The Humber Hawk

The name of Humber goes back to the formative days of the British motor industry. It all started with one Thomas Humber who established a bicycle manufacturing business in 1868 and which in due course became part of H. Lawsons proposed automobile empire.  The first conventional car made by the company goes back to 1901, this was fitted with a De Dion 4½ h.p. engine, de dion type transmission with shaft drive. 1902 saw a 12 h.p. 2½ litre 4 cylinder and 1903 a 20 h.p. model.  The Company was taken over by Rootes just prior to the Great Depression and the staple products therefore were aimed at the upper middle class family,  cars of 2 litres plus, in saying this a 1.7 litre "12" appeared in 1933 and this was to form the basis of Rootes 4 cylinder long stroke engines for the next 33 years.

 

In the road test conducted by the Autocar of 1951 cars,  it wrote of the Hawk as "An attractive Family Car now further improved by better Suspension and Pulling Powers".  In the case of the Humber Hawk the engine bore had been increased over the previous model from 75mm to 81mm with a stroke of 110 mm (3.1875 inches x 4.33 inches), thus giving a cubic capacity of 2267 c.c. (138.2 cubic inches). Whilst the increase in size was a mere 3.6% the power curves showed an increase of some 15.3% at 2,000 rpm according to the Autocar report. The cars maximum speed was in the region of 71 miles per hour.

 

The Humber catalogue of the day states that   "Half a Century of successful Automobile engineering experience lies behind the Humber Hawk, it is a comfortable six seater with exceptional vision from all the seats, a car that is a delight to drive".

 

The chassis was a sturdy construction of a fully boxed girder frame with a central cruciform cross member, independent coil spring front suspension with long semi-elliptic rear springs, a hypoid rear axle which gives a lower propeller shaft line from the gearbox, this thus allows for a lower floor line to the interior.  Brakes were of the hydraulic two leading shoe type by Lockheed.

 

As can be seen from the illustration of the front interior there was a bench type front seat with a central armrest which allows seating for three persons when required. Steering Column 4 speed gear change with synchromesh  on top, third and second gears. The system not only provided light and positive gear selection, but that, with its bulking ring arrangement exceptionally quick changes could be made when required.

 

The rear compartment also provides three seater accommodation when required, whilst a wide central armrest is provided with additional armrests on the rear doors when only two persons are carried in the rear.  Leather upholstery was provided throughout.  A host of interior refinements were to be found including a wide sunshine roof, sun visors, electric clock, spacious pockets, rear parcel shelf, forward scuttle ventilator etc. Accessories which were available as optional extras included a High efficiency Heater and Air Conditioning Unit, H.M.V. Automobile Radio, Over-riders to front and rear bumper blades.

 

For holidays the Humber Hawk owner would find that an outstanding feature of the car was the accommodation of a large volume of baggage. Fully open the boot (trunk) lid is held automatically and positively in position.  Another important feature being that the spare wheel could be withdrawn without disturbing the luggage.

 

The Autocar testers found the engine behaved in an entirely effortless manner throughout the speed range and showed a very acceptable degree of smoothness when taking in account the vices of Pool petrol which motorists of the day had to put up with, that is running-on and pinking.  This is probably down to the aluminium alloy cylinder head.  The engine was an easy starter with automatic choke and took very little time to warm up

 

Fuel was consumed at the rate of around 24 miles per gallon, acceleration from 10 to 30 miles per hour on top gear 9.6 seconds, 0 to 50 m.p.h through the gears 18.7 seconds. In top gear 1000 r.p.m. equates to 17 miles per hour. Unladen kerb weight 26 cwt. Tyres 6.40 x 15 crossply. The new purchase price in 1951 was £665 plus Purchase Tax of £185. 9s 5d, a total of £850. 9s. 5d.

 

All in all this Humber was entirely adequate for the market it was designed for, the Hawk being essentially the type of motor car that was comfortable and roomy in the medium size and price class which in its day attracted buyers amongst family moto rists and professional users.