1937 Humber Snipe Limousine

Lot details
Registration No: EKJ 829
Chassis No: 3150290
Mot Expiry: March 2004

After Humber had bought up their Coventry rivals Hillman in 1928, four years later they were taken over by the Rootes Group. With the Hillman Minx catering for budget buyers, the new owners moved their newly acquired brand up market. The smallest Humber became the 1933-1937 made 1669cc Twelve, whilst the larger Snipe, Super Snipe and Pullman dominated the range. The Snipe, which first appeared in 1930, combined chassis and body styles of the 16/50 with a 6-cylinder engine. A long wheelbase Snipe with limousine body coachbuilt by Rootes owned Thrupp and Maberly was called the Pullman.
From 1933, Humber abandoned inlet-over-exhaust valves in favour of sidvalves for their engines. From 1934, gearboxes had synchromesh, cars had built-in jacks and radiators sloped. And from 1936, Snipe coachwork became more curvaceous and Barney Roos designed transverse independent front suspension was employed.
With limo coachwork, complete with landau arms, the 1937-built Snope offered here is exceedingly rare with only three others to this design being known to the Humber Club. Body, black and red paintwork, 6-cylinder engine and 4-speed manual gearbox are all said to be in good condition. The spoked wheels are claimed to be original, whilst the registration could be easily transferred if required. The MOT test certificate was renewed in March and there is nearly a year's foc tax disc on the screen. As the vendor says, this is a very nice old motor car.