Lot Ended
Description
Restored in 2017 and carefully used since; lots of money spent; driven
40 miles to the sale; very pretty and very rare, believed to be on of only
around 14 surviving
By the late
1930s Standard badly needed a new budget car to break into the tax-busting 8hp
market which was being dominated by the hugely popular Austin and Morris Eights.
Introduced during late 1938, the
Flying Eight was a brand new design that not only looked good but was cheap to
buy and run.
Notably one of the first small cars
to feature independent front suspension, it also marked a distinct departure
from the upright, boxy designs of the early 1930s with a number of à la
mode styling cues such as a ‘waterfall’ grille, sloping roofline, beetle
back and bulbous wings.
It was powered by a
1,021cc four-cylinder side-valve engine with a counterbalanced crankshaft and
aluminium cylinder head, mated to three-speed manual transmission. With a heady
31bhp on tap, Standard claimed a 60mph top speed with 45mpg economy and
effective stopping power from the Bendix brakes.
Available as a two-door saloon, a drophead coupe and an open tourer
the Flying Eight cost £129 and around 26,000 were sold (only about 1,500 of them
open tourers) before the outbreak of war put an end to production in 1940,
although a revised model was also produced post-war (1945 – 1948) which was
simply called the Eight.
First registered in June
1939, this Flying Eight comes with no early history but the DAB 544 number plate
implies that it was first registered in Worcestershire and research by the
previous owner shows that it was first owned by a Mr Edgar Rastall of Evesham. A
copy of a 1960 buff logbook shows that by 1960 it was owned by a James Davies of
Worcester and from 1965 – 1972 by a Mr A Dean of Cheltenham.
The trail then goes cold until 2017 when the
previous owner, a good friend of our vendor, acquired ‘Monty’ as the car is
affectionately known, from a Mr Atterbury of West Sussex. He had owned the car
for at least 25 years and had been slowly restoring it in fits and starts,
including fitting a new ash body frame, but never actually finished it.
By this point DAB 544 had fallen off the DVLA
radar so the previous owner succeeded in getting Monty re-registered and
reunited with its original registration number with the assistance of the
Standard Motor Club who certified that it was a “substantially complete and
genuine” Standard Flying Eight Open Tourer (see last photo).
However, the 1960 buff logbook called it a
Saloon so whether this was a mistake or it was converted to a Tourer at a later
date isn’t clear, although the current V5C calls it a Tourer and it was
certainly a Tourer when Mr Atterbury owned it – all rather
confusing.
Anyway, the previous owner finished
restoring Monty, as detailed by various invoices and a CD on file. This included
getting the gearbox rebuilt by Nicol Transmissions of Kidderminster; new
radiator core; new fuel pump; new carb; new wiring loom; conversion to 12v
electrics with dynamo charging; new lights; full interior retrim; five new tyres
and no doubt many other new parts for which there are no invoices.
Our
vendor acquired Monty from his friend in 2020 and has been using it
regularly to pop into town and take to local shows. He tells us that it runs and
drives nicely and was fitted with a new hood and side screens in August 2024
which cost £1,800. He also drove Monty some 40 miles to the
sale.
Aside from the aforementioned documents and
correspondence, the history file also includes lots of useful technical
literature plus some lovely period brochures and road tests which must be
collector’s items in their own right.
Starting
promptly and running well as we have moved it around on site, with healthy 60psi
oil pressure, this super little Standard is on offer here at a fraction of the
amount it must have cost to restore.
It is also extremely rare, research
by the previous owner suggesting that there are perhaps no more than 14 Flying
Eight Tourers surviving worldwide so it could be a long while before you see
another for sale. It is certainly the only example that we have ever seen in 20
years of hosting these sales.
Consigned by
James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com