JimH wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:20 am
Was it sun-faded maroon? They were all sun-faded maroon. I'm pretty sure that's what it was called in the brochure.
My Polo? no it was doom blue. Well until I reshelled it in gold after writing it off.
I told a mate who worked at a VW breakers to collect the thing & he turned up with a free shell instead, so we swapped everything including glass, headlining, petrol tank, doors, bonnet & running gear etc over a weekend. I think the only bit that we kept on the shell was the loom as it was nearly correct.
Then I got bored waiting for the Q-plate & applied for the logbook on the scrapped shell, which turned up just after the Q-plate one. It's probably still registered to me at an old address tbh.
SiC wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:24 am
Why are the standard 8's hated so much on here?
Because they are the very worst car ever built in Britain. There are plenty of cars that were almost as bleak as the 8 but there was something about them that twisted the knife in a "this is all you scum deserve" sort of a way. I appreciate that picking the worst Standard is a bit like picking your least favourite turd to find in your sandwich but everywhere you look on them there is more to hate. For me it is the tree trunk like pillars and piss holes in the snow windows. Glass? The likes of you don't need glass. Nothing embodies the margarine and gristle life of post-war Britain like the 8.
If you are going to attempt a defence of the 8 please do not try to make a positive of the fact they didn't even have a bootlid. I have encountered the sort of oddballs who ought to be on some sort of register who will argue that Standard was doing people a favour by not letting them get stuff out of the boot from the outside.
paulplom wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:18 pm
Did the early ones not have a boot lid?
Early ones had no boot lid, sliding windows and the stench of despair. Later ones were better equipped with things that most cars had as standard from the beginning.
Many cars that were comedy cheap had a sense of fun about them. For a long time the record was held by the Fiat 126 BIS and while it had some significant drawbacks it did not reek of despair. One of Setright's best essays was on the Fiat126. Renault 4s, 2CVs, Fiat 500s, Minis. All cheap and all had a sense of fun about them. There is a feeling of joy that someone who previously was immobile now had the freedom to move about.
There is no joy in a Standard 8. Just rationing, crippling debt and bombed out sites. Make do and mend. Waste not want not. That'll do for you, scum.
