Smartphones with cameras are a brilliant invention, and done properly with a good user interface are quite absorbing, as many people have undoubtedly noticed. They are also a persistent cause of frustration.
In anything less than ideal conditions, especially lighting, the results can be disappointing. Hence, these photos of a 1926 Humber 14/40 saloon are fewer in number than I’d hoped. They were taken in Bury St Edmunds in eastern England late on Sunday afternoon, as the light was beginning to fade, but unlike a London bus, you have to catch a CC like this when you can, not when you necessarily want to.
Seeing any Humber on the road is now an event, and as this is a pre-Rootes Humber, and the only pre-Rootes Humber I can remember seeing on the road, diverting for photography was a no-brainer. Indeed, official numbers suggest there may be as few as 150 pre-Rootes Humbers remaining in the UK.
Humber had started as a bicycle manufacturer in Nottingham, the second city behind Coventry for cycle manufacturing in Britain. Car production started in with three wheeler based on a French Bollee in 1896, and a true Humber four wheel car in 1899. By the 1920s, Humber was established as a builder of more expensive and lower volume cars than Morris or Austin, or its next door neighbour Hillman, and by 1929 was facing a bleak future. That’s when the Rootes brothers got involved, ultimately linking Humber with the higher volume Hillman range.
The 14/40 was one of the last pre-Rootes Humbers, build from 1926 to 1929, and its production finished ahead of the Rootes takeover and merger with Hillman. Size wise, this car sat a 116inch wheelbase with an overall length of around 165 inches. Power came from a 2050cc 4 cylinder engine with around 40 bhp. It weighed in at 3025lb and would achieve around 60 mph. That striking split and angled front screen is an unusual, or at least to me unfamiliar, format, other than VW Type 2.
So, as my photos didn’t all work, here’s another from a sunny day. England has those as well.
My goodness, look at that thick division in the front wind screen. AA-pillar?
Like a Scion xBox for the Dowager Countess.
Thank you for another splendid read Roger.
Fun fact the headlights dip via vacuum, a friend of mine has a 27 14/40 complete but in basket case condition, Inlet over exhaust engine really rare here my friends is likely the only one left he thinks.
I have an irrational fondness for Humbers, and this is a striking example. Looks like a pair of casement windows on the front. I did a search for 14/40s to see what else was out there, and of course the range of bodystyles is considerable. I imagine if it weren’t for Billy and Reggie, Humber would be about as well-remembered today as (say) Ruston-Hornsby, but there’s definitely a line from this car to their bank managers’ saloons of the 50s and 60s. Thanks for grabbing photos of such a fine beast – nice to see it popping out to the shops!
Beautiful machine. Bury St. Edmunds is a charming little town and home of the Green King brewery. Yum!
Of course you had to stop for that! Thanks for showing us.
Just looked at the photos on a big screen rather than a phone. That’s a lovely heritage Marks & Spencer in the background – very much in keeping with the Humber!
I’ll see if I can do the weekly shopping for 1 shilling & ninepence
Looking at those photos I can almost hear “Rule Britannia” playing in the background.
This is awesome! I love seeing the pre-war cars (especially this far pre-war) out doing their thing. Driving them in modern traffic has to be a rather stimulating experience.
The split windshield was used on a limited number of American cars from about this time and a smidgeon earlier. That said, I cannot fathom which ones and I certainly don’t remember any with the thick-as-a-telephone-pole divider. However, it does add a certain amount of panache and memorability to the car.
Ditto on the smartphones – I’ve used mine (both an iPhone and earlier a Blackberry) and the pictures I’ve taken always suck. They truly are an insurance policy against missing a car as a mediocre picture always beats no picture.
I see lots of cruise ship visitors to Napier being driven about in vintage cars a local company has a Dodge at least two Hupmobiles, a Chevrolet and others all dating from the 1920s all hire car/taxi inspected in regular use its odd actually when pre war Packards and Buicks and 20s tourers are just part of the normal traffic flow but I love my 57 year old Hillman looks positively modern in some settings round here.
Very nice to see this rare beauty out and about .
-Nate
The really unusual thing about the windscreen is the fixed panes at the bottom, I don’t recall seeing this set-up before.
There is a 1926 Humber sedan here in Victoria, but as it would most likely have a locally-built body it has a single-piece flat windscreen; much less interesting! I’ve also seen photos of a 1926 roadster/convertible; again a flat windscreen.
Check out a Brush Railcoach tram, they have the fixed bottom panes. Sadly replaced a few years ago for daily service in Blackpool
Remarkable find! Thanks for sharing it with us. I’ve certainly never seen a 1920’s Humber before!
Hello! Driving on the roads of Southern England on April 2011, I saw this car. Can’t remember exactly where – near Eastbourn or Lewes? I looked through my old photos and thought to look for the place where I saw it. I didn’t find it. But I found that car…