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This is the worldwide club for all owners and enthusiasts of Standard Cars

"Dedicated to the preservation of Standard Cars 1903-1963"

Helpers on the Club Stand on Saturday - L to R, Bob and Val Richardson, Malcolm Graham, Peter Lockley, Mike Duke and Nanook of the North

You can tell how cold it is by the numbers of layers of clothes that the stand helpers have on! No sensible brass monkeys would have dared venture out - but this trepid band did! As usual, in January, the Bristol Classic Car show was held at the Royal bath and West Showgrounds near Shepton Mallet. This is the grand title for what is basically a collection of unheated cowsheds.

But it could have been worse. What you can't see is the Spaceheater behind the cars that the helpers were able to huddle around at intervals. Despite the temperature hovering around freezing - inside- this didn't seem to cool the public's interest. When Lynda and I arrived mid - Saturday morning, the car park was filling and a huge queue of icy customers had formed. Luckily we had passes, as we had volunteered to help on the Stand, so we able to breeze straight in - infinitely preferable to standing out in a gale-force wind coming from Siberia.

Lots of interest in the Club Stand too. Here is the same shot , but without the frozen crowd of people:

The Club's Stand - 1934 Standard 10 Saloon, Nanook of the North, and 1927 Australian bodied V4.

To say that the cars created lots of interest is an understatement. Quite why, when we usually find that no-one can remember pre-war cars at all, is a little bit of a mystery. Certainly the quality of these two cars helped. The first is was the Australian bodied V4 belonging to Steve Smeltzer. This is an interesting body put on an exported Standard V4 chassis in 1927 by the Melbourne Motor Bodies Company. You would think that this 80 year old car would be unique, but what do you know?- another owner turns up who has an identical car in Bridgewater - he imported his from Australia when he returned 30 years ago - though by all accounts that one still needs some restoration. He was astonished to see the same model 10,000 miles from its home!

The second was the  immaculately restored 1934 Standard 10 belonging to Steve  Lovegrove, and it came as no surprise to us that this car was subsequently awarded "Pre-war Car of the Show" Well done Steve. This car will appear in its own feature shortly.

Report and photographs by the Webmaster