A sporting Standard: Gordon England’s forgotten two-seater

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Gordon England – the name means one thing to most people: Austin Sevens of the sports and racing varieties. Not many people know that Gordon England also made bodies for the Standard Nine — but not many: just 50 Sports Saloons and 50 Sports Two-Seaters. Of those, only two survive. One is an original two-seater, and the other was a saloon which, owing to dereliction, has been restored as a two-seater.

You can probably tell from appearances that they are not true sports cars, though Standard did offer them with superchargers and reduced-capacity engines so they could be raced in the under-1100cc class. In unsupercharged form, the two-seater is certainly capable of breezing along at 50 mph (a maximum of 60 was promised — or 75 with the supercharger), but it’s in no great hurry to get there. Gear changes can’t be rushed, and it really shouldn’t be thrown hard into corners.

But all this talk is missing the point — the Gordon England Two-Seater is a fun car, plain and simple, meant for Sunday jollies and perhaps a spot of posing by the promenade.

Most people will never be racing drivers, and with the Standard, there’s no need to be. It’s fair to say that 45 mph in the Sports Nine will feel much the same as 45 mph in a ‘real’ sports car — i.e., brisk and bracing — and isn’t that enough for English country roads? Zack Stiling is charmed by this lightweight, light-hearted car in the July issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling; Photographs by Reverendpixel

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