Standard Nine Deluxe

This nine was originally sold by S.H. Newsome & Co. Ltd. of Coventry on the 29th June 1935 to Cyril Brookes, the owner of Brookes Sempar, a Coventry based furniture manufacturer. Registration briefly transferred to Desmond Thorn of Coventry in 1949, before back to Cyril Brookes, this time registered at his company address. It remained in Cyril’s ownership until 1964 when he gave up driving and returned it to Newsome’s. In that year it took part in a recreation of The Standard Car Owner’s Club first road-trial of 1934, organised by the Standard Register. Newsomes used it as part of a marketing display for the Triumph 2000 (yes, Triumph was another Standard Motor Company brand from 1946)

In 1972 its ownership transferred to Barry Mapperson, one of Newsone’s employees who did some light restoration and had it re-sprayed, keeping its original colour scheme which was only available on the 1935 nine de luxe model. It attended many Standard and Standard-Triumph rallies throughout the decade. Many of the plaques and rosettes from these shows came to me with the car. I was lucky enough to meet both these owners soon after I bought it, but sadly I couldn’t trace Cyril Brookes or any of his relatives. There is a story that he continued driving it in Coventry throughout the war. When a bomb fell some distance behind, he said it had never gone so fast. I can’t see any shrapnel dents, but it’s a good story.

It then passed through several owners in the Bournemouth area, who drove it very little, before being sold at auction at the Great Dorset Stem Fair and finally finding its current home with me.

As with all old cars the nine has been repaired over the years. I’ve mentioned the rather basic bodywork repairs. The engine although still original had been re-bored and the crank re-ground at least once by the time I bought it. The pistons were sloppy in the bores which had corrosion rings where water had sat in them. The distributor was shall we say “relaxed” in its time keeping. It had a welded up 1936 cylinder head fitted and most of the head studs had been stripped replaced with the type of 10mm studding you find at B and Q! To complete the picture, the middle two con rods were in the wrong way round too. Remarkably it actually ran sweetly and drove fairly well. It wasn’t until later that I realised how down on power it was. Now I have reconditioned the engine it goes much better and is a joy to drive. My dilemma now is whether to restore the bodywork or continue my conservational approach.