A Stitch in Time: A Perfectly Preserved Standard Nine

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Travel far enough into the dim and distant past and you might reach a time when the internet hadn’t been invented, prophets of doom were an amusing curiosity and the foghorn voices of politicians were appropriately contained within the halls of Parliament; a time when you could leave your worries and cares at the office and simply enjoy the verdant country that unwound in every direction from your happy suburban hearth. Where shall we go? Anywhere. How shall we get there? We’ll take our new car, of course…

We are looking, perhaps through rose-tinted lenses, at the provincial middle-class family of 1920s Britain, with its respectable job, cottage-esque semi-detached and, most excitingly, its first foray into private motorised transport. For the comfortably-off household eager to go motoring, there was so much choice. The Johnsons have a Seven, that’s hardly aspirational. A Bullnose Morris might be better, but can we afford the £12 tax? What about a Standard Nine?

Arriving in 1928 as a somewhat overdue reaction to the market conditions of the time, the Nine was an instant hit and saved the struggling Standard’s skin. With a range of models attractively named after picturesque English towns and a level of fit and finish which was that little bit better than other small cars, it was certainly a purchase to be proud of.

This beautiful 1930 Teignmouth fabric saloon is one of the most original survivors. Zack Stiling takes a closer look in the May issue of The Automobile, available now.

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