Description Restored in 2017 and carefully used since; lots of money spent; driven 40 miles to the sale; very pretty and very rare, believed to be on of only around 14 surviving By the late 1930s Standard badly needed a new budget car to break into the tax-busting 8hp market which was being dominated by the hugely popular Austin and Morris Eights.

Introduced during late 1938, the Flying Eight was a brand new design that not only looked good but was cheap to buy and run.

Notably one of the first small cars to feature independent front suspension, it also marked a distinct departure from the upright, boxy designs of the early 1930s with a number of à la mode styling cues such as a ‘waterfall’ grille, sloping roofline, beetle back and bulbous wings.

It was powered by a 1,021cc four-cylinder side-valve engine with a counterbalanced crankshaft and aluminium cylinder head, mated to three-speed manual transmission.

With a heady 31bhp on tap, Standard claimed a 60mph top speed with 45mpg e...