IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: 1934 Standard 10 (pre war car review!)

Today's video is on a pre war car: a Standard 10 car from 1934!

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Today's walkaround text:
The history of British motoring is always an interesting one and for me, one of the names you don’t hear enough about online in terms of YouTube videos is Standard - which is why when I got offered this Standard 10 for review, I had to come down and see her in the flesh.

For younger viewers who may know very little about Standard, they were in their time not only one of the biggest names in the Coventry motoring boom but also one of the cities biggest employers; meaning at one point in time, Standard was a big deal.

Standard were one of the early names in motoring and made cars from 1903 to 1963, with the name still present in indian motoring until 1987.

There are many great books about the company and their cars and the links with Ferguson tractors and Triumph, but to avoid doing a disservice to the manufacturer, today will focus on the 1934 Standard 10.

For more reading on the company, I do recommend the book of the standard motor company by Graham Robson, which I used as part of my research for this video.

1934 was a big year for Standard, which made this car an interesting choice for the channel. In the autumn of 1933, the company had announced they were revamping their offerings including the all new Standard 10. The new 10 had a more modern, more powerful engine and crucially for the discerning driver, a new 4 forward speed gearbox with synchro on the top 3 gears.

This gearbox was a first for the British motoring industry and really changed the market and had impact on what motorists expected from their cars going forward.

Engines and gearboxes were now on rubber mountings, body styles were new giving more room to passengers with additional comforts and except for tourers, the cars were all steel constructions.

Now you may be wondering where the name ’10’ comes from, well it actually relates to the taxation band at the time which was based on the RAC horse power. This RAC system favoured engines with relatively small cylinder bores. In order to achieve higher capacity, car manufacturers began to produce long stroke engines with relatively low maximum revs, which meant that taxation systems led to changes in driving characteristics across the board.

Whilst we talk about the ease of driving during the road test, it is worth noting that when this car was sold in 1934, the driving test was yet to be instated. The legislation was passed in mid to late 1934 to state that new drivers from 1935 onwards would need to take a test and the Highway Code was completely revised in 1934 too.

The 10 we are taking out today has the dip and switch headlight system which was common in the 30s and the near-side headlight reflector mechanically dips, the offside headlight is switched off. This might seem completely bonkers in 2021 but was quite normal at time of sale.

You’ll note this car does have the sunshine roof but due to it being a bit tricky and needing a little TLC we won’t be able to show you today - but we will show you on the Standard 9 in the coming weeks.

We do have free wheel on this. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a control box beside the steering column which prevents engine braking and is a bit awkward to use - so we’ll see how brave I feel as to whether I test that on our run out!

Engine on these was all new for 1934 and has a 3 bearing crank. It has white metalled bronze backed bearing shells which was a precursor to the more modern steel backed shells.

The engine is of course that 1343cc side valve design which gives us 32bhp at 3600 rpm giving the car a peak power to weight ratio of 34.6 bhp per ton. For comparison with a popular car made 30 years later, a Morris Minor 1000 fitted with the 1098 A series has 64 bhp per ton - so this might give you an indication to how slow this lovely old girl really is!

The car has been fitted with a 1936 down draught manifold and those of you who are eagle eyed and know these cars well may note the car has been fitted with a home made air filter housing.

Another small detail you may note as we look round and as we drive, is the blue sticker in the screen. This is from 1960 and was from the newly introduced roadworthiness test, introduced for all cars over 10 years old. Luckily this special car passed her test - aged 26 - but many did not. This test then evolved into what we now know as the MOT.