Standard Eight Saloon

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Founded in  1903, RW Maudslay's Standard Motor Company made a range of small cars in Coventry up to the outbreak of World War I when production switched to aircraft manufacture. Civilian car production restarted in 1919 with a new range of small cars and by 1924 the company had a share of the market comparable to Austin, making over 10,000 cars in 1924.

However the firm then stagnated until 1929 when Captain John Black joined the board from Hillman, becoming the architect of the firm's resurgence in the 1930s when it built a reputation for keenly priced, well-built, reliable and comfortable saloons. The first post-war model was the Standard Eight which was a small car with a 1,009 cc engine that produced a modest 28bhp driving through a four-speed manual gearbox with a floor-mounted gear-lever to give it a top speed of 60mph and 40mpg economy.

Dating from the last year of production, this two-door saloon was first registered in Shropshire in May 1948 and has recently emerged from 20 years in storage. According to the original buff log book it has had just three owners from new. The speedo reads 18,000 miles and while the vendor cannot warrant this, he states that “the car comes with a service history folder that would appear to put some credence to the speedo reading.” The car is said to be in good condition all round and to drive well and is due to have a fresh MOT before the sale.