IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: pre-war Standard Nine (Standard Cars)

Today's video is a follow up to the Standard 10...with this incredible Standard 9! IDRIVEACLASSIC is sponsored and insured by Adrian Flux - check them out for your insurance quote on the link below: https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/influencers/idriveaclassic/ The walk around text if you're hard of hearing like me :) One of the things people told me before uploading the Standard video was that there was no interest in pre war cars…or at least very little, but with so many of you loving that Standard 10, I brought forward the Standard 9 for a little bit more pre war love. Remember if you haven’t already, check out that Standard 10 video for a fuller history on Standard Cars. Roger’s Standard 9 we’re looking at is a little more pre loved than his 10, but at nearly 100 years old, I think we can forgive a blemish or two. The Standard 9 was the little sister of the 10 which we tested last week and was the smallest car in the Standard range when it came to market. To the untrained eye, many of the features are similar but once we begin looking a little closer you begin to notice the differences. The 9 used the same front and rear axle as the 10, but has a shorter two door body and a smaller engine. New for 1935, the Standard 9 now came as a 4 door variant which was more closely related to that 10 we looked at last week. Although we are lucky and get that synchro on the top three gears, we lose the free wheel and automatic restart. As you’ll see inside, although the car looks similar from the outside to the 10, it’s really once we’re seated inside the car that we begin to notice some of the stark differences. Gone is the wood and window louvres and although we have leather seats in this particular 9, that’s because it’s a deluxe. I believe the standard, no pun intended, was cloth. Can only imagine how that will have held up after all this time! Unlike the 10, only the drivers seat is adjustable and the passenger seat lifts to allow access to the rear seating area. The only real upgrade on this car are the lights which have been fitted with adaptor rims, which were available as an upgrade to the dip and switch system in the 50s, to take the British pre-focus double dip head lights. Seeing as that was put onto the car the best part of 70 years ago, it somehow seems madness to call it an upgrade or imply it modernises the car! As mentioned, the box on this is 4 forward speed and synchro on the top three forward gears. Engine is the same as the little nine with a two bearing crank, meaning it’s very compact for a 1052cc engine. It is of course side valve and interesting fact, the rubber mountings were updated to flat blocks for 1935, which set a pattern used for decades after the nine was launched. I’ll also add we’ve got cable brakes and no boot - hence that snazzy little fold down rack! Peak power on this is 25 brake horse power and came advertised with a top speed of 58 miles per hour - but as you’ll see when we’re driving - high 30s feels as fast as you’d want to push the car!

Added 17 Apr 2026