60s Humber Imperial - a step up from the Super Snipe скачать в хорошем качестве

60s Humber Imperial - a step up from the Super Snipe

Humber Imperial The year is 1957 and the Humber have brought the Series cars to market with the launch of the New Hawk; a stunning unitary-bodied car which was one of Britain’s largest on the road at time of launch and an utterly imposing sight. Following hot on the Hawk’s heels was the elegant Super Snipe, a 58 launch powered by a 2651cc six cylinder engine. The engine was actually an Armstrong-Siddeley design, but it didn’t matter, the target audience loved the car. This led to the Series II, III and in 1962, the Series IV; with each new series an improvement on the outgoing model. If you know Rootes cars and have watched the Minx videos, I praise Rootes a lot for their constant innovation and hunger for excellence in a world where many manufacturers were very sparing in improvements and sometimes waiting to be prompted by competitors doing something new. As the 60s continued, Rootes felt the Super Snipe was a car they could build upon and with the launch of the Series V with its major facelift for 1964, there’s a new flagship model. That model is of course, the Humber Imperial. Now the Imperial wasn’t just a polished version of what they had, but instead a model to wow the most wealthy of potential customers. After all, the brochure promised this was a new conception of executive luxury. The bodywork was the genius of Thrupp and Maberly - not an outside company of course - because Rootes had acquired them in the 20s when they’d gobbled up lots of businesses to create the Rootes empire. And an impressively sized car it was - with a length of 15ft7 inches which google tells me is approx 475 centimetres and a width of 5ft10 - approx 178cm. A turning circle of 37 feet, 11.28 metres means this is not a car for those pokey modern multi storey car parks. The car was fitted with a three litre engine, giving 137.5bhp and an MPG of 15-18mpg and a top speed of around 101mph. Naturally it goes without saying that a car of this size and luxury is fitted with discs to front and drums to rear - described in one period review as safe and progressive. Adding to the feel of the drive is the ability to vary the ride quality with Selectaride adjustable rear dampers - no need to be under the car though - it’s all adjustable from a dial on the dashboard. The Imperial name carried with it some connotations as it had previously been used on a variant of the Pullman limo. Die-hard Rootes fans will know of course that Sir Winston Churchill travelled in a Pullman himself. The new Imperial must’ve carried that prime minsterial edge, because fellow Huddersfield local, Prime minister Harold Wilson used one in his first term in Downing Street. The glamour is short lived however, as in the spring of 1967, the Super Snipe and the Imperial are both retired - with no offering ever coming in to rival the quality, class and elegance of the car in the range again. The Arrow range of cars is quietly petered off until 1976 when the last of the range, one of my favourite cars, the Sceptre comes to a close on the production line. An impeccable British brand with a solid reputation utterly disregarded by an overseas parent company with a lack of appreciation - sadly the story of far too many well-loved British brands.