Humber Snipe

Humber Snipe
Snipe saloon early 1932
Overview
Manufacturer	Humber after 1931 Rootes Group
Production	1930-1940 1945 - 1948
Body and chassis
Related	Humber Pullman
Chronology
Predecessor	Humber 20/55hp

The Humber Snipe was a four-door luxury saloon introduced by British-based Humber Limited for 1930 as a successor to the Humber 20/55 hp (which remained in the catalogue as 20/65) at the same time as the similar but slightly longer Humber Pullman.

The first Humber Snipe was launched in September 1929 under the banner headline "Such Cars As Even Humber Never Built Before". It showed the influence of William Rootes' marketing skills following the appointment of Rootes Limited as Humber's "World Exporters" and also a significant similarity to his Hillmans. Almost three years later Humber Limited joined what became known as the Rootes Group as part of a necessary restructure of Humber's capital and ownership in July 1932.

Snipes and, later, Super Snipes became Rootes Group's owner-driver big car offerings until the brand disappeared under Chrysler ownership.

The Snipe, or from late 1932, Snipe 80 featured a 3498-cc six-cylinder engine of 80 mm bore and 116 mm stroke with the overhead-inlet, side-exhaust valve gear that had been a feature of the company’s six-cylinder engines since the mid-1920s. A single Stromberg carburettor was fitted. The four speed transmission had a right hand change lever (right hand drive cars) until 1931 when it moved to the centre of the car facilitating the production of left hand drive examples. The shutters on the radiator grille were opened and closed thermostatically to control the flow of cooling air. For 1933 the engine was redesigned to have overhead valves producing an extra 5 bhp. Bendix mechanical brakes were fitted.

The conservatively boxy 4 or 6 light saloon body with spare wheels mounted on the front wings incorporated rear-hinged doors for back passengers. A fabric saloon (until 1930), sports saloon, tourer and drophead coupé were also listed and bare chassis were also supplied to outside coachbuilders. In 1930 on the home market the chassis sold for £410, the tourer £495, coupé £565 and saloon £535. With a 120-inch wheelbase and a total length of 173 inches, the car was, by the standards of the British market, larger and more spacious than the average family car such as the more mainstream Hillman Minx of that time, the Hillman business having been acquired by Humber in 1928. With the success of the Snipe, Humber was seen to be succeeding, "where many had failed, in marketing large cars at competitive prices".

There were several minor body updates for 1933 including windscreen wipers mounted below rather than above the screen, recessed direction indicators and two tone paint on the 4-light sports saloon. 1205 of the 1933 models were made.