The Singer Chamois is a blast from the past that few Malaysians will remember.
We’re currently undergoing a kind of ‘extinction level’ event in the car industry with many legacy brands in REAL DANGER of going bust even after countless reforms, product renewals and cost cutting measures. Many continue to believe that legacy brands are “too big to fail”, however you only have to look back to the 1970s to find dozens and dozens of long forgotten car brands that even hardcore car enthusiasts of this generation have never heard of before.
One such brand is Singer. Yes, most car enthusiasts today know what a Singer is. It’s that fantastic restomod company from the US that breathe new life into proper air cooled Porsche 911s. However, that’s not the Singer I’m referring to. Last year I was in Taiping visiting relatives when I came across a strange looking vehicle that looked to be in acceptable shape despite its age. I went up close for some photos and read that it was a ‘Singer’. I asked my parents and an older uncle – none of them had even heard of this brand before but a bit of research led me to some interesting findings.
The ORIGINAL Singer Motors Limited
Back in 1901, Singer Motors Limited was founded born out of a bicycle manufacturing business from 1874 in England. The company survived and thrived throughout the early decades of the car business. It has a rich history of selling cars and motorised bikes and it ultimately was acquired by Rootes Group in 1956, which went on to be acquired by Chrysler and then PSA Peugeot-Citroën before being dissolved in the late 1970s.
I couldn’t find too much information on this particular car but it appears to be a badge-engineered Hillman Imp with either an 875 cc or 998 cc straight-4 overhead camshaft water-cooled aluminium block petrol engine. According to this article the Hillman Imp was rebadged and assembled in various markets under various names. It appears that Malaysia got the version called the Singer Chamois. The drive to export these vehicles often in knock down kits from 1964 onward. At least 43% of Hillman Imps derivatives were exported CKD for local assembly. The article notes that the percentage was even greater in Malaysia in 1968.
Some localised modifications include heavy duty suspension with stronger dampers plus coil springs of different rate as well as pipes for the carburettors but it’s not clear if Malaysian models got these modifications. Besides being called the Singer Chamois, it was also sold as a Chrysler, Sunbeam or Rootes vehicle. Overall, it’s thought that over 400,000 derivitives of the Hillman Imp were made and 6,587 of those were badged Singer Chamois.
