Singer Nine Le Mans Special Speed BLW 650

Vintage 1936 Singer Nine Special Speed, front view dead-on with vineyard in the background
Vintage 1936 Singer Nine Special Speed, front driver's side 3/4 view, wire wheels, roadster body
Vintage 1936 Singer Nine Special Speed with two wheels up, racing hard at Le Mans Classic
Vintage 1936 Singer Nine Special Speed in the pit lane at Le Mans Classic with its driver Pierre-Henry Mahul
Vintage 1936 Singer Nine Special Speed wooden dashboard and steering wheel
Vintage Singer Nine roadster BLW 650 in front of property in the South of France, thumbnail
Singer Nine Le Mans Special Speed front 3/4 view thumbnail
1936 Singer 9 Le Mans racing at Le Mans Classic thumbnail
Singer Nine Le Mans Special Speed on the pitlane at Le Mans Classic with its driver Pierre-Henry Mahul, thumbnail
Dashboard and interior of 1936 Singer Nine Le Mans special speed, thumbnail
MakeSinger
Model9 Le Mans Special Speed roadster
Year1936, original registration BLW 650
ColorIvory
Interior Green leather
Engine 972 cc inline four
TimingOverhead camshaft
Fuel supplyTwo SU carburetors
Transmission 4-speed mechanical gearbox
Power48hp
Weight600 kg
Price50,000€
Other information The Singer brand was Jacques Savoye's big business. He was the brand's importer in France from 1934 until its demise, when it was absorbed into the Rootess group and then itself by Chrysler UK, which was taken over by Peugeot.



In the 1930s, Singer of Coventry was the third-largest British manufacturer. It distinguished itself with its meticulous manufacturing and obvious mechanical sophistication, fitting overhead camshaft engines even on popular cars, a solution usually found on automotive royalty. The Singer nine or 9 was one of the country's most prominent small sports cars, somewhat exotic when pitted against the more conventional MG TA. Right after starting to distribute the brand, Jacques Savoye decided to enter a car in the 24 hours of Le Mans and in rallies around Paris, to demonstrate its sturdiness and raise public attention to the brand in France. He met success in 1938, in a particularly difficult event amidst a flurry of DNFs, by finishing 8th overall: 1st in the under 1000cc class and also first in the class up to 1100cc.

I remember that day, the weather was fine and on the road - I hadn't taken the freeway, of course - I sometimes pushed the car up to 4500 rpm, which it seemed to appreciate. I'd have liked to go further, but I didn't want to break it. Le Mans Classic is a great event in that the public can freely access the paddocks and talk to the competitors, so I wasn't surprised when an elderly gentleman, obviously English, wearing a nice tweed cap, came and stood in front of the car, impassive, without saying a word... after a while, I was the one who started the conversation, asking him if he knew this car, thinking of this model, this make... he replied with an unequivocal " OH YES", which put me on the trail... one of my first questions was "what rpm can i safely drive it at"? his immediate answer was "5400", and i made him repeat it, as this figure seemed so enormous "YES 5400 rpm"? During the ensuing tests, I followed his instructions and discovered a completely different car.

That year, in 2006, I had the best memories of a battle on the Le Mans track, me on my Singer against, if you can believe it, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, the 1978 24H winner on a Renault Turbo, this time racing a well-prepared Simca 8 Gordini saloon. The Simca Gordini was quicker than the Singer on the straight, but I managed to make up the lost ground in every corner and came back behind him only to get sucked in, thus climbing to almost 6,000tours, I managed to pick up the pace and overtook him five times, but he six times, because I was in the lead at the entrance to the pit straight and he passed me again on the false flat shortly before the chequered flag. I'd made a big mistake: when you're in the least powerful but most agile car, you have to know how to stay behind when the most powerful car is sucking you in, so that at the last moment you can take advantage of the momentum provided by this suction and have a small chance of winning... something that Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, a true champion, was well aware of... and a good laugh ensued in the pits... Sadly, this was Jean-Pierre Jaussaud's last Le Mans Classic, and he was to leave us shortly afterwards.

Since then, the Singer has often taken part in Le Mans Classic with friends, and enabled Thierry L., now a great Bugatti driver, to make his debut in the event. In 2022, as the engine had never been opened, I wisely decided not to take it to the end of the event, to avoid the risk of breaking it, and to devote last winter to its complete overhaul... at the same time, we rebuilt all the suspensions, making them softer, and this year there were no more problems with the legs lifting... on the agenda for 2025 are a few improvements and a new paint job... blue!