All you need to know about...Humber
Born: 1899 Nationality: British
Evolved, like many of its competitors of the era, from a bicycle business, Thomas Humber's single-cylinder 611 cc 5bhp Humberette was the first of the brand's production cars, although a "concept", the Forecar, was shown at the first London Motor Show in 1896.
The brand quickly became a range, with two- and four-cylinder engines up to 12 hp powering medium-to-large cars such as the 1904 four-seat Tonneau. Model names of the time included the Beeston 16/20 and the Coventry 12/14, reflecting the cars made at the company's two factories.
A 24hp model entered in the 1907 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy won its class. But a 3.3-litre DOHC four designed for racing by FT Burgess (later of Bentley fame) in 1914 didn't have time to get its faults sorted before the advent of the first World War. Humbers were also exported to Australia in CKD form, where they were assembled to the same stringent standards as at the home factories in Beeston and Coventry.
In wartime, Humber made aircraft engines, army field kitchens, artillery shells and bombs. The company gained a reputation of building good solid cars that didn't cause any trouble, and quickly became the favourite brand of the upper-middle class. The company's philosophy was: build them strong, build them simple and build them to last.
Engine development was the marque's forte and through the mid-1920s some of the fours it produced were considered to be among the best engines of their time. The cars were labelled as 8/18, 9/20, 12/25 and 14/40. Fashion dictated the production of a 55hp six in 1927, the 20/55. In 1925, Humber acquired the Commer Car business, and the company merged with Hillman in 1928. Following the takeover of the merged brands by the Rootes Brothers in 1930, two more six-cylinder cars were produced, the 16/50 which had a capacity of 2.1 litres and the Snipe, which had a 3.5-litre engine under the bonnet.
In the 1930s, Humber dropped fours and concentrated on side-valve sixes, culminating with the 4.1-litre Super Snipe. Variants of this continued to be built during the second World War, used as staff cars by the British army. A Snipe tourer was used by General Montgomery in the Desert Campaign, which he made famous by christening it "Old Faithful".
At the war's end, the main models were the Super Snipe and the Pullman, both powered by the 4.1 six. In Australia the brand continued to develop with the opening of Rootes's first overseas factory, in Melbourne. The three models continued through the '50s, with new OHV engines being developed in in 1953 and 1954. The Super Snipe was dropped for a year or so but came back in 1959, initially with a 2.7-litre engine that was soon upgraded to 3-litre. The model became a standard limousine used by British government departments and embassies.
The parent Rootes group was in poor financial shape and in 1964 was taken over by the Chrysler Corporation. In that company's tradition of badge engineering, a Humber Sceptre was produced, in reality a more luxurious version of the Hillman Minx and powered by a 1.7-litre four. A briefly-lived model, the Imperial, came out in 1965. The Pullman and Super Snipe disappeared in 1967 and the last Sceptre was built in 1976, ending the use of the Humber marque.
Best Car: Super Snipe for its reliability and very British elegance.
Worst Car: The Chrysler Humber Sceptre because it didn't really live up to the values of the original company.
Weirdest Car: The original Forecar, which looked like a bicycle with four wheels.