1938 Standard 8 tourer.
Dane, a forum regular, dropped me a line after spotting the page I added in relating to a Standard Flying 10 tourer that had been clothed by coachbuilder T.J. Richards, of Adelaide, Australia. In the 1960s he owned a similar car, a 1938 Standard Flying 8, also fitted with T.J. Richards tourer bodywork, as he now recalls:
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I bought the 1938 Standard in 1965, and paid $50 for it. It ran well and
served me well for a couple of years. By 1965 there were few touring cars
being made, so my car, in its red livery tended to stand out in the crowd.
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Along with my flatmates, we often took advantage of this for 'dress-up'
occasions. On one memorable evening Neil, the chap to the left of the car,
dressed as a chauffeur and took my then-girlfriend and myself to the opening
night of an opera. My girlfriend's father had supplied some free tickets that
he had been given. Suitably attired in evening dress, and sitting in the
back seat, we joined the line-up of Rollers, Bentleys etc., as they
discharged their passengers in front of the theatre. Quite a crowd had
formed on the footpath to see the celebrities in their finery walk into the
foyer.
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When our turn came, the commissionaire opened the passenger door, we
alighted, Neil drove away, and members of the crowd could be heard trying to
identify the young couple (us) and concluding that we were stars from a
television show.
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The Standard's top radiator tank, possibly because the car was a colonial model, was
rather large and overhung the fan. One night, motoring home at a fairly high
speed, a fan blade broke off and punctured that tank. Repairs were going to
cost more than the car was worth, so I traded it in for a 1939 Series E
Morris. If I remember correctly, the Morris was $45 and the salesman allowed
me $25 on the Standard.
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I really enjoyed the Standard, and could motor along at 50 mph quite comfortably in it. The engine supplied enough heat through the firewall to maintain a pleasant temperature in winter, and with the hood down in the summer, it made for a pleasant year-rounder car. One major failing was that the brakes were quite ineffectual in reverse, consequently one had to be very cautious when going backwards, and if possible point the rear end up hill.
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Thanks for sending the story and photo over. Photographs of factory-built Standard 8 tourers can be found on this page of the vintage gallery section.
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Photos of another example by T.J. Richards.
Seven years after first publishing this page, photos of another T.J. Richards example popped up, and are shared here with kind permission of their owner, Marilyn Hutchinson. The photos recall a trip undertaken by her parents in the early 1950s:
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Mum & dad travelling across the Nullabor about 1953 in a little Standard Tourer. Only problem they had was a broken spring. Not bad considering they travelled from Melbourne to Geraldton, which is over 3,500 kms & the Nullarbor on corrugated dirt roads & plenty of pot holes.
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Return to Page 16 in the photograph gallery.
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