Standard

GB, 1903 – 1963

Standard Motor Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire

R.W. Maudslay’s company started modestly with a single-cylinder Standard car with an under-floor engine of markedly oversquare (5x3in) dimensions, which was the work of Alex Craig who also designed for Maudslay (made by the same family as the Standard cars founder), Lea-Francis, and Singer. A 12/15hp bonneted twin Standard car was also available, while 4-cylinder engines were offered as proprietary units. In 1906 Standard cars offered Britain’s first inexpensive sixes with side valves, 3-speed gearboxes, and shaft drive; a fairly large 24/30hp Standard car being followed by a really big 50hp Standard car at £850, and a 3.3-litre Standard 20 at £450, these Standard cars being energetically marketed in London by Charles Friswell. 6-cylinder Standard cars dominated Standard design for several years, the Standard 20 doing well in its subsequent 4-litre form; a fleet of 70 Standard cars was shipped to India for the Delhi Durbar in 1911. The shouldered radiator of the Standard car first carried the Union Jack badge in 1908. In 1909 a 2.7-litre 4-cylinder 14 with cylinders cast in pairs was being offered for £350, other fours following until the sixes Standard cars were finally dropped at the end of 1912. A big car in miniature, the 9.5hp Standard Rhyl, was announced in 1913 with a 3-speed gearbox, worm drive, and all brakes on the rear wheels, this Standard car was priced at £185. Electric lighting was available on the Standard car in 1915, and at the outbreak of World War 1 there were also two bigger Standard cars, both sv monobloc fours with capacities of 2.4- and 3.3-litres.

In 1919 an enlarged 1.3-litre version of the Standard Rhyl, the Standard SLS, was the staple product of Standard cars, but this had grown up by 1921 into the 11.6hp Standard SLO with exposed overhead valves – these early Vintage Standard cars also had no sides to their radiator shells. There was a short-lived ohv 8hp in 1922, but the most successful mid-Vintage Standard car was the 13.9hp SLO4, this Standard car still was with overhead valves and worm drive, which had rigid side-curtains and the Standard car could be bought for £375 in 1924. From 1923 these Standard cars carried the emblem of the 9th Roman Legion as their radiator mascot. 10.000 Standard cars were sold in 1924, Front-wheel brakes were standard on the 13.9hp Standard cars in 1926. Some less successful 2.2-litre ohv 6-cylinder Standard cars were marketed in 1927, in which year saloon Standard cars could be bought with sliding roofs, while financial difficulties of the Standard car company were circumvented by the hurried introduction of the very reliable 1.155cc worm-drive Standard Nine car with an sv engine and fabric bodywork for 1928. Within a year a roomier, longer-wheelbase version of this Standard car was listed, as well as supercharged and unsupercharged sports two-seater Standard cars, and the first of the Avon Standard Specials, a low-built two-seater styled by the Jensen brothers, had made its appearance. The Avon, both in its original form and in its later manifestations (the work of C.F. Beauvais) continued in a variety of semi-catalogue forms on many Standard car chassis from the Standard Nine to the 20hp Standard car up to 1937. 1929 was the year of chromium plating on Standard cars, of the first of a line of sv sixes with coil ignition and 7-bearing crankshafts that was to persist up to 1940, and of the appointment of Captain J.P. Black, from Hillman, as Managing Director. Under his control Standard cars rode out the Depression with steadily increasing sales, but at the cost of magneto ignition, worm-driven back axles and the traditional radiator, all of which had disappeared on the Standard car by 1931, when Standard car company were offering the Standard Big Nine, a really roomy small saloon for less than £200, and low-priced 16 and 20hp six Standard cars. This range of Standard cars was rounded out in 1932 by a 1-litre Standard Little Nine at £155, and in this year William Lyons, whose 1930 Swallow-bodies Standard cars had anticipated the new 1931 radiator, launched his first S.S. cars. These used specially-built Standard car chassis and his own style of bodywork, and were to evolve into the Jaguar. Standard-built engines were used in all Lyon’s cars up to 1940 and survived on 4-cylinder Jaguars until 1948. Cruciform-braced frames and silent-third gearboxes were features of the 1933 Standard cars, while that year’s complex Standard car range included a couple of short-lived sixes of under 1.500cc, the option of preselector gearboxes on some Standard cars, and a long-wheelbase 20hp Standard car landaulette. Synchromesh, free wheels and integral boots came in 1934, when a new best-seller Standard car was the well-equipped 1.3-litre Standard Ten, and there were six Standard car models for 1935, including a sporting 10/12hp Standard car consisting of a Standard Ten chassis and body, and a 1.6-litre twin-carburettor 12hp engine. Much of the same Standard cars were offered in 1936, but this year also brought the fastback Flying Standard cars with luggage accommodation and spare wheels streamlined into the tail, though retaining the Bendix brakes of earlier versions of Standard cars. Initially offered only in 12, 16, and 20hp sizes, the style of this Standard car was universal by 1937, when buyers had the choice of four 4-cylinder Standard car and two 6-cylinder types, form the Standard Nine at £149 to the Standard Twenty at £299, as well as a rapid compact V8 Standard car with a 2.7-litre 80bhp sv engine in a Standard Twelve chassis. This Standard car failed to catch on, though its fencer’s mask grille was found on all Standard cars from 1938 to 1947, and the engine was used by Raymond Mays. Other makers buying components from Standard were Railton, whose Ten was based on a Standard car chassis, and Morgan, for whom a special ohv 10hp engine was made by the Standard car company from 1939 – 1950.

A 1939 Standard car best seller was the 1-litre Standard Eight at £129, the first British small saloon with independent front suspension: similar layouts were found on Super versions of the Ten and Twelve, but this year’s Flying Standard cars no longer had fastbacks. Of the extensive pre-World War 2 range of Standard cars, only the Eight, Twelve, and Fourteen were continued after the war, the Fourteen using a 1.8-litre engine in the Twelve chassis, although Standard car products now included Triumph, acquired in 1945.

Late in 1947 came the Standard car company’s first true post-war design, the unitary-construction Standard Vanguard with a 2.1-litre ohv wet-liner 4-cylinder engine, full width six-seater bodywork, hydraulic brakes, and a 3-speed gearbox with column change. This Standard car sold for £544, though for some time the Standard car was practically unobtainable on the home market, and was the only Standard car model catalogued between 1949 and 1953. Standard cars were made under licence in Belgium by Imperia, and the Standard car engine also went into the bigger Triumphs, the Ferguson tractor, the earlier Plus-Four Morgan, and, in 2-litre form, into Triumph’s successful TR series. Overdrive became an option in 1950 on Standard cars; the body was restyled in 1953, 1956, and 1959; a diesel version with separate chassis was marketed in 1954 and 1955; and a luxury Sportsman verion with a 90bhp engine, a traditional grille, and overdrive as standard appeared in 1957, though this Standard car was too expensive at £1.231, and did not last long. Towards the end automatic Standard Vanguards were available, but the tough old four Standard car was dropped in 1961.

There were other Standard cars. An 803cc ohv Standard Eight with coil-spring independent front suspension and very basic appointments was announced late in 1953 at £481, followed shortly after by a more luxurious Standard car with 948cc 10hp at £581. These Standard cars were quite best-sellers despite such later options as 2-pedal control, triple overdrive (on the Standard Eight) and the addition of a luxury Pennant version of the Standard Ten in 1957. Fairthrope used this engine, which later served as the basis for the Triumph Herald, but production of the small Standard cars tailed off in 1959. There were other variations on the Vanguard theme: the Standard Ensign with a 1.6-litre 62bhp engine was cooly received, though the Standard car was revived in 1962 with a 75bhp 2.138cc unit and 4-speed gearbox. After the Leyland take-over in 1961, the Standard car company’s efforts concentrated increasingly on the Triumph range, but Standard cars final fling in 1962 was once again Vanguard-based, though the Standard car company broke new ground with a 2-litre short-stroke ohv 6-cylinder engine later used in the Triumph 2000. The last Standard cars were delivered in the summer of 1963. The name died because the term, ‘standard’, when applied to cars, had been debased; it had come to mean the opposite of ‘de luxe’ – and this despite the comfortable appointments of the Luxury Six.

US, 1903 – 1907

Standard/ Standard Tourist

Standard Motor Construction, Jersey City, N.J.

Th Standard car succeeded the US Long Distance. The only model Standard car was a five-seater in wood at $3.250, or in aluminium for $3.500. The engine of this Standard car was a 4-stroke, 4-cylinder one of 25hp.

Italy, 1906 – 1912

Fabbrica Automobili Standard, Turin

Also known as the FAS, the Standard car was a conventional machine with a 14/20hp 4-cylinder engine and 4-speed gearbox. The Standard car company had no known connection with any firm bearing the name Standard.

US, 1909 – 1910

(1) St. Louis Motor Car Co, St. Louis, Mo., 1909

(2) St. Louis Car Co, St. Louis, Mo., 1910

From 1906 to 1909 this Standard car company first made three models of the Mors under the name American Mors, but in 1909 they introduced a car of their own design. This Standard car had an ohv 50hp 6-cylinder engine of 7.8-litre capacity. Five body styles were listed, including a limousine at $4.000. The rear springs were of the platform type.

US, 1910

Standard Gas Electric Power Co, Philadelphia, Pa.

This Standard car had a 4-cylinder, 3.7-litre engine with a 3-speed sliding-gear transmission and shaft drive. The only feature of interest of this Standard car was electric starting. The single model Standard car for 1910 was a four-seater torpedo which weighed 2.000lb.

D, 1911 – 1912

Standard Automobilfabrik GmbH, Berlin-Charlottenburg

This German Standard car was characterized by the use of Henriod rotary-valve engines, but the system proved unsuccessful and production of Standard cars was not on a large scale. Two 4-cylinder Standard car models of 10/28PS and 13/35PS were listed.

US, 1912 – 1915

Standard Electric Car Co, Jackson, Mich.

This electric Standard car used Westinghouse motors and was claimed to have a range of 110 miles on a charge. The Standard car was operated from a tiller on the left-hand side. The controller on the Standard car gave six forward speeds, the maximum speed being 20mph. The Standard Model M, a four-seater closed model, cost $1.885.

US, 1912 – 1923

(1) Standard Steel Car Co, Butler, Pa., 1912 – 1923

(2) Standard Auto Vehicle Co, Butler, Pa., 1923

For most of its life the Standard car was built by a firm whose main product was steel and composite railway carriages and wagons. Up to 1916 the Standard car was a conventional 38hp 6-cylinder car built in touring an closed models, at prices up to $3.600. In 1916 an 8-cylinder Standard car model was introduced which was to become the staple product of the Standard car company. Smaller than the six, this Standard car was rated at 29hp (50bhp) and cost only $1.950 for the most expensive model. For 1917 it was increased to 34hp (80bhp) and by 1921 prices of the Standard cars were up to $5.000. In 1923 a new company acquired the design from the Standard Steel Car Co. They assembled a few of the V8 Standard cars, but did not introduce any new models, and were out of business the same year.

US, 1914

Standard Engineering Co, Chicago, Ill.

This Standard car was a cyclecar powered by an air-cooled 2-cylinder Spacke engine. Transmission was by friction discs, and final drive by single chain.

US, 1920 – 1921 

Standard Engineering Co, St. Louis, Mo.

The Standard Steam Car was equipped with a Scott-Newcomb 2-cylinder, horizontal paraffin-burning steam engine and the Standard car was advertised as being able to raise a head of steam in less than 60 seconds. The Standard car carried a Rolls-Royce-type condenser and closely resembled the then well-known Roamer. A touring model was the only body style available. The Standard car was sometimes known as the Scott-Newcomb.

D, 1933 – 1935

Standard Fahrzeugfabrik GmbH, Ludwigsburg

This Standard car firm, owned by Wilhelm Gutbrod, obtained the licence for the production of a small car designed by Josef Ganz. The car appeared under the name of Standard Superior. The Standard car had a 2-cylinder, 2-stroke engine of 396cc developing 12bhp or of 494cc and 16bhp. Special features of this Standard car design were an aerodynamic body, rear engine, centre tubular chassis and independent suspension. Production was given up in 1935, but vans and estate Standard cars were built until 1939. Another car built to Ganz designs was the Swiss Rapid.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, GMN, GNG, HON, KM

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