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One of the more successful auto companies in Britain was the Singer Motor Corporation, based in Birmingham.

Singer started by making motor cycles in 1900 until 1905 when they produced their first automobile. Between 1905 and 1954, Singer produced cars that were solid and conservative, yet unique, incorporating advanced features such as twelve volt electrics, when the rest of the industry was still playing around with six and nine volt systems, electric starters, double-shoe brakes, a retractable top/hood that could be operated as the car was underway, and other delights like a built-in-dash radio and comfort heater. (Pictured Marilyn Monroe with a Singer 1953)

Their only claim to fame as a performance car was a Singer Sports Nine that, by chance, came in 13th at the 1933 Le Mans and came in 7th in 1934. The Publicity Department then started to call the car the Singer Le Mans. 

Priced mid-range, Singer products were marketed to, what in those days was known as the "Professional Customer." The company never tried to market to the same general public that Ford, Morris, and Austin catered to. Flashy design or sporting style was never a prime feature for Singer, a firm that had developed their reputation on being conservative and dependable. The North American British car crowd knows little about the Singer marque, as its postwar impact was minimal compared with MG, Triumph and Jaguar. and the 4AD roadster was never a "real" sportscar because it still was powered by a prewar engine.

Singer had difficulty in the post WWII era when the British Government's "Export Or Die" program, that linked steel allotments to export ratios, was in full swing and were unable to establish a viable export market. This was especially a concern in the US market, where the more successful British motor manufactures were exporting at least 75% of their production. Despite various attempts to sell Singer products in the US, it was never a success and many of the cars that had been exported to America never sold and were eventually reshipped to Australia. This had a serious impact on their steel allotments. 
Singer Le Mans 1936

The Fiberglass SMX

Singer SMX Prototype 1953

The fiberglass Singer story starts with flamboyant American Singer distributor, Bill Vaughan. Vaughan, an adept promoter, had purchased a Ghia-Aigle special bodied coupe and raced a reworked version in local Sports Car Club of America races along with some standard Singer4AD Roadsters. Vaughan saw the future in fiberglass and was considering opening three manufacturing plants (California, New York and Florida) to produce plastic bodies to be fitted to production Singer roadster chassis. They were to be molded in "Vibrin Polyester", an early type of fiberglass. This developing enterprise, along with GM's Corvette, inspired Singer's serious consideration of building a fiberglass car body. 

The SMX development program in the UK was headed by George Minton and his team in Singer ‘Special Projects.' They developed the final design, but a number of American fiberglass pioneers like Bill Tritt, who had worked with Vaughn on his personal fiberglass body projects and engineer/designer Perry Fuller who built a ‘glass bodied Singer-based special and had some input into the earliest of prototypes, though Fuller's name is not mentioned in any Singer record or literature as having been directly involved in the SMX program. 

The design, loosely based on the Singer SM1500 sedan grille, trim, and components, was finalized in January of 1953. The car was fitted with smaller wheels to lower the center of gravity. The SMX bodywork consisted of three separate fiberglass molds in addition to the doors and the weighty, front-tipping hood and front fender unit. It was engineered to pivot forward and give access to the engine and front suspension (like an E-type Jag). The brunt of the stress was forced upon two open-ended front chassis members that were not strong enough to hold up the hood as they were, so a 'U' section member was welded across the front to reinforce the frame for the pivoting hinge. Even though the SMX never went into production, this chassis upgrade was continued on the prewar styled roadster until the end of manufacture two years later. 

Having all 4AD chassis fitted with this extra cross-member meant that if the SMX had developed into a production car, any Singer sports chassis could have been taken off the line and fitted with a fiberglass body. This alone indicates that Singer management had a serious intention to put the fiberglass car into production. 

Although only four or five SMX prototypes are believed to have been built, as many as 15 bodies were constructed for design studies during the development program. 

Singer Motors went into bankruptcy in 1954 after showing their fiberglass car at the 1953 Earls Court Motor show, it was not a show stopper and got limited media coverage. Despite various attempts to sell Singer products in the US, it was never a success and many of the cars exported to America never did sell so they were reshipped to Australia where they can still be seen at Car Events today. 

The Rootes Group picked up the pieces and produced Hillman-based, badge-engineered Singers for the next fifteen years before they were sold by the British Government to Lee Iacocca when he was at Chrysler, for almost nothing on the understanding that his company would keep Rootes going for the next ten years. Within two years of this sale Rootes had been broken up and sold off to the highest bidders!

Credit: Geoff Wheatley & Rick Feibusch 
SMX images from Hendrik Jan Bakker