Standard Flying Fourteen
Kim reintroduces an old friend that he’s owned since 1991
It has been a long while since I have written about my beloved 1938 Standard Flying Fourteen; time for an update, or, for those readers who may have missed my earlier Staff Car Saga on this car, an introduction. My car is one of the ‘Flying Standard’ models that helped the Coventry company survive and prosper in the late Thirties. The Flying Standards line-up included compact economy cars (Eight and Nine R.A.C. horsepower), medium sized family saloons and dropheads, and some very luxurious 20 H.P. saloons (including a 2.7-litre straight six and a very-fast-for-its-time V8-powered model).
My example is what the Standard Motor Company called the ‘Touring Saloon’ version of the Flying Fourteen. By contrast with the first Flying Fourteens (introduced 1936), with sloping ‘beetle back’ styling, the Fourteen (and six cylinder Twenty) Touring Saloon (from 1937) incorporated ‘notch back’ rear bodywork, encompassing a larger boot. Always produced in low numbers, these models were discontinued in 1939. Under my Standard’s bonnet is a 1776cc four-cylinder sidevalve engine, producing 49bhp and bags of low speed torque/pulling power. It has a four-speed gearbox (complete with synchromesh on the upper three ratios); one of the smoothest-changing pre-war transmissions that I have encountered.
My Fourteen was sold new from Derry’s Garage in Wadebridge, Cornwall, and was first used as a hire car in Port Isaac, but I bought it in Essex in 1991. Major work carried out on acquiring the car included installing a rebuilt engine (overhauled by the military during WWII and unused for nearly 50 years!) and having the interior (original but disintegrating) completely restored to original specification by clever friends. Ever since, ‘Bluebell’ has been a firm favourite of our family, as a spacious, comfortable classic cruiser still ideally suited to long-distance motoring. It cruises happily at 50 to 55mph, has a top speed of 70mph, and returns 24-28mpg when touring.
We have enjoyed trips to Cornwall (many times), also to Devon, France, London, the Midlands, etc. Quite simply, I love driving my old Standard…
Running improvements…
When I fitted the rebuilt engine in 1991, I had to re-use the original ancillaries, including the carb, fuel pump and distributor, all well-worn. The engine suffered ‘flat spots’ despite renewing the ignition system’s worn ‘servicing’ parts.
‘Our Bluebell has been a favourite in the family for many years’
I was lucky to find an unused correct Solex carburettor and mechanical type petrol pump for sale at a classic show, and sourced a rebuilt distributor at Beaulieu Autojumble. Fitting the new carburettor and fuel pump were straightforward jobs, transforming the car. Installing the distributor was much more of a challenge.
With Flying Standard engines, particular care is required when withdrawing the distributor, not to disturb the Woodruff key from low down within the oil pump/distributor drive set-up. Once moved out of its aperture, this drive key can disappear into the sump, necessitating draining the oil and removing the sump pan to retrieve it…
I was advised by a fellow member of the Standard Motor Club (thanks Brian) not to rotate the distributor shaft in the opposite direction to normal rotation, as the distributor was withdrawn. I managed this operation without difficulty, but on installing the reconditioned distributor assembly, I encountered another problem commonly occurring on these engines. As the oil pump/ distributor drive assembly wears, excessive lift can occur in the distributor drive, to the extent that even just a few thousandths of an inch of upward movement can result in the oil pump drive becoming disengaged, resulting in potentially catastrophic loss of all oil pressure. The same trouble can occur when fitting a replacement distributor, due to slight dimensional differences between the new and old distributor/shaft assemblies.
Thus, when my engine was restarted with its ‘new’ distributor, the oil pressure gauge needle stubbornly refused to move off its lower (‘zero’) stop. The ‘book’ method of retrieving the situation is much engine dismantling to install a new oil pump/distributor shaft set-up; time-consuming, even assuming that new components could be found or made.
I’ll tell you how I sorted it next time.