It's

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

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

Standards at the Cotswolds Classic Car Club

The three 50's Standard 8's and 10's

Sunday 1st Feb was bright but very cold. Lynda and I had hoped to join Richard Bradley and a group from the Cotswolds Classic Car Club at the "Reservoir" a pub just outside Charlton Kings, Cheltenham.

The plan was to join in the 1934 Standard 10, but to do that I needed to fit a complete new exhaust system, supplied by the club. I struggled with it for an hour; its particularly awkward as the pipe has to pass through a hole in the chassis not much bigger than the pipe itself, then narrowly miss the sump on one side and narrowly miss the spring hanger bracket on the other. That struggle proved that the front pipe just wasn't going to fit, as it was 1/4 inch out at the flange. This wasn't surprising as the pipe was copied from a very poor original and no doubt after a small modification, it will fit next time.  So many of our cars have non-original systems fitted that it is difficult to know what is correct. However a 5 degree twist in the manifold flange will cure it and then it will become a reference against which perfect 1934 10 pipes can be run off. If you need exhaust pipes for earlier Standards,  email pre48spares@standardmotorclub.org.uk But I digress.....

So we set off the meeting in Lynda's modern. When we arrived we were greeted by the owners of three 1950's Standards, all of them in  black, who had arrived just before us. 

You can see the three cars in the photo. The first was an early sliding-window 8 owned by Rob and Rebecca. Rob has rescued the car from a garage on the Isle of Wright, from where he drove it home without issue. To say the car is original is something of an understatement but Rob is working on improving it - the first improvement being a recent MoT!

Next to it is the later Standard 10 belonging to Martin. Far right is Richard Bradley with his 1956 Super 10. Much exchanging of notes, tips and anecdotes was going on. Also arrived, but without his car was Tony Brookes, the owner of a 1034 Standard "9" Saloon, which he is currently restoring. As this is similar to our own 1934 10, we were able to offer some information about how the sliding roof worked, as it has been covered up in Tony's car. Sure enough, later in the week, Tony emailed me to say he had uncovered the sliding roof mechanism which he found to be complete, except for the opening handle.

Hopefully,  the 9 will get a full restoration and we shall see it at future events.

Richard Bradley was pleased that 5 Standard owners arrived for his meeting. even if only 3 of them managed to bring their cars. Though its nice to have a Standard there, it is nevertheless very useful to meet other owners, swap tips and advice, as everyone attending will testify. If you would like to join Richard for this Sunday lunchtime get-together it's on every 1st Sunday in the month when the clocks are on GMT but moves to the first Friday of the month when the clocks are BST. Hope you can make it

Richard already has promises from 6 local Standards to participate on Drive It Day which takes place on Sunday April 26th with a charity fund-raising event at St. Roses School in Stroud, but he could always cope with some more.

Report and Photo by Phil Homer