Humber Hawk Mk V - a rare 50s British classic car! (Hawk mk 5)

Humber Hawk mk v
The first thing you see when you pick up the brochure for a Humber Hawk MK V is the Royal Warrant front and top centre of the brochure, because it’s always worth mentioning on a Humber video that the cars were popular not only with Royals, the Queen Mother had a Humber, but statesmen and politicians. Winston Churchill also had a Humber.
In short, Humber was a name you could trust and it came with heritage and distinction without being over the top and slightly vulgar like many luxe/expensive brands of the 21st century.
The car was available as a saloon as we’ve got today and a touring limousine - probably one for the more well heeled client! There was a price difference on these and the price including purchase tax for the saloon at time of launch in 1952 was £1,1129 - 5 shillings and 7 pence. The price for the limo was £1,261 and 10 shillings.
The Hawk mk5 was a car which wasn’t designed to win races but to win over those who wanted a comfortable, luxe driving experience. The car was said to offer light, responsive controls, synchromatic fingertip gear change and precision steering.
It was said to be a car which was docile in traffic and fast on the open road and with this car being introduced before the advent of motorways, a driver didn’t need to be racing along at high speeds for long periods of time in the same way we do today, so with a top speed quoted by Popular Classics in 1991 as 73mph, it was more than sufficient for roads of the time. It also makes it keen enough to keep on today’s roads - especially with so many places now limiting to 50mph!
The gearbox which I’ll show you on test is a four speed column change with control ring synchro on second, third and fourth gear. There’s also a safety catch on reverse to ensure it’s not selected in error - because it can cause real problems - especially at high speed!
The brakes as I mention later, are drums all round. The system chosen by Humber was a Lockheed two leading shoe system with hydraulic operation. They’re 9 inch drums on these and handbrake is the umbrella style as one might expect with the bench seat.
One of the more bold claims within the sales brochure for these is the suspension. Humber promised smooth, stable travel under all road conditions; a selling point when selling across the road to countries without majority tarmacced roads in the 1950s as we have today but also in UK today, where dodging potholes could be classed as a modern sport.
The suspension to front is independent with silico-manganese coil springs. To rear, it’s long semi-elipitic springs. The steel and rubber bushes were said to eliminate many greasing points and the torsion bar was supposed to eliminate sway; which to be fair, it does. They weren’t wrong!
Interestingly, Humber also stated they’d considered vehicle safety, something which wasn’t the keen first thought as it might be today in the early 50s. The vehicle’s chassis is a rigid and fully boxed girder fame with cruciform cross-members. This was chosen by Humber because they wanted a car which could withstand the stresses and strains of rapid acceleration and braking but also stand up to both road and track testing.
It can be quite hard to judge on a video how big some of these cars are, so this is 108.5 inches/4,585mm long with a width of 70 inches/1,778mm. The unladen weight is 2,919lb/1,324kg.
The colours available were beech green with light fawn upholstery, metallic quartz blue with light fawn, black with red which is what we’ve got here, gun with red and satin bronze with red.
That is a brief overview on the Humber Hawk mk5 - just like many Rootes cars, it didn’t run for long before being upgraded and after coming to market in September 1952, it was replaced with the Hawk mk6 in June 1954.

[@rowejon]

Long ago I had a 1948 Humber Pullman limousine. The first registered owner was the Right Honourable Lord Harris of Belmont Park, Faversham. Unusually the original colour was a "secret green". Subsequently she was painted black & served many years doing weddings & funerals. I bought her out of a pub carpark where the local youth had been trampolining on her roof. At 6-8 mpg I never drove her very much.

[@user-yu5rz8vh6c]

I've always liked old Humbers. When I was a kid Monty's wartime staff car was in a local museum in Beverley. we also had a local guy had about two dozen different models and would let people view them. What iI really liked about this one was the way the logo on the steering wheel stayed upright no matter how you turned the wheel.

[@Turitea]

My father had one and later in 1968 I bought one too and had a great run out of it. We both rebuilt the engines in our cars, rings, bearings, and valve grind. Really easy to do. What a treat to see one on the road. Now a rare car in New Zealand. Thank you!

[@tedthesailor172]

The trouble with seeing test drives on these "old classics" is that I can remember when they were in current use on our roads. I wonder how long it will be before somebody takes me for a test walk...

[@LadyAnuB]

😅

[@SloopyDog]

It may be the scrap yard for you.

[@mothmagic1]

Likewise. The boss of the first company I worked for had one but never drove it himself but was chaufered everywhere by his grandson.

[@SloopyDog]

@@mothmagic1 There were some beautiful cars in the 60s.

[@DennisPulford]

O'​@@SloopyDog

[@rodhili3946]

My friends uncle had a Humber Hawk. It glided along, so quiet and comfortable. BTW you drove past my house, next time call in for a cup of tea

[@CathodeRayNipplez]

OMG. The depth in that paint. Fabulous.

[@Xpp.]

Proper car with some real nice chrome work ! What a car to drive ❤

[@idriveaclassic]

I’m so lucky

[@douglashughes]

Goodness! My grandparents had one of those and later on a Super Snipe!

[@marial8235]

Cool car, Steph. You just don’t see Humbers here in the States. But my 1952 Plymouth Special Deluxe looks very similar in style and even in details and performance. The Plymouth may be a little faster with the inline 6 but maybe not with only a 3spd column shift which is pretty vague. But you can seen how engineers and stylists on both sides of the Atlantic were thinking similarly in the post war years. The interior in this humber is so pretty.❤

[@dananeal2971]

Rootes were astute in supplying vehicles for British film studios, gaining free big screen advertising. What a smashing car this Humber is!

[@multislipful]

Thank you for your conducted tour with such a beautifully preserved and presented Humber Hawk which appears to drive as well as it looks. Great!

[@Mark_T]

I just love the details on the dash, especially the beautiful font on the gauges.

[@jeremykille4689]

My dad had one of those when I was 4. It's the first car I remember and it was a load of trouble, he paid £300 for it and sold it for £17. He bought it from from someone in Twickenham and concluded that it must have been in a flood. I loved the look of it.

[@williamhumberhawk8187]

Very nice. I have a Humber Hawk Series II

[@pmacc3557]

Is it going?

[@MGBetts1]

What a beauty! 😍 I love it when you come up with something as rare and magnificent as this.

[@Vince_uk]

Yet anther great video Steph, these cars are indeed a true stylish classic car, I always likes them.

[@jonathangriffin1120]

If you're an avid viewer of TPTV you'll see a lot of those 'Square Body' Humbers in films from the early fifties, Professor Quatermass being one example. Sunbeam Talbots (another Rootes product), feature regularly as well. Perhaps Rootes knew the value of 'product placement' before other less enlightened manufacturers of the time. Excellent video Steph, thanks.

[@michaelstaunton1632]

Enjoying the videos on the channel well done & best of luck with everything 👍👍👍

[@suznet]

Stunning car, well done for getting a drive of that 👍

[@allanmollison6971]

Very tidy car, awesome 👍

[@mcmechanic864]

Really enjoyed that, my Dad had the same model in 1965, I haven’t seen the interior of one since then. I remember that speedo and the column change🙂 i’ve posted a picture of my dad‘s one with me and the family surrounding it on your Facebook page 👍

[@SloopyDog]

A beautiful car. My boss had one when I was a coach driver in the 60s. When he gave me a lift in it I felt like a millionaire.

[@billmitchell7904]

Brilliant video! I remember seeing one of these for sale in a car dealership in 1967 for £295 but I bought the Hillman Minx parked next to it for £200 instead!

[@oxfamshop]

What an elegant car

[@stephenricketts7764]

Humber was good at making cars in this era and the quality shines through. The fact that Winston Churchill had one says it all, he was very patriotic to say the least. This is a very well looked after example so credit to the owners there. Thanks once again for a great review Steph. 👍👍

[@mikeburke9635]

Super car, great review and overview

[@timcolledge6813]

Humber cars were noted for their high quality engineering.👍

[@peterriggall8409]

LUVVELLY. I wonder if they put the instruments in the centre of the dash to make it easy to make LHD examples?

[@andrewthompsonuk1]

My mum often talks about the Humber Hawk and how pleased her dad was to get it. It was the first car they had which would go up main road hills in top without slowing down to a crawl.

[@charliegardner6804]

Great car, great video thanks for sharing 👍.

[@trailingarm63]

You are the brightest thing about this week's episode. I can't share your enthusiasm for a slow, thirsty doughnut of a car. If it was an estate it would make a good hearse!

[@danieleregoli812]

And here is our beloved Steph with another incredible jewel!!!! Love Priscilla, and love you!!! 🥰

[@bobgodwin9927]

Great tour of this humber

[@mrbigarms]

It's quite frightening how few of them are left! What a beautiful car, great review!

[@simonc858]

Another lovely video, look forward to your Sunday reviews. x

[@koll789]

Great video Steph.

[@hugebartlett1884]

I still have that brochure. Smoking was almost compulsory in those days,the headlining rarely unstained in every car you sat in. Ashtrays everywhere,and nearly always at least one lighter. The fuel crisis killed these cars off,as people stopped buying them. That was an era's end,when so many lovely old familiar models began to disappear.

[@davidshattock9522]

When I was a kidy dad's old boss had one of these you could say was it made an impression

[@cobaltbluearts]

Brilliant presentation of a lovely classic motor.

[@pripph1355]

Thankyou very much for this nice video. My first classic car was a 1956 Humber Hawk Mk VI. It was metallic green with the same interiour colour as in your test car. It was a very nice and much reliable car, it just drove on without any troubles what so ever. I had the car for almost 15 years, before I sold it and started driving Minis instead... Greetings from a British car enthusiast from Sweden!

[@costasp100]

OMG, so many fond memories. My father had one. What a lovely car it was. I learned to drive on this. Christmas Eve 1966, father bought another car and the Hawk was sitting in the garage, with a couple of friends "nicked it" and went for a 50-mile drive. I was 13 at the time. Father realized it of course for the tank was empty but said nothing as it was Christmas. A couple of days later gave me a "lesson". Soon after he sold it. When I grew up and became an engineer looked for it but was nowhere to be found.

[@steveambrose5580]

In the 60s my dad and some work colleagues bought this vehicle as a car share for the journey to and from work at the same factory. It had a glass divider separating the driver from the back seat passengers, originally used as limousine i guess.

[@roygardiner2229]

I really like the car's interior. The red leather seat covers are fab.

[@SuperRetroville]

What a great review of a very stylish car, slap bang in your favourite era. I can just imagine it in satin bronze with the mottled red interior and that super stylish dash. It must have looked as if it had landed from Mars on our British roads in the 50s. I feel it was going head to head with the Rover P4 in terms of features, though the Rover P4 was more conservatively styled. Thanks for finding this lovely example for us to see.

[@rogerpritchard]

Unusual car, lovely condition, credit to the owner! Great video.

[@rcaive0875]

The stationary steering wheel hub...love that!

[@49commander]

I think it's neat how they combined the key switch and lights into one pod too! Never seen that in any USA car!

[@caw25sha]

I love the dashboard, it looks a lot more modern than the exterior styling. It wouldn't look out of place in a spaceship in a 1950s era sci fi film. Is that a clock above the mirror? (Edit: yes it is. I hadn't got that far!)

[@johndrake2729]

The way the car shook when you started it -- epic.

[@anthonypirozzi837]

When I was younger I had a 1960 Humber super snipe.what a car it was....

[@andy40456]

Great video, my Brother had one back in the 60s . As far as I remember the panel light switch was so you could leave your parking lights (side lights) on and leave the interior in darkness when parked.

[@hyena131]

@andy40456 Sounds like the type of car Myra and Ian would enjoy on the moors...

[@shanenterprises2827]

Thanks for the video 👍

[@edwardkantowicz4707]

Another Humber! I'm absolutely chuffed! The Hawk is gorgeous. Can we hope for a Bristol sometime in the best of all possible futures? Any old Bristol owners, please contact Steph!

Re the separate panel light switch: in those days if you were out at night and had to park your car at the side of the road or street you had to have your side lights on. This could quickly run your battery down and you didn’t want to put extra stress on it by leaving the panel lights on too.

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Another excellent review Steph, a rather good looking car with that lovely red interior.

[@pmacc3557]

Can only imagine the lovely smell as it passes by

[@suchindranathaiyer494]

Dad's elder brother used to have this car in the 1950s before he moved to a Volks Wagen Beetle in the 1960s: (gas prices) He was an Air Commodore at that time, but in those days civilian and uniformed officers DID NOT use government vehicles for personal running around

[@petemoring67]

Seeing my old Step-Dad cruising down the road in his Humber in the 50's was a sight in itself ... He was only about 5ft 6ins tall ... So unless you looked hard you'd be forgiven for thinking the car was rolling down the road without a driver 😂😂 ... It was Sooo comfortable and really quiet ... Like being in an electric car ... Good to see this review ... Those were the days 😀

[@urismus1121]

Beautiful example. Nice video. These cars saw service with some police forces. The bigger super snipe version also saw use with both uk and New Zealand police.

[@peterchapman8357]

love the shape of the body looks really comfortable seating, its obviously had an excellent restoration sounded nice and smooth driving

[@rupertbear6883]

used to go to school in one occasionally loved it... better than our minx

[@michaellansley4304]

Nice car l have a MK Vl it is on the road but don't use it very often

[@xsduprwd3937]

A cool feature that i noticed as you were driving was the fixed position of the centre steering wheel hub.. Iv only ever seen that on a citroen!

[@stephenholland5930]

The 1958 Edsel had the Teletouch automatic transmission buttons in the static steering boss.

[@bjm676]

Well spotted. A fascinating little detail that I would have missed otherwise.

[@davidjames2910]

That is a NICE car.

[@michaelreeves4431]

In the summer of 1959 eight of us used to go to Hastings every Sunday in one of those.

[@rogerhewettmusic]

Love your show, and really enjoy your style! You've created something special. As a child, my father owned a Standard Vanguard Beetleback. Have you ever come across one?

[@stevenward6453]

What a beautiful motor vehicle pure class brilliant Steph

[@brettdando]

Brett Dando Great videos I like everything what you do you're very interesting person and high hello Stephanie I like everything I like your KZbin channel it's very 11 Gloucester and it's very good I like stuff Buckley watching you talk about your car's make me laugh cos it's my favourite I love watching your KZbin channel always been great interest to watching your videos it's always great to know what you're getting I'd like things to watch like I like classic films and you got a great video❤, I like the vintage dress 👗 what's your favourite colour your own

[@cornishhh]

Also popular with the armed forces as staff cars, bank managers, and finally with banger racers.

[@martinclapton2724]

The dash design reminds of a Wurlitzer juke box. Very art deco. With some American influence perhaps.

[@1aikane]

Classy car

[@pmacc3557]

Oh lovely

[@lennyh500]

An optional stereo? Mono AM radio, methinks!🥴

[@glennmckenzie1096]

Handsome car. In the early 80s I had it's more sporting sibling - a 1955 Sunbeam (Talbot) Supreme III. Lots in common but much more swoopy in charcoal over silver. If you can find one I reckon you'd love it Steph.

[@Roger.Coleman1949]

Steph has already driven one Glenn , earlier this year.Always loved the post-war Sunbeam -Talbots, the first car I drove solo on passing my test , a now rare 90 Mk1 owned by my parents .Loved it and it stood up to all the punsishment a newly qualified 17 year old could give it - would love another !.

[@glennmckenzie1096]

@@Roger.Coleman1949 Yes indeed ... senior moment!

[@mikemorley3161]

Steph, l think it is the wheelbase which is 108" not the overall length. Love your vlog .

[@brettnetherton398]

I think there's an old video somewhere here on KZbin of one of these being driven (succesfully) from Cairo to Cape Town in the 1950s. That's the kind of thing a Land Rover would have been more appropriate for - sand roads, mud, dust.

[@stevetabley3984]

That was a Super Snipe the 4 litre

[@haydnd2764]

Back in the late 60s my Great Uncle would drive his beloved Humber from Harrow to Sussex, and on arrival would open the vast empty boot and present my Mum with a box of chocolates ! Memories 😊

[@darrensmith6999]

Beautiful British Classic (:

[@specialized29er86]

My 54 mark VI has the rare special order 5 speed transmission that were in the process of rat rodding.

[@brianjones3983]

Re, panel lights. At night in the dark they did reflect onto the windscreen.

[@GilTricker-th9tu]

Lovely review of a great car. I had a 1961 Humber Hawk which had wrap around front and rear windscreen/window. I swapped my mk3 cortina for it in 1979ish. It gave me a few years of pleasure driving to Rock n Roll events (dressed in my Teddy Boy clothes etc.). I wish I still had it! Thanks.

[@polygamous1]

Humber Scepter was a brillianr car too

[@user-pi5tu3wx2l]

There is a slightly less pristine example outside the Blue Heeler Hotel in Kynuna Queensland.

[@DeanSinger-ky7md]

the interior with the seats give it a good picture, overall the car is in great condition - might have been the 'pipe smoker's' car!

[@caw25sha]

Yes, the sort of "chap" who drove one of these would definitely smoke a pipe.

[@James-ld2jc]

Lovely video. Thank you for showing such a rare and impressive car

[@paulchenery8013]

A great review and I love the car. I just wondered if it had a 4 or 6 cylinder engine.

[@coopdivi]

The Humber Hawk (the model in the review) had 4 cylinders, with one of the largest 4-cylinder engines at the time of 2.2 litres. The sister model, the Super Snipe, was practically identical apart from some cosmetic changes but had a 4.1 litre, 6 cylinder engine. The Super Snipe was always regarded as somewhat "upmarket" compared to the Hawk.

[@markanderton4901]

There are two Roots Group cars that I would love to see you review, the Snipe and the Super Snipe.

[@idriveaclassic]

There’s a super Snipe review in 2020 x

[@markanderton4901]

@@idriveaclassic thanks, for some reason i don't seem tp be able to get that far back

[@idriveaclassic]

@markanderton4901 you can just search idriveaclassic super snipe in KZbin 😊

[@thevauxhallman7157]

Thanks Steph for showing us this beautiful car. Regarding floor change and bench seats, my father had a Morris Oxford series 3 and it had floor change and bench seat, it had a cut out to allow gears reverse, second and fourth and he loved the car.

[@peterowen4456]

I'm 75 now and I remember my uncle had a series of Humbers including a Hawk and, later, a Super Snipe. They used to "waft" you along and, yes, the quietness was different class. Really enjoyable video as always.

[@nigelmulvee994]

Thank you for a great video on a very classic car, it was always one of my late farther much loved cars, He always spoke about them,

[@patrickh7368]

Lovely motor…. My 1st car was column change… a lot more natural than floor shift…. Rare to have 4 on column, used to be 4 on the floor or 3 on a tree.. 🤣

[@GMT439]

Top speed is less important than being able to get up speed with the rest of the modern traffic. I bet the 0-60 time is over 20 seconds.

[@denisdonoghue1580]

They were also popular with undertakers and in white weddings,

[@craigcottingham35]

In the 50s these were used as police cars in NZ.

[@alangordon3283]

Lovely looking machine.

[@michaeloreilly657]

Comparing dimensions. Humber: L 4585 W 1778 VW ID4: L 4584 W 1852

[@Extreme_Rice]

Now I’m wondering if you can get a beehive (an actual one, not the hairstyle) in the Humber. We did once fit one into an ID4.

[@carlnapp4412]

I hope you don't mind, but couldn't you find a nicer place to present these beauties?

[@rustynut9uk897]

Wow nice

[@mentonish]

This was the model used by my parents when going on holiday, I remember as a very small boy

[@Saskue78]

🙂