Simon Bishop's 1925 Singer 10-26 Tourer
Simon's not sure exactly when he took this picture, but thinks it was in the summer of 1978. The two gentlemen in the car are Jack and Arthur Bennett and the location is opposite their garage in Par, Cornwall.
Jack and Arthur's father purchased the car when it was about a year old from someone in Plymouth, as evidenced by a theatre ticket for the Plymouth Hippodrome dated 1st Jan 1926 found in a door pocket. Mr Bennett senior, who was the local blacksmith, started making his own bicycles in the cycling boom of the 1890s. This progressed to the repair and maintenance of motor cycles and eventually to all sorts of motor vehicles, agricultural implements and even steam engines. The 10/26 was his own personal car and was not used for business - they had a cheap old Austin for that! However, Jack and Arthur were allowed to use the car socially, which for two working class teenagers in the 1930s was quite something. The car was used continually until September 1939 (Simon still has the tax disc), when she was taken off the road to repaint the front wings. This of course coincided with the outbreak of the second world war, so the Singer was put in a shed at the back of their garage premises and forgotten about.
Simon's not sure exactly when he took this picture, but thinks it was in the summer of 1978. The two gentlemen in the car are Jack and Arthur Bennett and the location is opposite their garage in Par, Cornwall.
Jack and Arthur's father purchased the car when it was about a year old from someone in Plymouth, as evidenced by a theatre ticket for the Plymouth Hippodrome dated 1st Jan 1926 found in a door pocket. Mr Bennett senior, who was the local blacksmith, started making his own bicycles in the cycling boom of the 1890s. This progressed to the repair and maintenance of motor cycles and eventually to all sorts of motor vehicles, agricultural implements and even steam engines. The 10/26 was his own personal car and was not used for business -