In the mid sixties, a friend gave me a 1939 Standard 9 h.p. because it had packed up and he couldn't get it going again.

Two quid for an ignition switch and a new 6 volt battery, and it was a perfectly good little runner.

Of course the 6 volt system was woefully inadequate, and the dynamo (remember them?) took 20 miles to put back the charge used in starting it. The lights enabled others to see me at night, while leaving me in complete ignorance as to what might be lurking beyond their 20 yard range.

It would take between ten and fifteen seconds to reach its top speed of 55 mph, but would then cruise happily at that speed until it ran out of fuel.

Under the side lift bonnet was an engine which looked like a small suitcase with four spark plugs sticking out of it, and there was enough room to step in and work on it.

The brakes were abysmal, with a 30mph stopping distance of "maybe" (not maybe fifty or sixty feet, just "maybe").

This was balanced by spring steel bumpers front and rear, which were quite capable of completely removing the front end of the currnt models, which I proved when somebody travelling in the opposite direction made a sudden right turn in front of me. He had a three inch wide, six inch deep groove right across the front. Took out both headlights and his radiator, a total write off.

I had to polish out a small scratch in the curled offside end of my front bumper.

Sad to say, I was dumb enough to put it in as part exchange for a Wolseley 6/60 (posh Aistin Cambridge).

Probably worth a lot of money today!

Don T.