Humber Make it Green or leave it?

[alamotex]

Definitely, leave it as it is. As a child in wartime UK, I recall Humber staff cars. I had an uncle who was in the car trade and attended the post war auctions of surplus military vehicles at Great Missenden. He would bid on Humbers and bring them back to his commercial garage for a spruce up and a paint job. I imagine that it was a pretty profitable business when private cars for sale were in such short supply. He told the story of his being "had " by a slick salesman who demonstrated a product that could be sprayed onto the interior roof fabric, to renew it's nap. He bought the kit, but could never get it to work as demonstrated !!

Cheers Brian

[Mike Cecil]

Lang,

Looks far too nice to make it into something it never was. Maybe sell it to a Humber collector and invest the $$ in a genuine one from O/S.....?

Mike C

[gordon]

I think if you wanted a green one there would be enough tired and rusty ones around to play with.

You could always go at it from an angle and mark it out as a Ministry / Official car of some sort without any real alterations

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Lang,
That is a nice example of a Super Snipe. I restored an ex-RAF 1945 Snipe staff car some years ago, photos here. The staff car has some differences such as wider wings to accommodate the 900-13 tyres, and the departure angle of the body is greater. It would be a shame to mess with your car, you could always "claim" it was an Impressed vehicle. This was done in the early part of the War when vehicles were short and a lot of staff cars were obtained this way.

[Lang]

Looks like it stays as-is.

Interesting once you look at the differences between the wartime body and the MK1. Stand-out things are the bulged boot/trunk on the later car and the cloth roof versus solid with sun-roof as well as single front seat for military and individual for the MK1. I am sure there are other differences.

Lang

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Lang

Great post of HUMBER with the history it should stay original. Just get a Pretty ATS Driver to sit up front and drive. Maybe a couple flags up on the front wings, my wife says to learn to do the Royal Wave, maybe a stuffed gorgi.

But then again may be having a pretty ATS driver is the way to go with many vehicles.

Cheers

[Lang]

Phil,
You are right about saving it. We do not need a driver as it already has, admittedly not pretty, an ATS driver (Arthritic, Timid, Senile).

Lang

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Lang

Looks like it stays as-is.

Interesting once you look at the differences between the wartime body and the MK1. Stand-out things are the bulged boot/trunk on the later car and the cloth roof versus solid with sun-roof as well as single front seat for military and individual for the MK1. I am sure there are other differences.

Lang

Hi Lang,
I think the early Snipe staff cars had individual front seats. The boot was not all that large once the spare 900-13 was in place. For a large car, I found it had less room for the driver than a Mini ! The steering wheel is adjustable, on splines and with it pushed right in and the seat right back I still found it cramped. Other that it rides well with plenty of power, considering the same engine powered the 8 ton Humber armoured car.

regards, Richard

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Lang

Looks like it stays as-is.

Lang,

I missed this thread when it first ran. Happy to hear you will leave it as-is. Normally I think an owner is entitled to do with his vehicle like he wishes, but in this case I think it would have made you eligible for getting tarred and feathered and run out of MLU

Hanno