Four men in a 325

This is our favourite show in the annual calendar with BSG 8. However, due to a stuck valve, BSG 8 is currently without its cylinder head and therefore we only had one soft-top to take us on our tour of the Borders. So, my two sons and I squeezed into my brother-in-law's BMW 325 E30 Convertible for the weekend of 25 and 26 June.

The Scottish Rootes Enthusiasts club has run a two-day rally in the town of Moffat for 18 years in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief and Cancer Research UK. The main activity on the Saturday is a parade through Moffat town centre, followed by a run in the gorgeous Borders hills. Last year the route headed north towards Talla Reservoir and then turned south by St Mary's Loch. This presented the challenge of the very steep brae at the end of the reservoir. This year the route was reversed, possibly because some people failed the mini hill-climb last time!

So, initially heading in an easterly direction, we landed at St Mary's Loch / Loch of the Lowes for the picnic stop. And we found ourselves in front of a lovely Chamois owned by David Robson (OGH 463E). And the two Singer 5-7CWT vans also made it the picnic stop: Russ Evans' ABL 681 and Rodney Thompson's 656 UYE.

Sunday dawned ....... sunny. (Bit of a surprise; this is Scotland after all.) There were 17 Singers listed in the catalogue, ranging from 1930 (Alan German's Junior, GN 1254) to 1968 (Ian Hawley's Vogue, MVC 601G and Gordon Jarvis's Gazelle, TMD 368F).
 

R Young's 1964 Gazelle  (BPW 968B) shouldn't have been there at all, since it was one of 115 destined for government service in Bermuda, but for some reason never made it. Instead, it was sold domestically by Clark Bros. of Kings Lynn. While researching the car's history, Mr Young phoned the address of the first owners and, amazingly, the same family still own the house and remembered the car with great fondness. So much so, they asked him if they could buy it back!

 
John Hay of Gorebridge (near Edinburgh) has had his 1963 Singer Vogue (APB 133A) for two years, having purchased it from its previous owner in Penzance. He had to do some work on the cylinder head, replace the brake pipes and hoses, and put on a new set of tires. It's also benefited from a nice new paint job. John says that the car, with its 3-speed automatic gearbox, runs very smoothly.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the discovery of Bill Wilson.  Who's he, I hear you ask.

Bill, a sprightly 80-something, was a mechanic in a Singer dealership in Dumfries and has retained a lot of Singer knowledge from that time, including timing adjustment tricks. Russ discovered him and is going to try and meet up again to extract as much information as possible. So, you might be hearing more about Bill in the near future.

And how about the prizewinning? Rodney Thompson won the Black Bull Cup for the best Singer with his lovely 1937 Singer Van.  


And Gordon Jarvis from Oxon was runner up with his 1968 Singer Gazelle.

Finally, some readers might be interested in the DVD that's being produced of the weekend. I'm told that the 'rushes' contain some stunning footage of both aerial and ground filming – and that the Singers have got some good coverage. Cost is £12 per DVD (including post and packing). Further details can be obtained from Gordon Bisset (gordon@sre-scot.co.uk).