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Distinctive new styling, Beautiful black leather cloth roof covering, gold coach line on a fantastic looking body, fresh air ventilation and heating, overdrive as standard, a steering wheel that adjusts fore and aft, temperature textured front seats that also recline, performance right up with the 2 litre lads and in some cases better.
A 1.7litre twin carbed 5 bearing crankshaft engine that gives 30 miles to the gallon, 0-50 in under 9 secs, four blazing headlights so you can see where you are going, twin reversing lights, individual rear seats, seat belts to match the trim, a cigar lighter at the front and one at the rear, real walnut finish all over the place, automatic transmission for only 43.00pounds extra, a dipping interior mirror, full instrumentation including a rev counter and oil pressure gauge, illuminated lockable glove box with vanity mirror, coat hooks, hand rails, lockable petrol cap, low fuel warning light, 2 speed wipers with electric screen washers, safety ledge wheel plus 17 cu ft of luggage space, yours for only 1,138.00 pounds, oh the seat belts and white wall tyres are extra.
Well I expect you are wondering how so much cost so little, in 1967 the Humber Sceptre offered luxury at a down to earth price, despite all that from 1963 when the first Sceptre appeared until it was dropped in 1976 Rootes only managed to sell 73,000 cars, no doubt badge engineering accounted for some of the problem, a Singer Vogue with a not quite the same standard of trim was only 983.00 pounds and the basic Hillman 862.00 pounds.
The one thing that puzzles me is the use of 0-50 times rather than the normal 0-60, the Sceptre was never going to appeal to fast drivers.
As you can see I started out writing about the Sceptre, a car that I had admired but the more I delved into the history the more the Hillman and Singer name appeared, with an occasional reference to the Sunbeam, at one point the Sceptre was meant to be a Sunbeam but late in the production run the name was changed. Apparently, a road test was conducted on the new proposed Sunbeam and according to the story the wrong back axle was used which gave a much lower MPG, when told Lord Rootes is believed to have said “in that case it had better be a Humber” There was some strange going’s on at Rootes because for one season the Singer Vogue was sold as a Sunbeam in the UK.
There is a word of warning to anyone who fancies a Sceptre, one of the Humber sites states that spares are difficult to obtain, especially bright work, interior switches, these it is said are non existent, body panels again in very short supply, however there appears quite a few non restorable cars around for spares, hardly an ideal situation, so take care,
As with all classics it is worth contacting the make club, which is the Post Vintage Humber club, it covers all cars in the Humber range.
The original body shell was from the Hillman and the Singer, the engine was the basic
1592cc engine used in all three, a MkII version appeared in 1965, the technicalities were that both Mk’s had Independent Coil spring, Live rear axle with semi elliptic leaf springs.
The MkI had petrol consumption in the region of 23mpg, though I have seen touring consumption of about 30, top speed achieved near enough 90mph with acceleration 0-60 in 17.1 secs.
The original 1592cc engine fitted to the Mark I dated back to 1953, it was a 1390cc unit,
Originally the cylinder head was cast iron but later cars had an aluminium head. There are two zenith carbs and a compression ratio of 9 to 1.
Suspension at the front was independent with coil springs and an anti roll bar, the brakes were unassisted Lockheed drums and steering was a recirculation ball system.
Naturally the interior trim was a cut above the other Rootes models, based on the Hillman super Minx the Sceptre had the very distinctive wraparound rear window, it also sported a different grill and a sloping rear roof line. Inside the facia extends downward to incorporate a gear lever, and a leather gaiter.
There is a good assortment of dials the fuel gauge was picked out for giving dodgy readings, the speedo and rev counter are in shrouded binnacles to prevent reflections, oh yes the top half of the horn ring can obstruct the view of the speedo
After only one year a Series 2 appeared, gone were the greasing points, in came front discs and a revised rear axle ratio. The oil change went from 1500 miles to 3000, the gearbox and back axle needed changing at 6000 intervals
The car is said to have been very little affected by side winds, however cornering was not one of its forte’s, performance considered to be lively provided you use the gearbox and do not hold back on the revs.
1965 saw the introduction of he Mk II, though retaining the same body shell the old 1592cc unit was dropped for the more modern 1725cc, nothing happened until 1967 when the new MkIII was introduced.
As an aside, Rootes actually built a number of Sceptres with a a V8 motor of 289cu by Ford, which were fitted to the Sunbeam Tiger, the performance figures are not available nor are any modifications to the chassis etc, though out of six, one is known to have survived, pity about the others unless someone knows more on the subject.
Of course the 1967 version was based on the Rootes arrow design, I personally think the Sceptre lost a lot of it’s appeal. Hardly mentioned is the fact that you could buy an Estate
But only from 1974, so it had a production run of two years.
For the book, the last Humber rolled off the production line at the Lynwood factory in 1977, the end of an illustrious marques.
Ted Lay tedlay@gmail.com
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