PROJECT ZOIC

By 1958 Standard’s midrange saloon, the Vanguard, was ten years old, starting to look long in the tooth and struggling against the competition. Sales had tailed off so much that there was no money being generated for re-investment in a new model, though one was badly needed. ZOIC was the name given to the project to liven up the range. Phil Homer finds that far from being a stop-gap, the cars turned out to be the best Vanguards the company built.

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Both the 2088cc Vanguard III and its bodily similar cousin, the 1670cc Ensign, were struggling in the market against the likes of Ford’s Zephyr and Vauxhall’s Velox. Standard’s Engineering Chief, Harry Webster, was faced with the unenviable task of developing a competitive response. An earlier attempt had been to offer the Standard Sportsman, a Vanguard III with a detuned TR3 engine. That didn’t work as it was too expensive and the public didn’t take to it. We now know that fewer than 1000 found their way to customers.

One can speculate that if the Sportsman had been a success, then Project ZOIC might never have been necessary, but after this failure all that Webster could do was keep on trying.

With the best will in the world, Standard were short of talent in the body design department. Webster was a brilliant engineer but not a designer by training, so the company was forced to cast around for design input. Fortunately, MD Alick Dick was able to set up a relationship with Vignale Studios in Turin, and through them Webster was introduced to Giovanni Michelotti.

A prolific young workaholic, Michelotti had already proven himself on projects for Farina and others. Michelotti was asked to design a one-off prototype on a TR3 chassis, which he called his Dream Car, and this the company deemed to be a success. Though initially neither spoke the other’s language, Webster must have recognised that their skills were complementary and soon they were getting on like a house on fire.