Singer Junior

The Singer Junior was first seen in 1926 at the London Car Show. It was initially available as a three door, four seat Tourer painted blue with black wings. powered by an 8 horsepower, two bearing, overhead cam engine which developed a peak of 16.5 horsepower at 3250 R.P.M. Although diminutive, this engine would be the basis of Singer power units for the next three decades.

The Junior started life with a three speed gear box and rear brakes only (four wheel braking would be introduced in 1928). A four speed transmission, which would boost top end speed to 50 mph (a whole 5 mph better than the 3 speed! ), would become available in 1931. It was equipped with an inverted cone clutch, quarter-elliptic front springs, six volt electrics, gravity feed and disc wheels shod with 18" tyres. Shock absorbers were not an option for 1926. The Tourer initially sold for £148.

The Junior was a very popular car, with Singer selling thousands of units in various forms, after 1927 production never dropped below 6000 units per annum and by 1928, it was the mainstay of Singer's product line.

While the first Singer Junior was an open touring car, it was soon offered in an array of other body styles, including a 2 seater tourer, a 4 seater tourer, a sunshine saloon, a coachbuilt saloon, a fabric saloon, a two plus two called the sportsman's coupe and the boat-tailed, wire wheeled Porlock Sports. The latter, which was originally built as a special, set a curious automotive record under the supervision of the RAC by climbing Porlock Hill 100 times in 15 hours.

In 1931 an uprated 9hp engine and a new 4 speed gearbox were fitted to the Singer Junior introduced at the 1931 Olympia Motor Show. However, not satisfied to rest on their laurels, Singer replaced the out of date Junior four months later with a new 1932 model called the Singer 9.