[vigsom]

Introduction

This story dates back to 1976 and details the first car that I remember encountering in my life; a 1959 Made in England Standard Super 10 which used to return 16 kmpl on the highways and approx. 11kmpl in the city.





These posts are my small way of paying a befitting tribute to this cute fuel efficient buggy that was one of the options for Indian buyers after the Ambassador and the Premier Padmini in the 1970s. Many readers who never got a chance to experience this car would perhaps be able to relate some of this car with some of the cars of the 90s and 2000s.

What prompted me to write about the Super 10?

Like the many ownership reviews I’ve shared this far, the Super 10 was on my mind, but the spark was provided when I looked at the teaser of a recent release - Gangubai Kathiyawadi that featured the Standard Super 10.

Screengrabs from the teaser (courtesy Pen Movies)






Also, I’d like to thank bhpian @karlosdeville whose thread Super 10 Restoration kickstarted the thought of me penning this thread. While my memories of the car are all in the head, this is the one car that I have no images of since we never thought of taking pictures of the car on a black and white film. All images shown in these posts are sample pictures sourced from the net and a few borrowed from fellow bhpians.

[vigsom]

Background

Circa 1962 - My Dad owned a Standard Herald, bought new, when he was posted in Siliguri and then took the car along to Wellington, TN. The car was later left in Delhi under the care of a relative when Dad got posted in the 1965 operations. Post ops., the Herald went with Mom and Dad to Srinagar where he eventually parted with it since there was a jeep given to him and there was practically no use for the car.

Circa 1976 - After his assignments in J&K and Nagaland were over, he was posted in Chennai, wanted a car, but also knew his usage was going to be absolutely low – an odd weekend visit to someone’s place would be just about it. That is why he began looking at a used one.

The Super 10 makes an entry

While he was looking at options, he came across a reasonably kept 1959 black Standard Super 10 that was being owned by an old lawyer. I do not remember how he came to find that car, but I do remember that the car was eventually his for a mere ₹ 4,600 in 1976; as a small kid, I'd gone with him to pick the car up – and it did look weird – nowhere as stately as an Ambassador or neat as a Premier. The shade was black – not a sought after one those days, and I remember noticing the following:

1. long open parcel shelf to the left of the speedo console
2. many holes on the floor pan beneath the mats
3. weird shaped toothless grille
4. some missing chrome on the front grille and bumper

When I asked him why the car had so many “holes”, and all he did was smile.

The long parcel shelf (image courtesy bhpian @karlosdeville)


Black Super 10 (image courtesy bhpian @karlosdeville) - our car was in the exact same shade at delivery

[vigsom]

Understanding the post-war cars made by Standard Motor Company

The Ten was a model name given to several small cars produced by the British Standard Motor Company. The small car project by the company was to cater to austerity in England post WW-II. Post War, between 1954 and 1960s, the Standard Eight with an 803cc engine and no boot gave way to the 948cc Standard Ten --> Super Ten --> Pennant --> Triumph Herald --> Gazel. The Standard 10 in England was known as Standard Vanguard Junior in Scandinavia and the Triumph 10 in America.

Standard Eight (image courtesy bhpian @karlosdeville)


Standard Ten


Standard Pennant/ Standard 10 Facelift - sample image


Standard Pennant/ Companion Estate (sample image) courtesy bhpian @RK4060


Standard Herald Mark-II 2 door (image courtesy bhpian @calrock)


Standard Herald Mark-II modified (image courtesy bhpian @LOVE HER(ALD)!)


Standard Herald Mk-III four door (images courtesy bhpian @Stanher)


Standard Gazel (images courtesy bhpian @Stanher)






From what I understand , Standard Motors partnered with Union Motors to make the Vanguard . Alongside the larger Vanguard they sold the Standard Eight, Ten and later, the Super 10 . The eight, ten, Super10 were monocoque in construction, economical to run and were quite reliable – we can relate this to the Maruti 800 and the many cars that came into the Indian market thereafter. The original Standard Eight came with a fixed boot lid, with access to the “boot” only from inside. The Ten came with an openable boot lid. Here again, one can draw a comparison to the first gen Tata Nano and the later gens.

The Eight without an openable boot - the small lid is just to access the spare wheel (Image courtesy bhpian @karlosdeville)


Brochures of the Standard models sold overseas(features mentioned may not be all correct)

[vigsom]

Details of the Standard 10

This theatre ad for the Standard 10 summarises some of the features of the car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noVO39wk5Ro&t=13s

The toothless grille with mesh deep inside


Lucas headlamp


Rear View of the Super Ten (image courtesy bhpian @karlosdeville)


Openable ventilators at the front and rear




Boot


Side View


Integrated Instrument Console - remember the Maruti Ritz?




Lights for ignition, oil pressure and a light for the high beam too at the top center


View of the dash and the parcel shelf


Control switches (L to R Starter, Parking lamps and headlamps, Key based ignition, Wiper, Choke. The heater wasn't present in the India model)


Gear lever


The Super Ten used a hydraulic clutch arrangement - so separate reservoirs for brake fluid and clutch fluid could be seen


Water Pump and fan belt - typical like the Ambassador or the Padmini


Engine Bay - starter solenoid switch marked. The starter could be engaged from the engine bay too by pressing the switch in the center of the solenoid switch using a screwdriver or equivalent)


Engine Bay (image courtesy bhpian @JayD) - the coolant tank, fusebox, air filter box and the brake master cylinder reservoir in this image are not stock


Name plate - note the rivets for the Made in England part and the screws for the Standard India part


The Standard Super Ten came with a provision in the crankshaft pulley to use a starting handle and crank the engine up in the event of a dead battery OR starter motor malfunction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLiGqC_YsI

As seen above illustrative clip, the center of the front bumper would have a hole, and the crank pulley would have a slot into which the starting handle would fit. The engine could typically fire with just one turn of the starting handle.

View of the road from the cabin of the Super Ten

[vigsom]

Timeline of our Standard Super 10

The first job Dad executed in the Super 10 after arrival was to get its shade changed to a dark green, a shade darker than what is shown in the pics below.




I was too disinterested then to understand what else was done, but do remember that Ambassador tail lamp assemblies were used instead of the “standard” Super 10 ones. The Ambassador tail lamps were installed inverted , did look too big and out of place on the Super 10, but the illumination of the brake lights, turn signal lights made the effort look well worth it.

Standard Ten with modded tail lamps (image courtesy bhpian @JayD)


Dad also got Jalwa horns installed in Delhi. These horns are the yesteryear equivalent of the Roots Windtone/ equivalent Hella or Denso


After approx. 5 years of ownership, the seats were done up in maroon, exactly as shown in the pic below.


and, the shade of the car was changed to grey to make the final product look like this


The exterior shade was exactly as in the attached pic


I remember that he had gotten the shade changes endorsed in the RC.

My Dad would typically drive the car solo when we were moving cities and here are some memorable drives that he has done – between 1976 and 1988
1. Delhi to Gwalior with the Chambal crossing
2. Vijayawada to Chennai ( with family)
3. Chennai to Trichy (with family)
4. Trichy to Madurai
5. Madurai to Chennai
6. Chennai to Coimbatore
7. Coimbatore to Trichy
8. Coimbatore to Palakkad and return(with family)
9. Trichy to Hyderabad
10. Hyderabad to Bidar
11. Bidar to Trichy
12. Trichy to Chennai

[vigsom]

Maintenance

The car was entrusted to me when I was in my late teens, and my weekly job was to crank the car, start it up, run the engine for 30 minutes, shut it down, and disconnect the battery. I never dared operate the car when powered but did try shifting gears with the engine shutdown. As part of my routine, I would also disconnect the black locally built battery every, say 3 months, take it on a bicycle to a battery store for charging (charging used to cost ₹10 then), connect it back. This was my first tryst with vehicle maintenance and have come a long long way since then.

Sample pic of the battery then


From memory, I can definitely say that the car never let us down ever, but the only challenge we would face is that the starter would let us down when needed the most. However, with the crank handle handy, we would never be stuck anywhere. I’ve started the car using the handle several times. I also remember Dad would typically turn the car in to a local mechanic for routine work. Except getting the car repainted twice, there was no major expense. Tyres would typically be retreaded since usage and speeds were low, and the car would always have a spare ignition coil, spare fan belt, spare wiper blades, and a few bulbs.

Departure

After being with us for over 13 years, the car wasn’t used for quite sometime in Chennai. Since we had two two wheelers by then, the car became redundant and gradually deteriorated standing in one place in a garage in Chennai. The car was eventually sold for ₹ 3000; a sad end to an otherwise faithful relationship, but the Ambassador that I've already written about came in to the family less than 2 years thence. Comparing the two, the Ambassador was definitely the better of the two, but nowhere as frugal to run. While the era of Standards is long over, I can only applaud the efforts of the several enthusiasts in the country, courtesy whom the old Standards are still alive.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[grkonweb]

[quote=vigsom;5270161]

Side View
Attachment 2279997

Nice thread on this rare car. During my teens I've seen a similar black Standard 10 in my neighbour's house who retained the car just for the monthly car allowance paid by his company. This was a common practice those days when eligible employees bought an old car only to claim the car allowance. The car was stationary throughout and they had jacked up the vehicle over few bricks so that the car tyres don't get damaged when they lose air.

In the then Madras, I've seen this car on the roads rarely mostly in black color and I must say I never took any fancy for this model.

Standard Herald and Gazel were more in numbers those days (late 80s) in Madras and either they were abandoned cars or were rented out for wedding baraat sans their roof transforming them into convertibles. If my memory serves me right, I remember seeing more sky blue cars with individual owners and red colored ones for wedding processions.

[arun1100]

Nice thread, Vigsom! While I have owned many Fiats and Ambassadors as a enthusiast, I've never owned a Standard. However, I admire them a lot as I have seem them on Bangalore's roads during my childhood. Unfortunately, these cars disappeared on our roads long before Fiats and Ambys did.

Your memory regarding the battery rekindled memories of me maintaining my Dad's Padmini. Dad was working in North India back then and he had no time to maintain the Padmini. I saved some money as a student and got a local (not a branded one) battery for my Padmini and ensured the car was in running condition throughout. Whenever Dad visited Bangalore, he used to be surprised that the Padmini was in top condition not knowing much about my efforts as he used to tell me to focus on my studies instead.

[shashanka]

A lovely thread, Vigsom. Takes me back to my school days (early 60's) when one of our school teachers (a Mr. Daniels who migrated to Australia later) ran a Standard 8 of the same dark green colour. He subsequently optd for a maroon Fiat Topolino. Both cars were maintained in good condition.

[vijuk21]

Fantastic thread Vigsom. Got back my Nostalgic memories of my dad owning the Standard 8. It was the first car in our family and I learnt driving in that car. There were also times where we had fit in ~8 people in the car and went to Bannerghata National park. We had to finally part off with that car due to some urgent expenses. Some how there was some resemblance with the Bug Fiat and I used to love both of them. Simple, elegant and easy to maintain.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Introduction
This story dates back to 1976 and details the first car that I remember encountering in my life; a 1959 Made in England Standard Super 10 which used to return 16 kmpl on the highways and approx. 11kmpl in the city.

Thanks for sharing - do you recall the registration number of the car?

Originally Posted by vigsom

Like the many ownership reviews I’ve shared this far, the Super 10 was on my mind, but the spark was provided when I looked at the teaser of a recent release - Gangubai Kathiyawadi that featured the Standard Super 10.

Screengrabs from the teaser (courtesy Pen Movies)

Incidentally that is my same car that was used for the movie.

[Amrik Singh]

The Standard Car later had sleek Standard Herald and ended at Standard Rover. Based on the British Rover SD1, Standard launched 2000 in India back in 1985. To be honest, it was the most luxurious car at that time but with a price bracket of ₹2,12,000. This car was costly yet qualty of Standard Rover was so poor that the Cars spent more time at Mechanics than owners.