The 1953 Standard Eight launched with no boot lid at all — you reached the trunk by folding down its split rear seatback, a trick saloon cars wouldn't widely copy for another 30-plus years.
Lead trim: Eight 803 cc SC OHV four (26 bhp, 1953–1956) · up to 30 hp
Standard Eight1953–1959
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Standard Eight yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe 1953 Standard Eight launched with no boot lid at all — you reached the trunk by folding down its split rear seatback, a trick saloon cars wouldn't widely copy for another 30-plus years.
The 1953 Eight (also called the Vanguard Cadet; 136,317 made, designed by Vic Hammond) was a completely new car with unit construction and the new Standard SC overhead-valve engine of 803 cc, offered only as a 4-door saloon. It made slightly less power than the outgoing larger side-valve unit, 26 bhp at 4500 rpm, increased to 30 bhp at 5000 rpm in 1957; the 4-speed gearbox had synchromesh on the top three ratios and optional overdrive from March 1957, with Girling hydraulic drum brakes. To keep prices down the launch car was very basic, with sliding windows, a single wiper and no external boot lid (boot access was by folding down the two-part rear seat backrest); the 1954 De Luxe got wind-up windows (all cars from mid-1955) and the 1957 Gold Star an opening boot lid. It cost £481 at launch; a 1953 Motor test recorded a top speed of 61 mph. The Standard Ten of 1954 shared its bodyshell and running gear and outlasted the Eight, which the Triumph Herald replaced in 1959. Wheelbase 84 in (2,134 mm), length 144 in (3,658 mm), width 60 in (1,524 mm).
Collectors Spotted in the Standard Eight Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Standard Eight yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
2 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eight 803 cc SC OHV four (26 bhp, 1953–1956) | 1953–1956 | 0.8 L Inline-4 | 26 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eight 803 cc SC OHV four (30 bhp, 1957–1959) | 1957–1959 | 0.8 L Inline-4 | 30 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The 1953 Standard Eight launched with no boot lid at all — you reached the trunk by folding down its split rear seatback, a trick saloon cars wouldn't widely copy for another 30-plus years.
Standard actually built estate-car versions of this little 8hp in 1948 — then never offered a single one for public sale.
Standard's smallest Flying model carried a genuine first: the Flying Eight was the first British 8hp family car with independent front suspension.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Simca beat Fiat to market by three months with what was essentially Fiat's own Topolino design.
The Simca 1000 began at Fiat: Simca boss Henri Pigozzi picked one of six boxy clay models from Fiat's "Project 122".
The last Simca 1000 ever built, the 1978 Rallye 3, was also the rarest — just 1,000 were made in the model's final year, a quiet send-off for a car that had sold nearly two million.
To drum up buzz at launch, Simca briefly swapped 50 of its Paris taxi fleet's Ariane sedans for tiny new 1000s, making the little car a familiar sight on the capital's streets.
The PL 17's name is a sum: 5 fiscal horsepower, 6 seats, 6 litres per 100 km, kept a digit below the Citroën DS 19's.
The humble Tagora spawned a one-off concept, the Présidence, decked out with Connolly leather and electronics way ahead of 1981 — a built-in telephone, dictaphone, text-message receiver and a TV with VCR.
Talbot fed the Tagora's V6 old-fashioned triple carburettors instead of fuel injection — and the extra power briefly made it the most powerful French car on sale. Only 1,083 were ever built.
Switching the 96 from a two-stroke to a Ford V4 was such a closely guarded secret that Saab invented a fake company, Maskinverktyg AB, just to buy the new engine's parts without its own purchasing department finding out.