Thread Starter
#16
A History of Standard Motor Products, Madras
They first started out assembling Vanguards, and I think Ferguson tractors, before moving on to the 8s, 10s and Pennants in succession. Curiously, the Pennant was badged a 10 as well. Pennant production ceased in mid 61, but the Companion continued till late 62.
In early 62 they launched the "Triumph" Herald (948cc, similar engine as 10), though badged as the Standard Herald. The bonnet badge had the "Standard" script over the ensign badge base. The very earliest cars (62 only) still consisted of a lot of hand-me-downs from the home market cars, and hence some cars came with the white faced Jaeger speedo, some had a black face. They had at least 4-5 different kinds of steering wheel and horn button colour combinations, coming with off-white, grey and black steering wheels with assorted horn buttons.
This has been confirmed by the erstwhile Standard Motors dealer here in Pune, which can make identifying a genuine 62 model car quite a task!. These cars had a dark grey dash with light grey switches, like the Herald S type, I'm told.
In 1963, the cars had a little more local content. The 2 tone combinations or paint were not offered anymore, and the front sidelights were now of the single bulb design, (62 had larger dual bulb units). The dash now was covered with a wood veener sheet, and local Yenkay meters were incorporated (separate speedo, fuel guauge, and amp). The switches were now black.
These cars were unchanged till 66, when the mark II was launched.
The major change was using the Vitesse bonnet, but with only one pair of headlights, one pair of sidelights, and indicators incorporated in the front end (from the Fiat 1100, which was the largest selling car in India at the time, and along with the Hindustan Ambassador/Morris Oxford was the only competition), as opposed to the 2 sets of lights on the Vitesse. The cars upto the earliest mark IIs had the unique roof badges with "herald" on them, but were soon dropped. A later model had a recessless bootlid. Then for a short while there was a mark II with a restyled roof (which was designed with the 4 door model in mind), and a bootlid without a recess.
This model also gained trim around the taillights. This was also the first model where the silver faced meters were switched to black faced. Made just for a few months, it was soon replaced by the 4 door Mark III, owing to Indians having rather large families!
This design was an original one, just never put into production till the mark III came along. While it featured the now familiar Mark II bonnet the sidelights and separate indicators were replaced with the single assemblies lifted from the later mark Is. The Bonnet badge too was restyled. All previous heralds fetured 8 & 10 style hubcaps, the mark III had the herald "dimpled" ones. The steering wheel was redesigned, and now looked exactly like the ones from the standard 8!
In late 69-70, the factory had indigineously developed a station wagon version, called the Herald Mark III Companion. Extremely rare, it featured a fibreglass tailgate and roof. These cars had bonnets with twin headlights just like the Vitesse. These cars are practically non existant today.
Finally in 71, the Gazel was indigenously developed. While based on the mk III, it featured the live rear axle and suspension from the Toledo. This was because the heralds rear suspension was just not suitable for Indian roads, and were notorious for axles cracking. The car was Indias first indigenous design, designed by Nazir Husein.
Then in 1981, STAMPRO bought the tooling for the Rover SD1, and began production, but with a 1991cc vanguard engine! The car was a miserable failure, with a lot of people putting down deposits, and getting no refunds after producttion ceased! There were plenty of problems with the employees, who were on strike for years! In fact, just last month there was a tender floated in the newspaper anounncing that the banks are auctioning off whatever remains of the factory, the final nail in the coffin.
Source
They first started out assembling Vanguards, and I think Ferguson tractors, before moving on to the 8s, 10s and Pennants in succession. Curiously, the Pennant was badged a 10 as well. Pennant production ceased in mid 61, but the Companion continued till late 62.
In early 62 they launched the "Triumph" Herald (948cc, similar engine as 10), though badged as the Standard Herald. The bonnet badge had the "Standard" script over the ensign badge base. The very earliest cars (62 only) still consisted of a lot of hand-me-downs from the home market cars, and hence some cars came with the white faced Jaeger speedo, some had a black face. They had at least 4-5 different kinds of steering wheel and horn button colour combinations, coming with off-white, grey and black steering wheels with assorted horn buttons.
This has been confirmed by the erstwhile Standard Motors dealer here in Pune, which can make identifying a genuine 62 model car quite a task!. These cars had a dark grey dash with light grey switches, like the Herald S type, I'm told.
In 1963, the cars had a little more local content. The 2 tone combinations or paint were not offered anymore, and the front sidelights were now of the single bulb design, (62 had larger dual bulb units). The dash now was covered with a wood veener sheet, and local Yenkay meters were incorporated (separate speedo, fuel guauge, and amp). The switches were now black.
These cars were unchanged till 66, when the mark II was launched.
The major change was using the Vitesse bonnet, but with only one pair of headlights, one pair of sidelights, and indicators incorporated in the front end (from the Fiat 1100, which was the largest selling car in India at the time, and along with the Hindustan Ambassador/Morris Oxford was the only competition), as opposed to the 2 sets of lights on the Vitesse. The cars upto the earliest mark IIs had the unique roof badges with "herald" on them, but were soon dropped. A later model had a recessless bootlid. Then for a short while there was a mark II with a restyled roof (which was designed with the 4 door model in mind), and a bootlid without a recess.
This model also gained trim around the taillights. This was also the first model where the silver faced meters were switched to black faced. Made just for a few months, it was soon replaced by the 4 door Mark III, owing to Indians having rather large families!
This design was an original one, just never put into production till the mark III came along. While it featured the now familiar Mark II bonnet the sidelights and separate indicators were replaced with the single assemblies lifted from the later mark Is. The Bonnet badge too was restyled. All previous heralds fetured 8 & 10 style hubcaps, the mark III had the herald "dimpled" ones. The steering wheel was redesigned, and now looked exactly like the ones from the standard 8!
In late 69-70, the factory had indigineously developed a station wagon version, called the Herald Mark III Companion. Extremely rare, it featured a fibreglass tailgate and roof. These cars had bonnets with twin headlights just like the Vitesse. These cars are practically non existant today.
Finally in 71, the Gazel was indigenously developed. While based on the mk III, it featured the live rear axle and suspension from the Toledo. This was because the heralds rear suspension was just not suitable for Indian roads, and were notorious for axles cracking. The car was Indias first indigenous design, designed by Nazir Husein.
Then in 1981, STAMPRO bought the tooling for the Rover SD1, and began production, but with a 1991cc vanguard engine! The car was a miserable failure, with a lot of people putting down deposits, and getting no refunds after producttion ceased! There were plenty of problems with the employees, who were on strike for years! In fact, just last month there was a tender floated in the newspaper anounncing that the banks are auctioning off whatever remains of the factory, the final nail in the coffin.
Source
![ilango[speed thirst]](/forums/data/avatars/m/0/80.jpg?1543402189){kind=avatar}
