1937 Standard Flying 12 DHC Restoration Feature

1937 Standard Flying 12  Drophead Coupe Restored

This is the story of the restoration of DYN 943, a 1937 Standard Flying 12 DHC. A one owner vehicle, until it came into my possesion in 1983, this car was in very poor condition and has been the subject of a 19 year (!) restoration since then. It is now back on the road (August 2002) in good time for the Centenary Celebrations, next year. You need to judge for yourself if the effort was worth it.

Here is a series of before, during and after photographs that explain far better than words the poor state this car was in and the amount of time and effort,  not to mention money, that has been put into bringing this very pretty car back to concours condition.

The car as pulled out of it's shed in 1983. looks unpromising.	Evidence of two patch repaired oversills, plus a metre length of angle iron for strength. The wood frame  is exposed below the wheelarch	All four wings could be pulled off without the use of tools, and this is typical of the view behind   them
The rear inner wings, too, were rotten and  had to be removed. Repairs have started here on the surrounding woodwork and metal work.	Making up one of two new inner wimgs and,	..........offering it up to the car
Now welded in and screwed to the wood frame	Repaired secondhand wing from donor car is trial fitted	Jumble find new front wing is trial fitted (photo to follow)
You can see the rotton  chassis side rail and the sill sitting on the floor! The new rail has been welded in place and fabrication of the new sill has started	The same view with the new double curvature sill completed	The same area now in primer filler

Though I tried to do as much of the work as possible myself, the car was too far gone to get by without professional help. In particular there was no sill strength left at all, so removing the body from the chassis   was not an option as front and rear halves would have parted company. The chassis side members and new sills were therefore replaced one at a time in situ. The only other chassis member that needed replacement was the cross car member that also provides outriggers for the front spring hangers for the rear springs. This is designed as a "U" shape, therefore fills with water and rapidly rots out! The sills themselves are a complex double curvature, well beyond my metalworking skills.

The four wings came from a mixture of jumble finds and a scrap donor saloon since the saloon  shares the same wings. The inner front wings required only minor repair, whilst the inner rear wings required complete refabriaction as shown in the picture story. Patch repairs to the floor and boot floor completed the major metalwork.

Lynda and I then spent a considerable time removing all the original paint from the car and keying it in to the new primed parts. All minor blemishes were painstakingly smoothed with filler primer, then repeatedly sprayed with primer, each coat rubbed down and finally succesive coats of Old English White cellulose were applied, each thinned more than the previous one. There is no escaping these stages if you want the paint to look good.

Over the years we had collected as many new and secondhand parts that we could to finish the rebuilt. The bumper blades were rotten and Lynda commissioned a new set to be made and gave then to me one year as a Christmas present! The battered headlights and sidelights were restored to new condition and we purchased a new wiring loom. The single rear offside light over the numberplate was copied by building a "mirror copy" bracket on the other side, allowing a second identical stop/tail light to be fitted over a period "GB" plate. We collected hubcaps from jumbles until in the end we had 16!

Completed welding and bodywork (picture to follow)	The body  is resprayed in Old English White and reassembled	The car in the trim shop, still wearing its postwar replacement hood, in grey, at this point
Original rar sets complete with mouse nest in corner! Compare with below	The leather is complete but unusable except as patterns - compare with below	Old front seats and carpet
The recovered rear seat is offered up	Interior door trim in our chosen blue/grey leather	The nearside doortrim completed
We might have  temporary modern registration plates, but it's time for the MoT! Lynda's at the wheel - and it passes!	The hoodbag is a new invention, there is no evidence that the car originally had one, but to our mind it finishes the car off very neatly	Admiring glances on its first major outing, the Welsh Rally, story to follow

Professionals and suppliers that helped us:

Driving Impressions:

Well, I'm suprised! Admittedly, the car has a new steering box, new track rod ends, reconditioned shock absorbers and brand new springs, so the handling should be good. It certainly is, and must be as near as possible to what it was like new. The nearest comparison that I  have is to the 1934 Standard 10 saloon, so the 12 is just 3 years younger, has 250 cc's more, but is essentially the same chassis and engine technology.

What a difference 3 years development makes!

The 12 pulls up the same hills in top that the 10 struggles up in second, (even though the 12 is not yet run in) the bumps seem to be all smoothed out and the car actually seems to go round corners. Quite remarkable!. As you might expect, its all too high geared of course for modern conditions and I find first gear totally unneccessary. The brakes are a different matter! As it goes so well, it really needs some stopping power but  these rod operated Bendix's are just not up to the job. Perhaps some more adjustment is required, but I cant ever believe that they will be better than mediocre. The gearchange is precise and the synchromesh works well.  We have resisted the understandable desire that most people have to put flashing indicators on the car, but the trafficators are quite low down and are even more difficult for young and untrained motorists to see. For originality sake, we  intend to persevere with the trafficators, assisted by hand signals, which again very few of the younger generation,   i.e. under 40, understand. We know how to behave at junctions to bring maximum attention to where we are going! Visibility is poor with the hood up, but this is not the sort of car to have the hood up, and we don't intend to. The headlights are good because the car is adapted for twin solenoid dipping and the reflectors are new. The wipers aren't worth mentioning, lets just hope it doesnt rain! (anyone got a new wiper motor?)

This rear three-quarters view of the car is the most attractive

You can see pictures of this car as it was new in 1937 here

Conclusions:

Would I do this again - Probably not!   I knew that it would cost at least twice what the car is worth on the market today, and it did. That isn't the issue. When we started, nearly 20 years ago, many of the parts were available, admittedly after a lot of searching out and with a fair degree of persistence and luck. The issue is that prewar parts for Standards, particularly for rare ones like this are now so rare that it would be almost impossible to do it again, or only by spending  much more money.

As I have said this is the prettiest Standard ever, and we intend to drive it and enjoy it. Come and see it at the Centenary Celebrations

Request:

I find that restoration Articles like this are the favourites amongst readers, by some margin. Please send  the story of your restoration to Phil Homer

I am aware that there are other cars and information that could be added to this site to make it more comprehensive, so if you have material and photographs, please let me know.  Please send me, Phil Homer, a message at: Phil Homer

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