The Autosports Singers
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Sir,
Your interesting article on Singers and the Barnes family brought back some interesting memories. Originally the Barnes show-room was in the High Street in Stourbridge where Woolworth’s arc today. I have forgotten when the move to Oldswinford was made but it was before 1925 since I had an instructive half-hour with Mr. Barnes senior in 1925 about my Mathis. He demonstrated to me a folding coupe top he had made working on the principle of those collapsible aluminium cups that were about at the time. It was extremely neat and folded back out of sight but apparently nothing wan done about it.
Some time between 1916 and 1917 the younger members of the family built a cyclecar driven by a twin JAP air cooled engine with no body to speak of. When Stourbridge Grammar School came to play cricket at Halesowen Grammar School one of the family came in this contraption much to our envy. Being a motorcycle “maniac” at the time! only gave it a casual inspection. In 1954 when taking delivery of a Vauxhall Velox I asked Donald Barnes about the old car. He was pleasantly surprised that anyone had remembered it. He said it has passed down the family as assort of heirloom but had long disappeared. Your photo of the old GWR open-topped ‘bus brought to mind that these ran from Stourbridge Town Station to Belbroughton via Pedmore, Hagley and Holy Cross, the only Means of transport in that direction up to the 1914-18 war. In 1923 while in Cornwall — using a Morgan — I saw these self same ‘buses working in the St. Austell area. I had a ride in one for old times sake, my word did your feet play a tattoo on the floorboards, solid tyres! The Singer team you mention was frequently seen in the Oldswinford area, neat, unobtrusively driven, and very tuneful.
Verwood CYRIL KNIGHT