statically and no vibration at achieveable speeds.

September 2006.  Louis Santin. Replaced all copper brake pipes with high pressure steel and fittings.  New master cylinder, new seals to all slave cylinders.  Fresh fluid.  Adjust-hard pedal and superb braking.  Louis thinks linings too hard-rears are harder than fronts-kept status quo as performance very satisfactory and linings are perfectly round and bedded in.  Rears still lock up before the front but not seriously.  New seals to clutch master but not slave.

Rear suspension-new nuts and fix locating bolt of spring to RR diff housing .

Rewired ignition to dash

Oil leaks-resealed rocker cover and checked tappets and head studs-OK.  Inlet .010, exhaust .011.  Oversize breather fittings made and connected to catch tank

Greased and change oil

Note-generally grease king pins and four ball joints every 300 miles-works, trivial wear.  Scrutineers at Rob Roy claimed left front wheel bearings slack-dispute this, play is minor and bearings seem OK.