In 1935, ten years after the dissolution of the GN cyclecar company, the ‘G’ - H R Godfrey - was back in business with new partners E A Halford and G H Robins, the trio adopting the name ‘HRG’ for their new firm.

The aim was to build a lightweight vintage-style sporting car endowed with the virtues of brisk acceleration and positive steering, and in this they succeeded brilliantly.

With its sturdy yet flexible ladder-type frame, tubular front axle, ash-framed alloy coachwork and 1½-litre Meadows engine, the little HRG proved an instant success in competitions.

The Meadows 4ED’s 58bhp combined with an overall weight of less than 1,600lbs meant that 50mph came up in under ten seconds with 85mph exceedable under favourable conditions, an excellent performance for a 1½-litre car of the period.

With the Meadows at the end of its development an alternative was needed and the firm turned to Singer, adopting a tuned version of the overhead-camshaft Singer 12 engine for the ‘1500’ and a sim...