The Standard 8 car - the classic car world's best kept secret? 

My dad had one of these in the 60's and I can remember it breaking down once and being stuck by the side of the road and an AA patrol came past and stopped to offer help my dad joined up and they got it going and he was a member for the rest of his life. It was a bluey grey colour and red leatherette seats. I was always fascinated by the boot / spare wheel arrangement, great memories.

Congratulations Harley on reaching over 1000 subs - you really deserve it. Such a great informative video on a lovely little car. They are sadly much overlooked and it's lovely to see UDW 581 has finally found a loving home where she will be cared for in the future. Thank you for making this video, and BTW, you really are turning into your Father ! Well done Harley. Take care 🙂

Very well researched as was your MGB GT review. My first car in 1968 was a Standard 10, when I was at Uni. I was clueless about cars, so apart from filling it with petrol and other students, I don't think that it got a lot of care. It never failed, but to start it first time in the day, I had to have it parked on a down-slope so that I could put my shoulder against the door-post, get it trundling, then jump in and ram it into 3rd gear. Thereafter, it started without issue. You're right about the boot ; Standard tried to make a virtue about their cost-cutting, advertising the boot as "dust-proof"! Mine had a boot, and after several weeks of other drivers flashing their headlights at me in the dark, I discovered that the boot was full of bricks, so the front was a bit raised and the lights dazzled oncoming drivers. I'd never opened the boot in the first few weeks of ownership. The car sat happily flat out at 65 until it reached a hill. I have a few classics, and one very good one is a Standard Vanguard Phase 1. Have a look! Quite a beast.

cracking video harley keep it up man- harry

Great video 👍

Great video and thanks for the shoutout Extremely regular Cartraction W

Amazing video! At the start of the video, I knew nothing about the standard 8, by the end, I knew loads! Great work, I really like that little car you’ve got! Very well done on 1000 subscribers as well!

I passed my driving test in one of these, in 1963.it was a great car and I sometimes carried an extra friend in the boot as you could access it from inside.

Car traction realeasing a quality video it’s a common theme now 🙌

Great video Harley🤘🏻🙏🔥🔥🙌🏼🙌🏼

This was a very interesting video, so nice to see someone from the younger generation enjoying their classic cars. Please keep your videos coming.

Loved the on the road videos - more please!

Well done Harley, very good presentation of this car and good luck with your channel, Young Man. Us old classic car owners need the enthusiasm of you younger classic fans. Take care Bob

Absolutely brilliant and professional review Harley , my first seen on your channel .I fully concur about the removal of distinctive original marks from ' lower value ' cars , erasing the long provenance of the car at a stroke.Many congratulations on 1100 subs, it is such a treat to see youngsters like yourself showing interest in such affordable old vehicles that can give so much more use and pleasure.

Some of the styling cues from the back look similar to the Renault Dauphine, well, to me anyway. Great video interesting little car. 🚗📻🙂

Great video Harley. Congratulations 🎆 on 1000 subs Well done.

Oh and great video too, clear and full of interesting info.

Congratulations on breaching the 1000 subscriber mark, well deserved Harley. I remember my Dad telling me that he bought one of these Standard 8’s brand new in the mid to late 1950s. And I very much remember him mentioning the lack of boot lid but it was reliable basic motoring. It was preceded by a 1947 Jaguar 1 1/2 litre and a 1952 Jowett Javelin. His first job was in a garage in Rye prior to the RAF and I have a photo he took of a very very rare car they worked on in the late 1940’s or early 50’s and that was a 1930’s Lammas Graham, with a 3.6 litre supercharged engine. They only made 30 or so from 1936 to 1938 so any survivors must be incredibly rare! If you come across one at a show, definitely include it in your video! Loving the videos btw, top quality and you have a really good depth of knowledge. Here’s to 10k subscribers 👍

Well Done Harley From little acorns mighty oak trees grow as they say.

Had one as my first car !! reg was VS7831 in green !! great video :-)

Well done. Very eloquent and informative.

Well done young man, good luck with your channel. Its great to see a youngster enjoying the classic car scene.

Great to see and it is a good presentation. I am pleased to see you have started young!

Excellent review, Harley, I didn't know anything about the Standard 8 until you came along. I am now a subscriber and look forward to your future reviews.

Brilliant as usual Harley and well done on your achievement. I loved your subtle hints to Dad about being a great first car for a young person 😂😂😂

Good review and loving the car. (New subscriber)

Great video never known much about this car my dad had a A35 back in the 60s nice one

Enjoyed. Thank you 😊

Your presentation of a video has come on leaps and bounds. Congratulations. Good luck to you m8.

Well done Harley, an excellent & informative video, congrats on your 1000 subscribers as well, I always look forward to sitting down & immersing myself in some great classic watching!! Loved your classmates name readouts as well, great idea!!!

Own channel now Harley! Well done! I saw the video your father did on this, and remember you loved this car! My Dad bought one of these in the Sixties, and when I was a teenager, we took it to visit our relatives in Switzerland - with NO breakdowns! My schoolteacher had one you mentioned, with a boot that didn't open. That was because, as you so clearly showed, instead of the boot lid opening, the rear seats folded down. All before folding seats became so popular nowadays! That meant my schoolteacher bought it , precisely so he could fold the seats and transport his CELLO!

Excellent video Harley,all your facts are correct as I remember them from my years as a mechanic. I entirely agree with you when you compare the Standard with A30/35 which were inferior in the braking department,it wouldn't have been a deal more expensive to go hydraulic all round. I agree that the engine was a very sound unit and so easy to service. Oh! the camera crew were very good! Thanks for the informative video and I will look out for your next. 🚙

Enjoyed the video nice to see young people into old cars don't know how old you are so don't know if you have passed your test but seeing you handling the car in the driveway that won't be a problem. Fair play to your dad for installing the interest in classics take care. I'll come and say hi at one of the classic shows sometime Pete

Great stuff!

Great video! My first car in 1963. It was a black1954 Standard 8 family model, SPP491the cheapest, sliding windows, not wind up ones, no front grille. I did over 30k miles in two and a half years, took the mileage back zero to start again! Decoke needed quite often to replace burnt out exhaust valve, 3 hour job, quite easy. Remembering its condition and age a modern vehicle would not have worn as badly rust, perished rubbers, worn out front shock absorbers etc. and did it leak! loved it!

Hi Harley, I'm subscribed to your dad's channel but I've only just found your channel. Congratulations with your 1000 subscribers. An excellent presentation and it was good to learn something about the history of these great little cars. My cousin had a green one in the 60's and from what I can remember it was always a reliable car. All the best for the next 1000 subs. 👍

A very nice and informativ video,gratulations to your 1000 fallowers,its good to see young men like you motivating older ones to watch these videos well done.

Well done, you make a very very good presenter. Great informative video and well shot. Keep up the good work.

Hi Harley great video very nice review an your knowledge for your age the old car's was always the best car's for reliability an getting out of trouble with not like the car's with all the expensive problems that we have today with them any problem.s it's back to the garage instead of being able to repair them yourself keep the great video.s coming Harley martin 👍👍

Love it the first time an this is only endorsed the pleasure and competence you display. It is my internet incompetence, I am sure, but this vid appeared unasked for but nonetheless enjoyed for the second time! Rob

Another slick video, Harley. Well done! Fifty five years too late you have persuaded me that I should have bought a Standard 8 instead of my A30 (God rest its rotted sills)!

Harley, What a charming well presented and informative video. As a young man such as you, in the 1960's/70's I remember all these cars and the noises they made, I could tell you what car they were without seeing them. Car number plates were also my interests but what struck me was while I never owned a Standard 8, I did own a Herald, Vitesse, 2 Spitfires one of which was a 1500 and the Triumph 2000. What a ubiquitous engine. Well done I'm tuned to your channel now and look forward to another great production.

I had a 1958 Standard 10 in 1960 and took it to Switzerland in 1964 holiday camping.Kept it until 1973then bought a Capri. Quite a difference! Very reliable, economical and easy to work on. Starting handle useful on cold mornings! By modern day standards the glass rear view mirror is dangerous and the steering column worm and peg box is right behind the front bumper. In a head on smash the column would hit your chest, but no different to most other cars of the period. An excellent and accurate video by this young man. Very professional. Keep them coming!

My father had one of these and I remember him taking his three sisters out in it. My dad was the smallest at 15 stone and the car managed amazingly. Excellent video.

Been looking into buying one of these. Im actually an Austin fan, but always fancied a standard. After some youtube searching i found this video. Subscribed sir! ;)

Well presented, you have a future in this game. Well done. I have subscribed. 👍

My grandads first car was a standard 8 my nan and grandad would look back at it with fond memories as it was the car when the first started courting in 1968.

MY AUNT HAD ONE OF THESE I 50s WE BOROUGHED IT FOR OUR HOLIDAYS ,WENT MILES IN IT,GOOD LITTLE CAR😄

Just found your channel, it's great 👍

Hello Harley I'm viewing from New Zealand. My grandfather had one of these Standards in the early 1960s. It was grey in color. He sold it and bought another British car, a Vauxhall Velox which was some what larger in size.

Very nice to see Standard 10 car in action after several decades ! I am still using a 1964 model WILLYS Jeep. It is in good running condition

Hi Harley very professional presentation. I have a 57 standard 10 I'm restoring. Good luck

My aunt had a Standard Eight with the same chrome grille as this one. It was a great car. She bought it in 1960 or so and was told by the salesman its cruising speed was 50 mph. We had several enjoyable trips it that car, also it had a heater ! I remember it as being rather comfortable. Your presentation was very well done.

You are very professional for forgive me for being so young great to watch a truly informed young lad a pleasure to watch the best for the future a great thing to see in this world 😳👌

Great presentation Sir, lovely small compact car. Derek Mathewson, he of "Bangers and Cash" made a video on the Standard Ten ,I think, and said that this , and the Eight, should have been best sellers, but were always beaten by Ford, Austin, and Morris because they had dealerships in every town, whereas Standard did not. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff.

Exactly same Car my Dad had from 1973 to 2005, with Regd No. DLK 8967 from the City Varanasi & Lucknow India, Childhood I learned the mechanics of Automobile, courtesy the Finicky Standard 8

Wonderful video, and (watching from Australia) has an almost dateless feel to it., It could have been made in the 60's (on film) or yesterday. (yes, I know) Hopefully it will be a fitting legacy of your professionalism when you look back many years from now.

Great video mate. Here in Australia in the 1950s we had a guy called Nat Buchanan who made fibreglass replicas. He started with some early Aston Martins and the the AC. He called the AC version the Cobra, so we had Cobras before the yanks, and it was powered by the Standard 10. It also used the chassis and drive train. If you google Buchanan Cobra you'll see a picture of the car I used to own. It's the red one in the selectin of pics that come up. However as an aside, when I had it the drive train was changed to a Cortina 1500 GT motor and gear box. Anyway, keep up the good work and it's nice to see you in front of the camera instead of doing voice overs. You'll find more success if people find you interesting as well as the material. 👍👍👍

My Dad owned a Standard 8 when I was 4 or 5 years old. The cheapskate! The thing I most remember about it was Dad starting it with the crank handle when the starter motor didn't work (not infrequent). He eventually sold it and bought...wait for it...a Morris Minor 1000 Traveller (the one partly made of wood).

Well done. Twin Cam has an upcomig rival! Rob

Two things, my great aunt had a Standard ... not sure what year (I mean I was a kiddie at the time) but it was two tone ... known in the family as the "icecream car" because of the colour and then watching the BBC the other night our heroes in the 1950s part of the series "Magpie Murders" are driving a Standard ...a green one! So this was nice to see to explain about the car.

Alas STA 849 my very first car £25 when I was 17 burned oil like there was no tomorrow, Failed MOT on just about everything but I still have memories both good and bad. Wish I had a magic wand to bring it back

I had a Standard Pennant, great little car, reliable and easy to work on.

This just popped up in RU-vid listings so I thought I would take a look out of curiosity. Plus I have a general bias, being a Triumph Stag owner (Standard-Triumph being the link). An old schoolmaster of mine had one of these and I had a lift in it a few times. A perfectly decent cheap car and as you say, better than its immediate competitors. Triumph moved on to more stylish cars in the 60s, with many famous designs being created by Giovanni Michelotti (Herald, Vitesse, Spitfire TR4-5, Stag). But without the success of the Standard 8 and 10, who knows if any of taht would have happened? So, an important little vehicle in many ways. Keep up the good work Harley!

Great video. and congratulations. I am a Hearal fan and have owned a 948, 1200 and a 2000 Mk 1 estate and loved them all. Have gone electric now (a Renault Zoe) and keep a 2.4 Mk 2 Jaguar on SORN for nostalgic reasons but the Triumphs are still number 1 with me

Yes I remember my uncle owned a Standard 8 car back in the day you can imagine the treatment this car had to endure as he was a Polish tank commander in the second world war, I think he had this car for around five years with very little problems.

I have just bought one and I love it. Nice video. Very informative. Unfortunate mine doesn’t come with a original plate. It’s reg is NAS 811 which if you Google it you will see it. It comes with heaps of history as well. Old log books. The owners Manuel and a little backstory as well

Wow I love this car

Very interesting. Not easy to keep up an interesting narrative without stalling, mumbling or fluffing it as I certainly would! I love these too and came close to buying one recently but sadly it sold overnight before I had a chance to view it. Although not as popular as the Minor etc they do seem to have a following.

Had a Standard 8 as my first car 1954 UKX 922

still my favourite video a year later

My Dad had one for 2 years vin the early 60's. He bought it from his father. Sold it to a chap at work who crashed it after a week of ownership. My grandfather was nearly in tears when he found out.

Dads 1st family car was a Standard 10 … it was grey but I do remember the red interior.. 😮

My Dad had one in grey in the 60s. I’d of been about 5. And it was my job to turn the indicator switch on the top of the Dash 😂 but my left and right was a bit wrong on occasions

In 1965 I was down in Romsey having a beer in a pub when a fellow at the bar said "anyone want to buy a car?" I asked what it was and how much. He said it was a Standard 8 but fitted with a 10 engine. When he said £ 30 I gave him the cash and he slid the keys down the bar. After a couple more beers, I set off back to North London and presented my girlfriend with her "new" car. Long story but the early Standard 8, being a 6 volt system, the car would not start in the cold and my girlfriend ended up with my Riley 1.5, which was a great car. Driving the Standard we had a mishap on two occasions. The car would be going along nicely, but when stopping at a stop street, the car dropped on one corner. What had happened was that the holes in the wheels for attaching to the car had cracked between 3 of the 4 holes and the steel eventually gave way and bent. This happened on two occasions, but fortunately, I had a couple of spare wheels. Whenever I see a Standard 8 or 10 at a car show, it brings back many memories.

I had an Austin A30 as my first car around 1958, It was, apparently, one of the first, an AS3 as I remember, with the fuel filler cap on the nearside rear wing. one wiper and other "cheepo" things. I knew nothing about this then and still don't. I'm afraid. I can't remember why I sold it but I bought a Standard 8 exactly the same as yours. I paid £30 for it and sold it quite a few years later for £35..The Standard was called "Chugger" by my two sons and often took 4 adults and 4 kids out on a Sunday.. My now ex wife used to use it daily to take the boys to school and go on to work. I hadn't been in Chugger for quite a while and one day when I came home from work she said "That lights been on where the speed thingy is". "Which one? I asked, Red or Orange". She didn't know so I went to look. It was the Orange Oil light and when I dipped it the stick could not have been more shiny if it had been brand new. When I asked how long the light had been on she replied "Oh! a couple of weeks now".was the reply. Topped it up at a local garage, no problems, and it took the 4+4 out again the following Sunday..It was a Terrific little motor but A Vauxhall Viva HA SL had caught my eye so I put the £35 i got for Chugger as a deposit on that. It was a good car but nowhere near as much fun as the Standard 8.

Gosh, a car from my birth-year. I just have to subscribe on that. Thanks for an excellent & informative video - my mother had a Triumph Herald 1200 whan I was a kid, I never knew the engine was from the Standard company, or that it was so drastically enlarged (from 803 to 1493 cc in the Spitfire 1500). I wonder why, having taken over Triumph, Standard eventually dropped its own brand? The registration number is from Warwickshire CC. Please try to keep the car as original as possible now that it has lasted as long as I have.

Please more Videos Harley.

PS Excellent, and don't take any notice if I don't particularly like the little Standards much ... Tappets sounded tappety though...

Maravilha de carro... lindo jardim.

Common car traction w

I call that body style a "passback" because you have to pass your luggage back to the trunk. At least being a 4-door made this a one-person operation, most of them (Saab 92, Kaiser Henry J, and of course VW Beetle) were 2-doors so someone outside the car had to pass it to someone kneeling on the back seat.

The 10 and later Pennant were marketed in the US (and possibly elsewhere) as the Triumph TR10, previewing the demise of the Standard brand.

I had 3 MK1 Vitesse 2litre convertibles. Good cars. I also had a Standard Pennant, which was a posh 10. I found it awful. I also owned 3 Minis. The minis were a revelation compared to the Vitesse and left the Pennant sitting in a different universe. Good fun to play with, sure...

Very Good Harley. Who's the camera handler?

Well done Harley dad has taught you well

My 75 year old cousin had one. His wasn't very reliable. 6 volt electrics was the main issue i understand. I see 1230 subs now

Better than your Dad buddy! Thanks, both ;-) for such brilliant videos!

Re the heater, was it standard or an extra? Excellent effort on subs, well done.

Friend had one in the early 60's, engine was ok, but the floor shifter was sloppy compared with my morris Minor 1000.

That Standard is my era. I will say it wasn’t a really good car even in the day. Though I don’t like them the Morris Minor was probably better. I had a 1955 series 2 Morris Oxford. A good though undistinguished car. It had a heater so misting up wasn’t too big a problem. I assume your one had one as I could see screen vents. You are certainly right about the dreadful vacuum wipers and 3 speed side valve engine on the small Fords of the era - wonder why they sold so many. I had a sit up and beg Popular and it was dreadful even for its time. Cable brakes, no power, 6 volt lights, three speed (well effectively 2 speed) gearbox. Awful and the back axle would often come loose and the whole thing would shift sideways. I much regret the tendency to remove dipsticks on the most modern cars. My Jag F Pace SVR doesn’t have one which effectively means I cannot check the (very, nay disturbingly, thin oil) at home as my drive slopes. To check the oil I have to drive the car round to a level piece of ground then sit there for about 15 minutes then I can probably check the oil, if the car is in the mood. Progress? Not really. Having said that the ride, handling and blistering performance makes up for a lot Was it my ears or was there a bit of a camshaft knock going on with you little Standard????.

My Dad bought a new Standard 8 when they were selling them off because the Herald had gone on sale. One of the last 8s but still had no bootlid, the first car I remember travelling in. We had a minor accident in it once. I was an unrestrained small child in the front (as was customary at the time) and got away with cuts and bruises. The ambulance driver let me sit in the front of the Daimler ambulance and ring the bell! Hope you don't crash yours! Good video, keep it up.

If only OUR Standard Ten I've mentioned we went to Switzerland in, had the Spitfire's engine and Disc Brakes, we could have got there a bit quicker!

Am I correct in saying that the 8 lacked a heater whereas the 10 had one.Our Standard 10 was UOE 75.

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉🎈🎊🪅🥁🎺‼️🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗 🚗📻🙂

Sounded like the tappets needed adjusting

Jeremy Clarkson eat your heart out.

wheyy

A30 ?