Standard Flying Nine

The Flying Nine was a small family car produced by the British Standard Motor Company between 1937 and 1940.[1] It was the smallest of several relatively streamlined cars with which the company, in common with several UK mass market competitors, widened and updated its range in the later 1930s.

Standard Flying Nine
Overview
Manufacturer	Standard Motor Company
Production	1937-1940[1]
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon
Powertrain
Engine	1,131 cc Straight-4 side-valve[1]
Transmission	Four speed manual with synchromesh
Dimensions
Wheelbase	85 in (2,159 mm) [1]
Length	139 in (3,531 mm)
Width	56 in (1,422 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	Standard Little Nine
Successor	Standard Eight

Behind the stylish rearward sloping radiator grill was a 1131 cc side-valve engine, with a relatively long 100 mm stroke.[1] This maximised the engine capacity available in the 9 hp tax class which, in the UK at that time, categorised cars and set annual car tax according to the diameter (bore) of the engine’s cylinders. Power was delivered to the rear wheels via a three speed gearbox.

A minor facelift in time for the 1938 London motor-show involved a change to the radiator grill which, while still rearward leaning, now became more curvaceous.

Production came to an end in 1940, in response to the requirement to switch the UK car factories over to producing war supplies. By this time the car had been joined in the company’s line-up by the similarly bodied but smaller engined Standard Eight, and after the war, with Britain much impoverished, only the Standard Eight was revived.