It's

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

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

What an appropriate Registration plate for a 1939 Flying Standard!

This is another page dedicated to owners who like to use their Standards. I constantly hear of owners who won't attend a rally because its a hundred miles return, or so.... Well, following Dennis Brown's exploits over 1300 miles, here's another example, another 1200 miles in a pre-war Standard.

(As usual, you can click on any of Chris's photographs to see an enlargement)

Hi, My name is Chris Cansdale and I own a J J Richards bodied, 1938/39 Flying Standard 8 Tourer. In 2005, having owned the car for about a year, we decided to get adventurous and take the car on a week long rally that is an annual event here in Victoria, Australia, run by the Victorian Auto club, RACV. The rally is known as Fly the Flag and is limited to 200 cars and attracts a wide variety of makes and ages (both people and cars). The 2005 rally was known as the Alpine & Lakes Tour and the story of our trip is as follows:

Our rendezvous point for the rally was at one of the RACV’s resorts, in a town called Healesville, about an hour from the city (Melbourne) and about an hour and a half from where I live on the Mornington Peninsula; so, it was an early start to make it to the rendezvous by 8am for breakfast. It was a pleasant enough drive up through the hills although a little on the cool side with a mix of light fog and a touch of mountain drizzle. We arrived at the resort and were marshalled away from the bulk of cars, only to find were selected to be one of the few cars allowed to park on the lawns for a photo shoot of the older cars attending.

Our first day’s challenge (as we were to discover) was a trip to the first night stopover at the top of Mt Baw Baw, one of the lower winter ski resorts in Victoria at 5141 ft above sea level. Travelling along at 50mph through some light hilly forest roads, the trip was only about 60 miles from Healesville, so we had plenty of time to take in the views.

Squeezed into the boot along with the essential clothing and spares, I had tucked in a little Trangia camping fuel stove and some nibbles, so took the opportunity along with several others to pull off the road for some late morning tea. Having discreetly admired the other cars, we continued on our journey only five minutes later to come across a lovely Triumph, sitting with its tail on its spare tyre. Apparently he had lost a universal joint on one of his drive shafts and the entire wheel and shaft had departed from the car, fortunately without too much damage.

Needless to say we rolled in and discovered our hot little Standard had boiled the top radiator tank dry, the bottom of which had "popped" down and was now just touching the top of the fan blade. With some cooling time past, fresh water and a little gentle persuasion, we considered the remaining climb.

Various opinions were swapped with other rally entrants and we decided to climb the rest in disgrace, being towed behind a Toyota diesel Hilux, the Ranger, who was running a free service pulling those of us horsepower challenged drivers to the summit. I can tell you I’m glad I did! At the top, we watched other cars, Jag’s and vintage cars, Mercedes and 60’s sports cars struggle into the car park with their auxiliary cooling fans screaming and radiator coolant being unceremoniously squirted out all over the ground. Never the less the views were spectacular and an enjoyable night was had by all.

Day two posed our next challenge, how does one get a near 80 year old car back down the mountain relying on cable drum brakes and only two real gears providing any sort of engine braking? The answer- SLOWLY! This time we sat behind other cars, top down, sniffing in the aroma of burning brakes from the more modern cars, on and off the brake pedal, dawdling down in second. We were just approaching the clearing we had used on the climb up and decided to pull in and give the brakes a rest, fortunately the people already there, were able to move quickly out of our way as the brake fade got past being a challenge. It would have been easier stopping putting a foot out of the door onto the gravel!

From the bottom of the mountain we were heading south to the coast to a beautiful seaside tourist/fishing town called Lakes Entrance, situated on 90 mile beach (named this for obvious reasons) some 175 miles away.

Today’s drive started with more spectacular scenery, but as we headed south out of the mountain range, the temperature started to climb as the sun came out. Unfortunately a fair proportion of the driving was to be along the main freeway and proved to quite unpleasant. As the day progressed, passengers and car alike got hotter and hotter and we totalled 6 stops to refill the radiator and stop the clanging and we drove on in 36 degrees C.

With an extended stopover in Lakes Entrance, we were able to enjoy some much cooler and also foggy driving around the local area before heading off North West back towards the mountains the next day.

The next day’s driving started calm and cool and yet again lovely scenery appeared in and out of the light fog as we headed away from the coast. Within an hour an hour it was blazing sun and hot northerly winds, and choosing to drive in the fog with the top down had turned out to be a wise decision. This time fortunately, the wind was blowing straight through the radiator and we experienced no more overheating.

Our destination, a lovely town in Northern Victoria called Bright. Nestled in the mountains, Bright is a very old town (well by Australian standards) that is full of European trees, that in autumn bring thousands of tourists to see the magnificent colours of autumn, in a town otherwise nestled in the grey/green of the Australian bush. Only one thing to master today, crossing over Mt Hotham, one of the higher ski resort areas in winter at an elevation of 6105ft. Believe it or not, an easier drive than the climb of Mt Baw Baw! The drive was more like riding a big dipper roller coaster, enabling the little Standard to make use of gravity. Having climbed through the usual switch backs, a good section of the drive was over this heavily undulating country and we crossed the tops of the mountain range. (you notice me looking a little grumpy at the top of the range in one of the pics). Many a hill was crossed by getting the car to just under 60 mph downhill to catapult us up the other side. With one seeing us start at 60mph in top gear and JUST make it up the other side in 1^st at 10mph!

Many a driver of the more modern cars commented on the fact that they would pass us in the day, only to have to pass us again a few hours later, "what an amazing little car".

tank seal which had obviously had enough of the tank expanding and contracting in the previous hot days of driving, the fan subsequently blowing this back on to the firewall and ending up on my foot! Some 30 minutes at the local garage, squishing an epoxy kneaded sealer on, we were water tight (ish) and on our way again.

The rally is accompanied by two RACV road service mechanics that would usually be rescuing stranded motorists with flat tyres and batteries and one of these was kind enough to help jack up the back of the old girl, whilst we established why I had redeveloped a rumble from the diff.

In closing, I would strongly urge Standard owners to get out and about! Despite a few trials, it was a great experience and I would love nothing more than to take my Standard along some of the back country roads of Britain that you all have at or close to your garage doors…