It's

This is the worldwide club for all owners and enthusiasts of Standard Cars

"Dedicated to the preservation of Standard Cars 1903-1963"

The Standards gathered in the grounds of Charlecote House, taken from the Gatehouse roof.

Sunday 29th June

"Well done to all the organisers for a smooth event - it all went too fast with not enough time to meet all the old friends and talk "Standard"

We managed to get a short lie-in as we had transferred ourselves to the Charlecote Pheasant Hotel overnight, it was literally yards from the Rally Site. After a substantial," help ourselves" and leisurely breakfast it was just a short drive with the two cars onto Charlecote Park at exactly 9.00am. Soon the cars were arriving, with the Rally Control opening at 10am for those that had not signed in on Saturday.

One of the benefits of attending the International Rally is the opportunity to pick up the spare parts that you need to complete your restoration or repair. A number of members were doing a brisk trade in parts that they had bought along for various models. By far the largest quantity of sales was made by Ian and Vera Leggett who brought a large covered  trailer full of Club spares and regalia for sale, there was a brisk trade in these all day. You should have seen the happy faces on those members who had been able to find a rare item to complete their rebuild. These will add to the cars able to attend next year.

The thumbprints below show cars gathered on Sunday. Click on any of them to see an enlargement

I took the opportunity to let Brian Parkes, aka "the Flying Doctor" to take my Flying 12 out for a test drive over local roads as I have not been happy with aspects of its performance of late. Brian was able to diagnose two faults and  recommend improvements to the car

Firstly the wandering steering was put down to wear in the box, even though it is relatively new. As there is no adjustment provided for, Brian was able to suggest an engineering solution to take up the slack. Secondly, Brian was able to identify a propshaft inbalance so that will be addressed shortly. If you have a problem (or more) with your prewar Standard it would be well worthwhile to consult him. ( His phone is hot enough already!)

More cars on Sunday ( click for an enlargement)

For the unfortunate ones amongst you  who have been unable attend previous rallies, let me tell you about how the concours competition works. Sunday is the traditionally "static" day with a display of cars in the Park. Whilst we welcome cars in any condition, there is also the opportunity to win prizes. Car are parked in Class order, there being 9 different age-related Standard Classes plus an Open Class for other marques. Eight of the classes are what we call "self judging", that means that members of that class vote for the best three cars in their class not including the own. The first, second and third in each class are identified by totaling the marks awarded over that class.

A different routine applies for the Master Class, these are winners of classes in any previous three years and the Open Class, both of which are judged by a team of independent judges. The Master Class Winner, together with the winners of each of classes 1 to 8 then go through a final competition, independently judged, to determine Car of the Show. There are a number of other awards. You can see the list of Prizewinners later.

The production of this page is taking longer than I estimated so I will publish it now. ( 9.00am 4th July) I will continue to work on it so COME BACK SOON for more photos.

Sunday - Part II (published 12th July)

It is also worthwhile mentioning two other competitions that took place on the day. The first is a raffle which is used to help fund the rally and also offered a large selection of valuable prizes. The most valuable of these was a Satellite Navigation System, next was £50 of Woolworths vouchers and about 20 other prizes including a CD player and sets of tools. The winning ticket for the top prize was owned by Mark Denton.

Also running all weekend there was a photographic competition to "guess the Standard" from snippets of photographs, 20 in all. You can have a try at this competition for yourself though the only prize has already gone to Peter Foster who achieved the best mark of 13 1/2.

Here are some more photos of the cars I took during the day. You can click on any of them to see an enlargement:

The Prizegiving started a little late, it always seems to take longer than expected to add up the marks that are given to the cars by the participants. Nevertheless, the table was groaning under the weight of prizes to be awarded. The event was made slightly more difficult by a lack of room in front of the marquee for the cars to parade but we managed it anyway. A brief shower didn't harm the proceedings either. Here is the list of lucky prizewinners

All too soon the Rally was over and the majority were heading for home. We had decided to stay on another evening at the "Pheasant" and were able to pass a pleasant evening with dinner with other club members at a local hostelry.

Monday was the day to get the cars home. The 1934 10 first was safely delivered to Stow, then we returned to collect the Flying 12. Whilst travelling down the Fosse I pulled into a layby to let the traffic past. Have you noticed that when driving a prewar car on an A road there is nothing on the road in front of you, just like it must have been in the 1930's? Then you just take a look in the rear view mirror! Oh, that's where the traffic is?

Anyway, the traffic passed by and I pulled away again. A dreadful bang from the rear axle and no drive! We managed to push the car back into the layby where there was a gate into which we could reverse to try to diagnose the issue. When both wheels were off the ground it was obvious that the back axle was locking up periodically so something was amiss in the differential. It was then a matter of calling Footman James and waiting for a Recovery Lorry. This arrived in just under an hour, driven by a very nice semi-retired "Country" guy from Mickleton. He took us all the way home to St. Albans and was completely relaxed about the trip. At least we didn't live in Inverness which had been his longest recovery to date!

We hope to see all of you again next year, why not persuade your Standard owning friends to come along too....?

Report and Photos by Phil Homer

If you would like your photos of the rally to appear here, just send them to webmaster@standardmotorclub.org.uk