Standard (Indian automobile)
Encyclopedia
The Standard is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n brand of automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 which was produced by Standard Motor Products in Madras from 1949 to 1988. Indian Standards were variations of vehicles made in the U.K. by Standard
Standard Motor Company
The Standard Motor Company was founded in Coventry, England in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay . The Standard name was last used in Britain in 1963, and in India in 1987.-1903–1914:...

-Triumph
Triumph Motor Company
The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company. The Triumph marque is owned currently by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg initiated S. Bettmann & Co and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them with his own...

. After being formed in 1947, their first product was the Vanguard
Standard Vanguard
The car used a conventional chassis on which was mounted the American inspired semi-streamlined four-door body, which resembles a Plymouth. Suspension was independent at the front with coil springs and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear. Front and rear anti-roll bars were fitted. The brakes...

, which began to be assembled in 1949. From 1955, versions of the Standard Eight
Standard Eight
The Flying Eight was the smallest member of the Standard Flying family.Introduced in 1938 or 1939 , the Flying Eight featured, in its saloon form, the "streamlined" body of the little Standard Flying Nine which had appeared in 1937...

 and Ten
Standard Ten
thumb|right|250px|A 1934 Standard 10/12 SpeedlineThe Standard Ten was a small car produced by the British Standard Motor Company from 1906 to 1961....

 were produced, with ever increasing local content. The Pennant joined in 1959, although it too was curiously branded "Standard 10" and devoid of bootlid trimwork. The Tens and later Heralds and Gazels all used versions of the 948 cc Standard-Triumph four-cylinder engine. In 1961 production began of the Triumph Herald
Triumph Herald
The Triumph Herald was a small two-door car introduced in 1959 by the Standard-Triumph Company of Coventry. Body design was by the Italian stylist Michelotti and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, van, and estate models....

, known as the Standard Herald in India. Standard also built a range of light commercial vehicles based on the Standard Atlas/20 (later Leyland 20), called the Standard Twenty. For these, production of diesel engines began in India, later exported back to the UK for use in the refurbished Carbodies FX4Q London cabs.

Herald

Badged in the Indian market as the Standard Herald, the Herald was originally heavily dependent on British parts, but as these were gradually replaced by indigenous items specifications and trim as local content increased. By 1965 engines, gearboxes, and axles were all made in India. In 1966 the Standard Herald Mark II was introduced, which featured the bonnet and front end of the Vitesse
Triumph Vitesse
The Triumph Vitesse was a compact six-cylinder car built by Standard-Triumph from 1962 to 1971. The car was styled by Michelotti, and was available in saloon and convertible variants....

, but strangely with the outer pair of headlights blocked off and the parking lights cum side-indicators incorporated there instead. In anticipation of the Mark III, very late Mk IIs featured modified rear bodywork
Coachwork
Coachwork is the body of a horse-drawn coach or carriage, a motor vehicle , a railroad car or railway carriage. Usually reserved for bodies built on a separate chassis, rather than being of unitary or monocoque construction...

 (different roofline and a bootlid without a recess).

The new Standard Herald Mark III, made from 1968 to 1971, received a unique indigenously developed four-door body, to meet the demands of Indian buyers (with large families) and competition from the Ambassador
Hindustan Ambassador
The Hindustan Ambassador is a car manufactured by Hindustan Motors of India. It has been in production since 1958 with few modifications or changes and is based on the Morris Oxford III model, first made by the Morris Motor Company at Cowley, Oxford in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1959.Despite...

 and Fiat 1100
Premier Padmini
'Premier Padmini' was an automobile manufactured in India from 1967 to 2000.Premier Automobiles Limited, the erstwhile flagship company of India's Walchand Hirachand Group, assembled Fiat's Fiat 1100 cars from the 1950s until 1997...

 (both of which featured four doors). The engine remained the same though, with a claimed top speed of 109–112 km/h (67.7–69.6 mph). In 1969-1970 a very few Herald Mark III Companions were built, five-door estates
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 with fibreglass roofs and tailgates.

Gazel

In 1971 the Herald was remodelled (bodily) by Nasir Hussein as the Standard Gazel, with a different grille and headlights set far apart, purportedly inspired from the Triumph Herald 13/60. It received a new, more sober rear end with low horizontal rectangular tail-lights and without the characteristic tailfins of the Herald designed by Michelotti. It received a rear-axle copied from the Triumph Toledo
Triumph Toledo
The Triumph Toledo was a compact car introduced in August 1970 as a cheaper version of the Triumph 1300, which was at the same time replaced by the Triumph 1500. The Toledo shared the 1500's new front with a split grille, but instead of the 1500's twin round headlamps, it had single rectangular...

, replacement of the Herald's front bucket seats with a bench, and underwent the retrograde move of replacing the shifter with a long-crank version (as found in the Standard Ten). However, the engine was the same 948 cc single carb.

The new Gazel continued in production in this guise until 1974, when a modified version took over. The updated model (Mark II) received a 'standard' bonnet, hinged at the rear, instead of the forward lifting front end inherited from the Herald. This move was most likely because the normal Herald bonnets popping open on either or both sides during running was a common occurrence, especially on Indian roads! This however, resulted in making the body heavier due to the additional reinforcement needed on the front panel due to the bonnet modification.
The Gazel was also built in small numbers with estate bodywork, the estate featuring a fibreglass tail-gate but with the saloon rear windscreen. Production of the Gazel ended in 1978, and it was nearly a decade until Standard (Madras) went into car production again, which would be with the Standard 2000, a hand-me-down Rover SD1 with a local engine transplant.

Standard 2000

From 1985 to 1988 the company manufactured the Standard 2000, a version of the Rover SD1
Rover SD1
Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive cars made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986....

 powered by a 1991 cc four-cylinder engine borrowed from an old Standard Vanguard
Standard Vanguard
The car used a conventional chassis on which was mounted the American inspired semi-streamlined four-door body, which resembles a Plymouth. Suspension was independent at the front with coil springs and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear. Front and rear anti-roll bars were fitted. The brakes...

model (as also used in the Standard 20 commercial vehicle). Power was a mere 83 hp at 4,250 rpm. With 1335 kg (2,943.2 lb) to drag around and a 4-speed manual transmission (it too from the Standard 20), top speed was a lowly 145 km/h (90 mph). The 2000 featured higher ground clearance for the Indian market; but low quality, high price, and low performance combined to end the car after only about three years. To top it all, a supposedly false claim about the fuel average of the car attributed to the company from the then Government caused an inquiry and resulted in the company getting into long-winding legal tangles, eventually leading to the factory being shut down for many years until the property was auctioned off and thereafter completely torn down.

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