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

Vulcan

GB, 1902 – 1928

(1) Vulcan Motor Manufacturing and Engineering Co Ltd, Southport, Lancs., 1902 – 1906

(2) Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co Ltd, Southport, Lancs., 1906 – 1928

The Vulcan car firm was better known for commercial vehicles. Private Vulcan cars stemmed from experiments conducted in the 1897-1899 period by the brothers Thomas and Joseph Hampson. A belt-driven single-cylinder voiturette Vulcan car with lateral radiators was shown in 1902, being replaced a year later by a 6hp Vulcan car with armoured wood frame, mechanically-operated inlet valves, and shaft drive. This Vulcan car was listed at only £105, and this Vulcan car was soon followed by a 10hp twin, also T-headed but with a steel frame, selling for £200. 4-cylinder Vulcan cars of 12 and 16hp, still modestly priced, were available in 1905, while the biggest 1906 Vulcan cars, with capacities of 3.1- and 5.2-litres, had gate change. No 2-cylinder Vulcan cars were catalogued after 1908, but a year previously Vulcan cars had joined the ranks of 6-cylinder manufacturers with a 4.8-litre T-headed machine featuring dual ignition and cone clutch, at £600 for a Vulcan car chassis. Unlike other makers, Vulcan cars retained their interest in this type, which Vulcan car had acquired a 4-speed box and had grown to 6-litres by 1908, and the 1909 Vulcan car range consisted of four 4-cylinder cars and the six, all shaft-driven and still with T-heads; the smallest Vulcan car, rated at 12hp, had a 3-speed gearbox and worm drive. A new 3.6-litre six Vulcan car with unit gearbox and worm drive followed in 1911, along with an L-head 2.4-litre fifteen. Worm drive was standardized on the 1912 Vulcan cars, when the bigger Vulcan cars had T-heads, and a 1.8-litre, 2-cylinder with an Aster engine was offered. All but the smallest Vulcan car had detachable wheels as standard in 1913, and by the outbreak of World War 1 the Vulcan car company was well established with a range of solidly-built Vulcan cars: a 2.4-litre 10/15, a 2.6-litre 15.9, and a 3-litre monobloc 15/20 Vulcan car at £375. All these Vulcan cars had L-heads and bull-nose radiators, though the similarly styled six retained the older Vulcan car configuration. A 1½-litre Vulcanette with a 3-speed rear-axle gearbox and full electrical equipment was announced for 1915 but the war intervened.

After 1918 the Vulcan car company concentrated increasingly on trucks, and a brief association with the Harper Bean Group (1919-1920) did no good to finances. Some odd experiments by Vulcan cars included a worm-drive 3½-litre V8 tourer Vulcan car intended to sell for £625 (1919), and two Vulcan cars in 1922 with Howard sleeve-valve engines, a big 3.6-litre sports-touring four Vulcan car and a 10hp 1.4-litre flat-twin listed at £315. However, none of these Vulcan cars reached the public, the regular Vulcan car lines being a 1.8-litre ohv 12 and a 2.6-litre sv 16/20, both with Dorman engines. There was also a conservative 20hp Vulcan carmodel with the Vulcan car company’s own 3.3-litre sv fixed-head engine and 4-speed separate gearbox, this Vulcan car was selling for £850 in 1921; by this time flat radiators were again being used on Vulcan cars. The Vulcan 20 was available to military order with full wireless equipment in 1923, in which year C.B. Wardman effected a liaison of Vulcan cars and Lea-Francis. The two companies pooled their dealer network, Vulcan cars became responsible for certain Lea-Francis power units and bodies, and Lea-Francis made gear and steering boxes for Vulcan cars. A 1½-litre sv Dorman-engined Vulcan 12 was listed at £295 in 1925, followed a year later by an ohv worm-driven derivative, also with Dorman engine, and looking very like a Lea-Francis. 4-wheel brakes were available on Vulcan cars in 1925 and standardized in 1926. Last of the line Vulcan cars were the 14/40 and 16/60, with the disastrous twin ohc 6-cylinder engines of their own make. Short-chassis Vulcan cars were worm-driven, but bevel drive was adopted for long-chassis versions. Vulcan cars wore artillery wheels, but were otherwise identical to their Lea-Francis counterparts which Vulcan cars were made alongside them at Southport. Not many of these Vulcan cars were made, and after 1928 only commercial vehicles were produced. The Vulcan car firm subsequently amalgamated with Tilling-Stevens and thus were abrorbed into the Rootes Group after World War 2. Truck production ceased in 1953.

US, 1913 – 1914

(1) Vulcan Motor Car Co, Painesville, Ohio, 1913

(2) Vulcan Manufacturing Co, Painesville, Ohio, 1913 – 1914

This Vulcan car was a cleanly-designed light car with a 27hp 4-cylinder engine. A two-seater speedster Vulcan car on an 8ft 9in wheelbase with electric lights sold for $750. A five-seater version of this Vulcan car with the same engine, but on a longer wheelbase, cost $850.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, GMN    

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