Singer
George Singer has been a bicycle maker in Coventry since 1875. As with many other cycle firms he graduated to producing motor cycles and produced his first car in 1904. The cars went on to be very successful in trials at Brooklands and elsewhere. William Rootes joined the company as an apprentice after finishing his education, and by 1956 was to own the business.
By 1914 the company made the Singer 10, an innovative small car at 1100 cc. These were very popular and after the war Singer concentrated on building similar vehicles. There was a large expansion during the 1920s and the five separate factories in Coventry were rationalised and new premises opened in Birmingham.
Commercial production was attempted in 1929 with a 2 ton lorry and a 20 seat bus being offered, but by 1932 commercial production had been abandoned. In 1929 Singer was third in the list of British car production, only surpassed by Austin and Morris but by the mid thirties their market share had slumped. An attempted sale of the company to Rover in 1936 fell through and Singer was reorganised as Singer Motors.
Late in 1955 the Singer shareholders decided to join Rootes, and this took effect in 1956 with the understanding the Singer name would still be used, being largely as a Singer version of the Hillman Minx.
