Humber

GB, 1898 to date

(1) Humber Ltd, Beeston, Notts., 1898 – 1908

(2) Humber Ltd, Coventry, 1898 – 1946

(3) Humber Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1946 – 1970

(4) Chrysler United Kingdom Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1970 to date

Thomas Humber’s bicycle firm, established in 1868, became a part of H.J. Lawson’s intended automobile empire empire and as such was responsible for production of the abortive Pennington tricars. Humber car manufacture started with an experimental front wheel drive design, while motor tricycles and quadricycles were also produced. These led to a line of 3-wheeled forecars which persisted up to 1905. Little came of Humber cars M.D. voiturette with 2-speed gear, but their more conventional 1901 offering had a 4½hp De Dion engine, De Dion-type transmission and shaft drive, as well a a single-spoke steering wheelwhich remained one of the Humber car company’s trademarks in the early years and anticipated Citroën practice by more than half a century. A 12hp 2½-litre 4-cylinder Humber car followed in 1902, but in 1903 two more ambitious vehicles appeared, a big Humber 20hp four and a 3-cylinder version with mechanically-operated inlet valves, as well a Britain’s first successful effort at a popular light car. This Humber car was the 5hp Humberette with a De Dion-type engine of 613cc and a 2-speed gearbox with two steering-column levers. All these Humber cars had shaft drive – Humbers eschewed the chain. In 1904 the Humberette was made in a more powerful form and up to 1908 two separate lines of Humber car were produced in the factories at Beeston and Coventry, the Beeston cars being the more expensive. 1905 saw a miniature Humber car, a four rated at 8/10hp, but with a capacity of 2 litres, which was developed the following year into a 10/12hp Coventry-Humber car selling at £315; Beeston’s offering that season was a 3½-litre T-head four selling for £472 10s. The 1907 versions of the Beeston-Humber car had a capacity of 6.3-litres and pressure lubrication.

The 1908 Humber car range was quite extensive, ranging from a bid for the lightcar market with a 1½-litre 8hp vertical twin, pressure-lubricated and with Humber’s own design of detachable wheels, at £195, up to a big 5½-litre six Humber car, also Coventry-made, at a modest £450.

Financial difficulties led to the closure of the Beeston factory in 1908, but Coventry went on making the T-headed Humber cars, all of which had 4-speed gearboxes by 1911. In 1912 new L-head models came out, the 11hp having a 1.7-litre monobloc engine, three forward speeds and splash lubcrication; there was also a new Humber car, a cyclecar named the Humberette, with a 998cc air-cooled engine but otherwise on full-scale car lines, which was made up to the outbreak of World War 1. 1913/1914 models cost £120, with £15 extra if watercooling was specified. Though Humber cars had supported the first Tourist Trophies, an unusual departure for 1914 was the preparation of a Humber car team of 3.3-litre twin ohc 4-cylinder machines inspired by the Henry-designed Peugeots for that year’s event.

After the war the Humber car company concentrated on solid family cars, noted for their excellent workmanship and all-weather equipment, as well as their conservatism. Side-valve engines were used up to 1922 in Humber cars, but inlet over exhaust layouts appeared in 1923, in which year there was also a new small Humber car model, the ‘Humber 8/18’ with 12-volt coil ignition at £275. Front wheel brakes had arrived by 1925, although Humber cars adhered to the foot-operated transmission brake for several more seasons. The company sold over 4.000 Humber cars in 1927, thanks to the 1.056cc ‘Humber 9/20’, an excellent 2-litre 4-cylinder ‘Humber 14/40’ and a new 20/55hp Humber car, the first six in a Humber car for many years.

The Humber cars were restyled in 1929, and the following year the effect of the Rootes takeover was seen in the new line of sixes, the 2.1-litre ‘Humber 16/50’ and the 3½-litre Humber Snipe and its long-chassis stablemate, the Humber Pullman. 1930 was also the last year for the 9hp Humber cars and thereafter the Humber car company’s staple products were upper-middle-class family cars of over two litres’ capacity, although a 1.7-litre ‘Humber 12’ appeared in 1933 and formed the basis for the long-stroke 4-cylinder Rootes engines still being manufactured in 1966 as a Humber car. Also at the end of 1932 overhead inlet valves were dropped. In 1936 the 6-cylinder Humber cars acquired transverse independent front suspension, while the biggest sixes were now of 4.1-litres’ capacity. Only 6-cylinder Humber cars were offered in 1938, and hydraulic brakes appeared on 16hp and 21hp Humber car models in 1939, and were also found on the first Humber Super Snipe – a ‘compact’ evolved by mounting the 4.1-litre engine in the smaller chassis, which was excellent value at £398.

Snipe-based Humber cars served the Allied Forces with distinction in World War 2 and the new models introduced in 1945 were really hold-overs of Humber car parts from 1940, with hydraulics now standardized, together with a new four in the shape of a 1.9-litre side-valve Humber Hawk based on Hillman’s Fourteen of 1938/1940. In 1950 a Humber car (the Super Snipe) took second place in the Monte Carlo Rally. The Super Snipe and Pullman acquired overhead valves in 1953, and the Hawk a year later, while 1956 Super Snipes could be had with automatic transmission. Unitary construction was used on a redesigned Hawk in 1957, and two years later the Super Snipe (after a short period in abeyance) re-emerged as an altogether smaller 2.650cc Humber car, also with unitary construction. This was soon replaced by a 3-litre development with disc front brakes. 1962 Humber car models had the four-headlamp pioneered in America in 1957. A small luxury Humber car came out in 1964 in the shape of the Humber Spectre, based on Hillman’s Super Minx, but with overdrive standard equipment. During 1967 all the big Humber cars were dropped, to be replaced on the British market by the Australian-built Plymouth Valiant. Since 1968 the only Humber car offering has been the 1.7-litre Humber Sceptre, a prestige version of the Hillman Hunter. The 1973 Humber cars had twin-carburettor 79bhp engine, and there was a choice of a 4-speed all-synchromesh gearbox with overdrive on the two upper ratios of automatic transmission.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Cadillac

US, 1903 to date

(1) Cadillac Automobile Co, Detroit, Mich., 1903 – 1905

(2) Cadillac Motor Car Co, Detroit, Mich., 1905 to date

The ‘Standard of the World’ started humbly as a single-cylinder car selling for $750. Henry M. Leland, its creator, had been associated with Henry Ford and has also built engines for Oldsmobile. The Model-A Cadillac was markedly similar to the early Fords in having a horizontal underfloor engine, 2-speed planetary transmission and central chain drive via a spur-type differential, but Cadillac’s 1½-litre inlet over exhaust power unit had one cylinder where Ford used two. There was no bonnet on the early Cadillac models. This very successful design remained in production until 1908, later improvements including rack-and-pinion steering, transverse front suspension and a dummy bonnet. The Cadillac marque was introduced to Britain by F.S. Bennett, who in 1908 conducted a ‘standardization test’ at Brooklands. Three single-cylinder Cadillac cars were dismantled and the parts mixed up – they were then reassembled and the vehicles run on the track. The R.A.C. awarded Cadillac the Dewar Trophy for this achievement.

A 30hp 4-cylinder Cadillac car with separate cylinders and copper jackets was announced for 1906 and 75.000 of this type Cadillac were sold before it was discontinued in 1914. The original planetary transmission gave way first to a conventional 3-speed box, and finally in 1914 to a 3-speed box with 2-speed back axle. Cadillac was one of the firms organized into the General Motors group in 1909 by W.C. Durant, and in 1910, when a 4-cylinder Cadillac tourer could be bought for $1600, the company was claiming that tolerance on 112 parts of the car were accurate to one-thousandth of an inch. 1912 saw a most important Cadillac innovation: the standardization of the Delco system of electric lighting and starting on the Cadillac, now of 5½-litres capacity and capable of 60mph. The first left-hand drive Cadillac of 1915 was also the first of the company’s V8s, to become as much a hallmark of the breed as were Buick’s overhead valves. Inspired by the De Dion Bouton of 1910 it had 5.1-litre engine and sold for $2700. 13.000 V8 Cadillac  cars were sold in the first year of production and the model was widely used by the U.S. Army in World War 1. Cylinder heads were detachable from 1917 on, and 1924 Cadillac versions had Duco cellulose finish and front wheel brakes.

In 1927, when 47.000 Cadillac cars were sold, a less expensive companion make, La Salle appeared, and the cars were restyled in 1928. The synchromesh gearbox made its world debut with the 1929 Cadillac models, which also featured chromium plating and safety glass, with a price range from $3.295 to $5.995. 1930 saw the advent of the ohv Cadillac V16 of 7.4-litres, which gave 185bhp and had a wheelbase of 12ft 4in. This sold at an average rate of 500 Cadillac cars a year for eight seasons in the $6.000-$9.000 price backet. It was joined in 1931 by an equally impressive ohv 6-litre V12 Cadillac for sale. Improvements over the next few years included power brakes (1931), ride control (1932), no-draught ventilation (1933), Dubonnet type independent front suspension (1934) and ‘turret-top’ all-steel bodies (for sale in 1935). 1938 Cadillac models had column change as standard, a year ahead of other GM products, while the V12 and V16 were dropped in favour of a side-valve short-stroke Cadillac 16-cylinder model which was made until 1940. Another new model for Cadillac in 1938, the 8-cylinder Cadillac Sixty Special, anticipated GM’s 1940 styling with its absence of running boards and 4-light sedan bodywork. 5.7-litre side-valve V8s in three wheelbase lengths made up the 1941 Cadillac range, on which Hydramatic transmission was optional for the first time.

The post-war era was to see Cadillac outstrip all its competitors in the top-price class and become an international symbol of wealth. Sales climbed from 66.000 cars in 1941 to 103.857 Cadillac cars in 1950, and to a new record of 165.959 Cadillac cars in 1964. Tail fins made their first appearance on Cadillac’s 1948 fastback coupé, and in 1949 Cadillac, along with Oldsmobile, adopted overhead valves and oversquare cylinder dimensions, their new 5.4-litre engine developing 160bhp. Cadillacs were raced at Le Mans in 1950 by Briggs Cunningham and the Cadillac engine was also used in export editions of Britain’s J2. Allard. Power output increased steadily: 190bhp in 1952 (by which time manual transmission was no longer offered), 210bhp in 1953 (when a 12-volt electric system was standardized), and 230bhp in 1954, the year when panoramic wrap-around windscreens and power-assisted steering became standard on the Cadillac for sale.

The expensive Cadillac Eldorado Brougham of 1957 (it cost over $13.000) was the first car to have air suspension (dropped after a few seasons) as standard equipment, while Cadillac, along with Lincoln, started the fashion for four headlamps, that later became universal in the USA. 1966 Cadillac cars featured GM’s perimeter-type chassis frame, a 340bhp 7-litre engine, variable-rate power steering, full air conditioning, electric door locks and seat controls, a time switch for the headlamps and a six-position steering wheel. Prices started at $4.650. In 1967 Cadillac set a new sales record of 213.161 cars, bettered in 1969 with 266.798/ They introduced a fwd car on Oldsmobile Toronado lines, the Fleetwood Cadillac Eldorado with torsion-bar ifs, self-levelling suspension, and front disc brakes, these last being applied to the more expensive Cadillac Fleetwoods with conventional drive, and to all the 1969 Cadillac range. Capacity of the Cadillac V8 engine was increased – to 7.735cc in 1968 and to 8.2 litres in 1970, but otherwise there were no major changes. In 1973 Cadillac were one of the few firms offering a nine-seater limousine: the Cadillac 75 with a wheelbase of 12ft 7½in and an overall length of 20ft 8in.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com