The Motor YEAR BOOK, 1954     BRITISH CARS OF 1953     STANDARD VANGUARD PHASE II
The Phase II Vanguard is a car in which improvements have been made on such a scale as to bring it into the class of a new model. The engine is unchanged dimensionally (it has a slightly modified camshaft) but the clutch withdrawal mechanism is now connected to the clutch pedal by a Lockheed master cylinder incorporated in the same casting as the brake master cylinder. By this means engine movement on the rubber mountings is isolated from the clutch pedal. Other chassis changes include the elimination of several grease points by introducing rubber bushes for the pivots in the centre section of the trackrod, and considerable modifications to the suspension system.
The rear springs have been stiffened by approximately 10 per cent. when the car is lightly loaded and there are additional leaves which come into use only with full load or on nearly full bump which give an even further increase in stiffness. Resistance to roll is increased by these changes and an anti-roll bar is no longer fitted. Armstrong "R" type shock absorbers have been fitted at the back, these being double-acting piston type with special attention paid to oil sealing. In contrast with the relatively minor "mods" in the chassis major developments have been effected with the body.
The most obvious is complete re-styling at the back of the car, the single sweep between roof and tail being displaced by an almost vertical rear window and extended luggage boot. This has increased the luggage space and the fuel tank is now mounted athwart the car just behind the rear seats. The spare wheel is separately stowed beneath the luggage compartment. This has increased the overall length by 5 in. to 14 ft., and the rear wings are brought back by a corresponding amount. The centre pillar has also been shifted back 5 in., giving a correspondingly wider front door and easier entry and exit to the front seats, but perhaps an even more important change has been the re-design of the rear door, which is now carried behind the rear wheel centre. The trailing edge of the back door is in fact 14 in. further back than on the original Vanguard and although the shift of the centre pillar has narrowed the door at its base the overall effect is very greatly to improve access to the rear seats. Both front and rear seats with a width of 56 in. make it possible to seat three abreast. These dimensions are unchanged but it should be noted that the rear window width has been increased by 10½ in. and now measures 51½ in. wide and 10½ in. deep. An interesting, if minor, internal alteration is the elimination of the centre armrest from the back seat, although this valuable feature is retained at the front.
An external modification consists in the elimination of the lower of the three cross bars which were used on earlier models for the radiator grille and the extension of the grille sideways to embrace the lowly-mounted side lights.
Despite an increase in weight to 24¼ cwt. the new car proved to have superior performance to the previous model, road speed rising from 76.9 to 80 m.p.h., and the time required to reach 70 m.p.h. from rest decreasing from 31.9 sec. to 29.6 sec.

The Motor YEAR BOOK, 1954     BRITISH CARS OF 1953     STANDARD EIGHT
The basis of the Standard Eight is a pressed-steel structure which serves the combined purpose of body and chassis.
The main shell is of 20-gauge sheet steel, 22-gauge being employed where loading is not excessive. Apart from the rear window and the small spare-wheel aperture, there is no external opening in the tail, this both saving weight and adding strength.
The box-section longerons of the sub-frame for the engine and front suspension assembly are splayed out at the rear and mounted on a transverse body stiffener below the dash by bolts and rubber bushes; vertical location is by diagonally placed pressings which are welded to the dash and bolted to the longerons. At the front, a cross-member carries the front bumper and starting-handle support bracket. If necessary for accident repair, the whole sub-frame is removable, and the front and rear wings can also be detached from the main structure.
The whole rear end of the engine-gearbox unit virtually hangs from a welded bracket at the forward end of the propeller shaft tunnel.
The front suspension unit is carried on a cross-member, which is not rigidly mounted on the sub-frame, but is insulated by rubber bushes which provide adequate location but at the same time isolate the body structure from high-frequency vibration likely to cause drumming and road noise. This point is important because, in the interests of saving both weight and cost, no form of sound-deadening, as such, is applied.
The steering column is not enclosed (again to save weight and cost), but to avoid any difficulties which might otherwise arise over alignment of the bearings at the top and bottom of the column, a neat universal of the spring-steel disc type is provided at the lower end where the column enters the Burman worm-and-nut box.
The pressed-steel suspension wishbones of unequal length have a distinct trail, and threaded bushes are used to locate them on the frame.
Damping is provided by Girling telescopic units located within the coil springs. At the rear, Armstrong piston-type dampers are used, an interesting point being that they are mounted on the casing of the hypoid-geared axle with the links attached to the body structure, a reversal of the usual procedure. Four wide blades are used for each semielliptic rear spring in place of a larger number of narrower leaves, and small number of a blades enables the springs to be mounted above the axle casing.
Braking is by Girling, with a full hydraulic system employing two leading shoes in the front drums, which (as at the rear) are of 7-in. diameter and 1¼-in. wide, giving a lining area of 68 sq. in. The pedal is of the latest hanging type operating direct on the master cylinder, and is one of a pair in a Girling unit, its mate operating the 64 in. Borg and Beck single-dry-plate clutch. The hand brake is located between the front seats.
Conventional practice is followed in the design of the four-cylinder, 58 mm. by 76 mm. engine, the 803 c.c. giving 26 b.h.p. at the peak r.p.m. of 4,500. Special attention has been directed to maintenance of high gas speeds in the manifolds and ports, which have been intentionally limited in size. A combined inlet and exhaust manifold with the usual hot spot for the incoming mixture from the Solex down-draught carburettor is used; the exhaust ports are separate and the inlets siamezed. Overhead valves, vertical and in line, are operated from the four-bearing camshaft which has hyposine cams.
The combustion chambers are offset in relation to the bores to provide a "squish" effect, as with the Vanguard. A point which has been regarded as of special importance in obtaining minimum fuel consumption is optimum ignition advance for varying speeds and loads, and a Lucas vacuum ignition control is used which gives a total of approximately 28 deg. effective advance and retard.
The cylinder block is of conventional design and carried well below the centre line of the counterbalanced crankshaft. Three main bearings are all of the steel-backed, white-metal type. The big ends are split at an angle of 38 deg. to the vertical, the caps being located by set bolts with accurate location provided by means of ring dowels round the bolts.
In the production of an economy car, an important decision facing the design staff is the choice of three speeds or four. Four were chosen on the basis that, at one end of the scale, the car must be capable of re-starting with a full complement of passengers and luggage on a gradient of 1-in-4, and at the other end, must be reasonably high geared in the interests of easy cruising and economy; bottom and top gear ratios having been settled on this basis, the gap between made it obviously desirable for two intermediate ratios to be provided.
In the body, the utmost simplicity consistent with comfort and convenience is to be noted. Thus the seats are tubular-framed and upholstered in Tygan over rubberized hair on tension springs, the floors are rubber covered, the windows are of the sliding type, the doors are recessed to the full width and have simple painted trim panels, and the instruments are confined to a single large hooded dial for the speedometer, with an inset fuel gauge and indicator lights for the ignition and lubrication systems.
The luggage space in the tail is generous for a car of this size, but is reached from the body interior. Unlike the front seats which are separate and adjustable, a single seat cushion is used at the rear, but the squabs are separate and fold forward individually, thus facilitating the carriage of particularly bulky objects, even when one passenger is seated in the back. When there are no passengers in the rear, the entire seat can be hinged forward, station-wagon fashion, to offer a truly enormous luggage space.