For Sale – STUNNING, MEGA-RARE 1960 STANDARD 10 COMPAN ...

Wow and wow again! First one I have ever owned and I am still trying to recall if it's the first one I have ever seen in the flesh. I can remember seeing the occasional one knocking about when I was a kid in the late 50s/early 60s - but to find one is just amazing. The Standard 10 Companion - an estate version of the 10 saloon obviously - was launched in 1954 as the "Good Companion" although the word good was quickly dispensed with. By the time we got to the much later models, the front wings had been altered to the more trendy and peaked Standard Pennant wings and the engine was the 948cc which Standard-Triumph would drop into their new Triumph Herald. Interiors became two-tone and they were indeed a proper estate car. The Companion was not a Standard van made from the same pressing such as Austin did with their A35s; it was totally different and a real - although somewhat petite - estate car. This fantastic and rare survivor is believed by the Owners Club to be one of just five left! It came to the attention of UK classic car lovers when it appeared from abroad circa 1990. The club officials have done their best to trace its history back to 1960 but it is now widely accepted that she came back into the UK from either Malta or Cyprus where a plentiful amount of Standards were kicking about in the early 60s. Certainly that would explain her structurally sound body and underside. This cute Companion is simply a joy - the cutest classic I have owned in many a year. She drives beautifully with that original 948 engine and her interior has to be seen to be believed. Working on the assumption that there's another four estates out there somewhere, I would take a calculated gamble that none of the other survivors have an interior as stunning as this extraordinary example whose colour scheme comes in two-tone red and white! Research amongst the car's in-depth history files suggests quite strongly that she is what was known as The Standard Ten Gold Star. This was a more powerful version of the 948 engine with improved torque too. The gold coloured rocker cover, together with information I have myself on these models, would certainly suggest that's just what she is. Much of her paintwork is the factory original and, being a later model, she is two-tone on the outside as well with the white inset between the grey roof and the rest of the car's grey area. You can see some factory primer peeping through here and there, inside the roof guttering for example and a tiny bit on the back door. I would suggest that she has had a lower half re-spray as a freshener - hardly surprising for a 55-year-old car! She boasts good sills, doors, arches etc and only the occasional defect here and there may benefit from some simply DIY. Any such areas, I stress, are minimal and do not detract from the overall beauty of this total gem! She could well turn out to be someone's "Companion" for life now, and indeed this may be the only example that you ever see for sale. Cuddly, cute, compact. She harks back to a more gentle era when the obvious thing for manufacturers to do with their family saloons was to make an estate car version. She may not be the biggest estate in the classic car marketplace, but she is a proper one all the same. Down goes the rear seat in the traditional method and Hey Presto, there is your load bay. She is better, brighter and sharper in the flesh than she looks I my photos taken this morning in bright sunlight. First to see this car will buy it.