I use a Humber Imperial every day to comute to work , a total of 56 miles . The Humber is very special place to be , modern tyres give a great magic carpet ride, smooth and powerful with a heater that is great for the cold frosty mornings . Complete refurb of all moving parts ensures complete reliability and so far its the best car I have ever bought .
I had a 1966 Humber Super Snipe Estate, which was a wonderful car. Its performance was stately, but adequate. As an estate car it had a very useful hauling capacity. I liked the smell of wood, leather, and wool carpet. There was nothing flimsy on a Humber. It was a delightful vehicle in every respect. If they still made them--I would drive one today.
When I came out of the army in 1964 I started work at the humber factory in Coventry in the trim/finishing dept working on the hawk and supersnipe,wonderful place to work,then took over by the dreaded Chrysler,and the cheap hunter range introduced.the end of class rootes cars!!!
When I was 8 I went in my uncle Lionel's Humber. He was driving, my dad on the left and me in the middle. It was the fastest I've ever been in a car - 105mph. It felt like flying. Now I'm 66 and I haven't passed this speed limit.
What a charming lovely feeling that car exudes. I absolutely adore the engine -well arrangement in which one can see, (AND REACH) every component of the engine. It's wonderful!
I worked as an apprentice at a local Rootes agent in Manchester,these Humbers were beautiful in every way,my favourite was the Hawk with its 4speed gearbox and Laycock Overdrive,they were a pleasure to work on,today's vehicles whilst being very advanced with computer operated systems are a nightmare if there is a problem and can cost thousands to sort out and in most cases need computers to read the fault codes before any repairs can be carried out.
Yes, iam with you , this car is a dream of design & comfort , all my senses are happy - fortunatly ,the electricplan exist ,so is a way to help , in problems for the mechanicer - greetings from cologne germany
What a lovely trip down memory lane, our next door neighbour had a 62 Super Snipe exactly the same colour as this one when I was a kid back in the 60's... great to see these type of cars still around..
Great car! We had one in the 70's. Wish still had it! Don't take notice of stupid comments - just delete them. Some people spend all day writing stupid comments on RU-vid!
Indeed, I read a comment from someone about lack of leg room in these cars. But I find that the Humber Hawk Series II that I have has plenty of leg room front and back.
What great memories, my Uncle who had some coin in the 60s in Australia had a black model. Still remember the walnut dash and the deep rumble of the engine. Very heavy on the steering though but the most luxurious car on the road at the time.
Beautiful! Your passion for your car is very obvious to see and hear, as you show us around. She runs great and she must give you a lot of pleasure. Thanx for sharing.
My granddad used to own a 1962 series III which he brought new. it is currently sitting in a shed at my uncles farm been there since the early 80s. I hope that me and my dad can get it back on the road sometime.
I have a similar story. I inherited a 1961 Humber Hawk Series II from my father seven years ago after he passed away. He purchased it in 1964 and was the family car until he put it into storage 25 years ago. I love the car and have known it all my life and I am in the process of getting it ready for driving again with much work. I hope you will get your grandfathers car going again. Will be an enjoyable project.
That was the golden era of motoring. Had an Austin a105/6 Westminster, Wolseley 6/110, Triumph 2000 with the twin Stromberg carbs and then a British Ford Cortina bought new in 1983 just befor3e the hideous Ford Sierra hit the market. The Cortina I still have and has done 78,000 Km.
My father bought one of these in 1962, in fact the exact same colour as this one. We had a lot of 'English Cars', as we referred to these. We live in Newfoundland, so these cars were all over . Beautiful riding car, and superbly comfortable too, in those big leather seats and soft floor carpeting. Ahhh the memories come back !
My teacher at boarding school, Mr. Rudel, used to have a Super Snipe, reg ABK 289B. I absolutely loved going in it, and I still love the car all the same over 40 years on. Sadly the marque is no longer with us.
Oh how,my taste of cars have changed, as an American I used to make fun of the British Automobiles in my younger years. But as almost 63 years of age I have grown quite fond of the classic British cars such as this. Quite funny how your taste of cars change when you grow old.
The Donald Campbell Bluebird Land Speed Record attempt in the 1960's In South Australia were supported by Humber. Andrew Mustard of Dunlop used the Humber Super Snipe as a commute vehicle between his home in Adelaide South Australia and Lake Eyre. No hubcaps and the exhausts were open (possibly anything underneath the car would have been re-shaped by the bush tracks into Lake Eyre.) Impressive vehicles in that era.
I would never of known this until stumbling across this.. our family car for a few years was a 51 super snipe, I remember my mother cruising on the open road at 60, for years now I didn't like pommy cars but for some strange reason I at 65 starting to change my mind.
I had a Jaguar Mark 10 (1963) back in 1991 and the local garage proprietor restored his Snipe. He wanted to do a straight swap. The engine in the Snipe was a 3 litre truck derived engine with an overdrive and it could get up and go. Wasn’t as fast as my Jaguar with its 3.8 litre engine and triple 2 inch SU’s straight out of the E-Type...but none the less his Snipe was a nice car.
RCBM I remember my dad having a mk10 previously owned by Lord Marples who was minister of transport at the time. Reg 126 GEW in two tone green and sable. Beautiful car and certainly a car I would be proud to own now in particular the 420G. He also owned a super snipe estate and recall the fuel filler was the rear reflector. Both beautiful cars of a bygone age.
beaufighter245 Hi again, yes thanks for that, I must have them mixed up. My dad had a Hawk when I was a toddler and later a Super Snipe, as near as I can tell the same as Hilda. We were acquainted with the NZ Governor General David Beattie at the time (early 70's) and he had the latest model. I remember dad and him talking about them at some length. Most of them ended up as demolition derby hacks as I understand it. How cool was the WWII Beaufighter btw! Cheers, Rich
I have owned a number of Super Snipes, mostly this model but also a couple of MKIII's. Demolition derby d a few series 5's. You didn't mention what happens if you push the gear selector right forwards. Maybe you didn't know, I didn't until someone showed me on my second one. It sets when the auto changes, right in it holds in gear for ages, hard to explain and it's been 20yrs.
I had a 1966 Estate, the Series V. 3-spd + overdrive (essential). Rust was the main problem. A few repair bodges in the video. I took some photos of my GF on the bonnet - could not do that with a modern car, it would dent. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee today, about the same size, but I'd still rather drive the Humber.
Used to own a 1961 Super Snipe with 4-cylinder standard transmission (with left-hand American-style drive/steering wheel), but the car was bought originally in England by an American (from Ohio) serviceman who then brought the car back to the USA to drive for a few years; after that the Super Snipe was owned by a Miami University music professor, and then an Oxford, Ohio pastor before I bought the car about 18 years ago (bought it at a British Car Show near Cincinnati). I owned the 1961 Super Snipe for about 10 years before selling it to a local person here in Southwest Ohio about 7 years ago since I wasn't driving it any longer (and it was just sitting in my garage). I loved the wood trim on the inside of the car plus the flip-down tray tables in the back-seat area. The leather seats needed attention (the leather had been split due to heat/cold weather), but otherwise the exterior of the car was still in good shape with the original paint (off-gray color) and all of the metal trim (bumpers, etc.). The current cars made in the USA aren't built like the "tanks" which we used to drive during the 1950's and 1960's. My late husband loved the British cars (Jaguar, Austin-Healey, etc.) so he knew all about how to work on/fix the engines, hoses, etc.
Nice car but in a very uninspiring colour. I believe they were also available with two-tone paint, which looks very smart. The dashboard is fabulous. I'm surprised there is no guard for the engine fan. Can you still get spare parts for them?
The L on the transmission is for lock-up, if you're in second gear and move to L it stays in second, handy for towing or situations where it keeps changing from one gear to another, it also gives some engine braking.
Yes indeed and I dare say both the dash and the door capping are walnut I have the same in my old Rolls, loverly cars Humbers have you heard of Allan Marshall of Hull East Yorkshire recently sold his magnificent collection of Humbers at auction apparently the largest collection in the U.K.
The Humber is now sold. An Italian chap contacted me and came over and bought it. I stored it for a few weeks for him before he returned and drove it to Dover for the overnight ferry and the return journey to his home in northern Italy. He e mailed me pictures of it outside his house. He said it drove beautifully all the way.
Interesting! This car was built in 1962, but first registered in 1987. So maybe it was originally exported, and imported back to the UK later. Nice old girl though, and nice to see it still running, albeit a bit tappety imo, but maybe that is the normal sound for that engine., 3L inline six it looks like. I love an inline six personally.
Interesting point, looks like it may be negative earth, was it converted as so many English cars of the period were positive earth which would have made fitting an alternator and radio difficult.
CSU was never issued as an original registration. SU was old county of Kincardineshire now subsumed by Aberdeenshire.I think they got as far as BSU before A, B year related registrations started. A was 1963, B was 1964 etc.
I tought my ex to drive in an Isuzu bellet,an old codger in a humber ran up our backside,didnt mark the humber but shoved the back end in on our bellet the big bully!
The thing with cars today is that they all look the same and are boring with no personality, these old cars are all individual and unique and definatly not boring they just look classy and even smell classy
Did you need to isolate low from reverse to avoid a wrong shift, also did these cars have negative earth systems, if not that new type radio would not work.
Sounds like a porno soundtrack! Seriously, though my uncle Stan had one before the Mk 10 Jag. We all piled into it for a trip down the newly opened M4 for tour of Cornwall. Happy memories.
Hi, your right ,now i found my dream ,its very different to the Humber : a Suzuki Jimny , i hope ,the Jimny will good Work ,and for me ,its a also a milestone car ( maybe ) greetings from cologne germany :-)
Can anyone tell me, was this the car Herbert Lom drove in tv series "The Human Jungle"The show was from the early 60's, and the car he drove looked just like this. It had akind of 50's American car look to it.
Lovely car. Everything so accessable in the engine compartment. Lots of character and style. Shame really by modern standards they are inefficient with fuel, more polluting and require lots of maintenance. Not great in an accident either. But thats 'progress' you lose something and gain something.
Born '63 , in Australia and by the time I was ten I knew that propeller planes, passenger ships and British cars were ancient and verging on death. So when I saw a Wolesley or a Humber I just thought that if motor cars needed a leper, they had it it right there. Jaguars and Rovers and some model Triumphs were just border line respectable. Of course I thought the Australian cars - which were really budget shopping cars from Detroit - were obviously far stronger and grew out of the Aussie desert. I laughed at the Blue streak engine, the one they had in the Wolsely - cause it blew blue smoke. In 1962, we had the Holden EJ, (80 bhp?) the Falcon 90hp? and teh Valiant which had some serious power - over 100hp. I suspect this Humber probably had much more, but it looks heavy. I also know the smell and it is horrible. Aging leather, wood, vinyl petrol, oil....know it too well.
Humber is just a hillman or a sunbeam some of the worst cars ever produced and when Chrysler get involvolved in the rootes company in linwood, it even get worse, think about the simca/Christer alpine/1307 its one of the worst car ever produced
