Lot details
Registration No: SV 5766
Chassis No: C214
Mot Expiry: None

Widely acknowledged as Britain's first popular light car, the Humberette was introduced in 1903. Assembled at both Humber's Coventry and Beeston works, its lightweight tubular steel chassis frame was an apt reminder that the marque's roots lay in the bicycle industry. Equipped with all round leaf sprung suspension and contracting band rear wheel brakes, it was powered by a water-cooled, 613cc single-cylinder engine that developed some 5hp @ 1,500rpm. Admirably advanced, it used shaft drive where many of its competitors persisted with chains and featured a two-speed manual gearbox. Reputedly capable of 25mph, the presence of "a hand wheel on the Humber Olympia differential system" greatly assisted with high speed manoeuvres.
Part of the collection since the mid 1990s, this particular example is finished in cream over brown. Known to have belonged to a William Hackwell of Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire in 1960, it was still in the same county some twenty-seven years later when acquired by Adrian Whitelegge of Finstock, Oxford. Purchased by the previous owner in 1995, it has had just three registered keepers since 1982. Used to participate in (and complete) the famous London-Brighton run on several occasions, its Veteran Car Club of Great Britain 'Certificate of Date' (No.1544) was issued in December 1981. Riding on wire wheels, its scuttle-mounted Schmitt acetylene lamps are complemented by a Lucas No.43 King of the Road rear lamp.