TOH 157 - Owner, Lynda Homer, St. Albans.
TOH 157 was delivered by Birmingham Dealers P.J. Evans to Ms Iris Flecther of Wednesbury, West Midlands, in April 1956.
The invoice shows that the car cost new £657 12s 0d, including Purchase Tax. Mrs Fletcher offered her Ford Anglia in Part-exchange for which an allowance of £310 was made.
The car came with the addition of Silver Peak Number plates, a delivery charge and road tax. The dealer fitted extras were wing-mirrors and underseal. The Underseal came with a warranty that it would last for the ” life of the car” There is of course, no greater certainty than that, so that isn’t a real warranty at all.
Finally, 4 gallons of petrol was added to the invoice for 18s and 8d.
After a short while, Mrs Fletcher, who was a nurse, was posted to service in Kenya and could not take the car with her. She sold it to Frederick Tabron, a Shrewsbury resident for £570, just 5 months later.
Whether through ill-health or other unknown reasons, the car was barely used for the next 25 years, though it was taken for regular servicing and MoTs, so we understand.
Here the car is photographed outside Mr Tabron’s garage:
Mr Tabron passed away and the car was put up for sale by an advert in the Birmingham Sunday Newspaper, the Sunday Mercury. The Sunday Mercury is still published every weekend.
So it was that Lynda responded to the advert and acquired the car on 29th January 1982, with just 4500 miles on the clock! She paid the full asking price of £950.
Lynda found that the voucher for the first free service was in the documents handed over, so she asked the garage if they would carry that work out. The garage were delighted to honour the voucher, albeit, 26 years overdue, and Mrs Fletcher was invited to attend. The service document was therefore signed at 5049 elapsed miles. That garnered some publicity for PJ Evans, the car, the Standard Motor Club, and its two owners.
The coverage started with the “Express and Star” but spread to the “Herts Advertiser” before appearing in the “Sun”. Page 7, since you ask.
The car has been on the road ever since, but of course, it is always garaged, regularly serviced and maintained. Every effort has been made to keep the car in the original condition it came out of the Canley factory, so it can act as a reference for others doing a restoration of their car.
The car has been re-painted and re-chromed, twice, first in 1988 and again as a lockdown project in 2020. All the body work and paintwork has been done by Phil and Lynda, working on their drive at home, but beyond de-cokes and valve regrinding, there has been no need to carry out a major mechanical restoration, as yet. It is the youngest of a six-car Standard only fleet. The combined age of the fleet is 542 years.
Lynda is a keen advocate that Classic Cars of all ages should be seen and used regularly.
The 68 year old car continues to be a regular and reliable attendee at Standard Motor Club events and wider Classic Car Shows, as it has done now for over 40 years.
It starts first time but is starting to use a little more oil now. As a quality car and a product of the defunct industrial heritage we once had, we will forgive it for that.
Perms were all the rage back in 1982.
The car at this year's Harpenden Show.
SEND US YOUR CARS STORY
Don’t be shy – why not tell us the story behind YOUR Standard and include some Photos? Please fill in this form HERE or email: vicechairman.standardmotorclub@gmail.com
The feature will be preserved here forever.
Phil Homer
Historian
Standard Motor Club
Comments