|
Another rare Vanguard
Estate is uncovered
The following are extracts from the Standard
Motor Club Forum ( Have you joined yet?)
Hi,
Could anyone tell me how rare in the
UK a phase 1 Vanguard estate is?
I only ask as I visited relatives over in British Columbia in Canada
last month and tucked away in a corner of their farm is what I believe
to be a 1950 Phase 1 estate. Although some of the glass is broken I
couldn't believe how good the bodywork is given that it hasn't been on
the road since 1959 (it still wears its '59 plates) there isn't a dent
on the body and there is very little rust. I had a good preliminary
look over it and the sills/floorpan look and feel sound.
The rear wheels are obviously not
original! but the original ones are lying by the car.
You will note the original period
radio (complete with BIG transformer) on whats left of the front
seats. Rust-wise this car is amazing with only very little surface
rust only. The roof has a
stainless steel panel over what looks to have been the cut-out for a
webasto-type sunroof? If a good interior could be found/re-made this
would make a wonderful project.
The interior is pretty well gone and
the engine is no longer there but it looked like a good basis for a
restoration.
Now I know that the end value of a
fully restored example, would in no way cover or even justify the cost
of shipping the thing over and restoring it, but thats not why we
restore cars is it?
So from a rarity point alone would
this be worth it I wonder?
Ian Hardy
You can click on any of these
thumbprints to see an enlargement:
Once again it is over to our
Vanguard Estate expert, Peter Lockley, who identifies this as only the
second surviving Phase 1 Estate.
Thanks
for the email. It looks the same as that of Tom Dolby of
Peterborough, who was parked next to mine at Denny Abbey at this
years Standard International Rally, i.e. an approximately 1950 Phase
1. It has sidelights and bonnet mascot so is not a very early one,
as very early cars had neither
As
Tom's is the only active Phase 1 estate I know of in the UK and I
know of no others, this one is clearly worth saving.
Your
correspondent is however wrong about the roof. All estates and vans
had a panel in the middle of the roof as it's the manner
of construction. The very early ones had a fabric panel and this as
most would have had an aluminium not stainless steel one.
Mulliners
of Bordesley in Birmingham (which were later taken over by Standard
and a different company to Mulliners who bodied Rolls and Bentleys
etc.) made the estate, van and pickup bodies whereas Fisher and
Ludlow did the saloons.
Even
the colour may be original as they did a dark metallic green colour.
This one seems very faded however. My parts book shows different
part nos. for saloon and estate bodies so presumably Mulliners
supplied the bodies ready painted.
Give
this a plug on the web as it would be great to see this car restored
Peter
So there you have it, only the
second known Phase 1 Vanguard Estate. At
this point I expect a deluge of emails telling me about other
survivors. Lets hope so.
Ian,
Please try to save this car. If
you can't, please let us know where it is so that we can try to
find someone else interested in saving it
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
Return to Featured
Cars
Return to Vanguard
Page
|
