WHY I LOVE MY SINGER VOGUE

Brian Riches’ 1966 Singer Vogue Series V originally belonged to his father, Ted, who bought it brand-new in 1966 and used it sparingly until it passed to Brian: ‘I did very little to it in terms of restoration, initially – I just continued to take it out for runs to keep it exercised. None of us had the heart to sell it in the Eighties, and then dad developed Alzheimer’s. I used to take the Vogue down to the care home where he lived and take him for trips out in the car. I laid it up for several years after he passed away but there were just too many memories caught up in that car, so I thought, “let’s get it back on the road again”.

‘Initially, I wanted the car for the 1995 Singer Nationals in Northampton. It was during a gloriously hot summer and would have been a wonderful day out, although getting the car properly recommissioned took priority. But six weeks later, I still had no car. I called the restorer and he said, “It’s too hot to re-paint!” He’d restored the bodywork, sorting out the rusty wing and valance and so on, but I wanted proper cellulose paint, not two-pack. He went into his workshop at 4am when it was still dark to re-spray the car in time. We got it to the Nationals and won second place in the concours! I joined both my local classic car club and the Singer Owners’ Club. Since then, it’s been used for all sorts of car rallies across the UK.’

‘ The SOC stand displayed three pre-war cars, plus a Gazelle, a

Chamois and a Vogue – mine – at the 2014 NEC Classic Motor Show. Visitors to the stand were mostly of a generation that could relate to Sixties cars. I believe that if you go to a show to share your car, you should be there on-hand to talk about it with visiting enthusiasts.

‘As regards the future, obviously we’ve done nothing with the car for the last two years because of the pandemic restrictions and I’m beginning to feel my age. However as long as I’ve got the car here, my son Nick is happy to share it. But it’s still very much mine!’