1. Hawk V/VI saloon.
Leo kindly sent over this photograph, showing a Humber Hawk in 1957. It is probably a Hawk V, or possibly a VI I believe. Leo adds: "This Humber belonged to Mr van de Kerk, the father of a friend of mine in 1957. I remember it had an electric overdrive??? and leather upholstery. It was a very rare and rather expensive car in Holland in those days".
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This incarnation of the four cylinder Humber Hawk made its debut in 1948, as the Hawk III, ushering in a rakish new bodyshell fitted to a separate chassis. It remained in production until 1950, when the design underwent a number of modifications (largely beneath the skin, including a larger engine), and became the Series IV Hawk, still with separate sidelights beneath the main headlights. In 1952 the Hawk V was introduced, featuring revised frontal grille treatment as seen on the car in Leo's photograph. The design would undergo another makeover in 1954, with subtle changes being made to the bodyshell, the car now being designated as the Hawk VI, with a VIA rounding out the evolution of this design in 1957. In this year an entirely new design would take over the reins, adopting an overall silhouette that can be seen with this photo of a later Humber Super Snipe.
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2. Peter's Humber Hawk VI.
Update. Since adding this page to the site, Peter dropped me a line, suggesting that the Hawk shown above is in fact a Mark VI: "I believe the Dutch car is a Mark VI. The Mark VI differs from the Mark V in having vertical tail lamp assemblies and small rounded tail fins which are absent in the earlier car. My father had a Mark VI for a while. Unfortunately my big sister wrote it off shortly after passing her driving test. The Hawk replaced an Austin A70 Hereford, and a Morris 1100 replaced the Hawk."
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Below is a photo showing the Hawk belonging to Peter's father, seen in Mull, July 1965, towing a boat.
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Added: Peter has turned up another photo of his family's trusty Hawk, again shown towing their small boat. Thanks Peter.
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3. A Humber at No.10 Downing Street, London.
I've been hanging onto this next photo for the right moment to add it onto the Humber Hawk page. Today, being the first day of a newly-installed Government in No.10 Downing Street, would seem to be the appropriate day. The car looks to be a Humber Hawk MkIII or MkIV of the early 1950's. A bobby is stood near to the door of No.10, keeping a close eye on the Humber and no doubt admiring the car's understated yet handsome lines. The Humber was registered OLL 211, a London series introduced in December 1953.
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4. A Humber plus other classics outside The Keswick Hotel (1869).
Any one of several pages in the gallery could have featured this photo, but the Hawk page seemed like a good one to pick. Parked centrestage is a mid-1950s Humber Hawk, registration ECN 969 (1954-on, Gateshead registered). To the Humber's left is a Bentley R-Type reg. PGY 340 (August 1954-on, London), with a Minx to its left. To the other side of the Keswick Hotel's entrance is parked a Jaguar Mk1 in white, along with an unidentified coach. Date of the photo is 1958.
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While The Keswick Hotel is still going strong, I doubt any of the cars shown made it into the 21st Century.
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5. In the drive.
The weather was definitely on the parky side when this next Hawk was photographed, parked in a driveway somewhere. Warm winter coats were the order of the day. The car is fitted with a roof rack, and the part-open bootlid suggests that it was well laden at the time. Perhaps the family was in the process of moving to a new home, or were visiting relatives one Christmas time, the boot full to the brim with weighty gifts!? The distinct lack of snow might count against this theory though.
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Details of a competition to win a Hawk in 1953, held at an RAF base in Singapore, can be found on this page of the motoring collectables section. Photos of the later style of Hawk, including a car registered in 1961, may now be found on this page.
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6. The End.
All good things must come to an end, and this old receipt - kindly emailed over by Bruce Murray - is all that remains of a 1955 Humber Hawk he owned, for which he still has fond memories. He adds: "On the last day of 1965, my family and I emigrated to Canada. The day before, I drove my dear old 1955 Humber Hawk down to a Derby scrapyard on its final sad journey. I even had to help pay for the cutting gas, as the attached receipt shows. I bought it in about 1962 for only 35 pounds, so it did not really owe me much."
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The deed was done at O.K. Napper & Sons, of Olympia Showrooms, Alfreton Road in Derby.
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A sad day indeed; that Bruce still has this scrap of paper some 50+ years after the event happened, clearly reveals his fondness for the old Humber. Thanks for sending this over. It seems appropriate to wind-up this page of Hawk photographs, with the final curtain-call for one particular car, registration GCH 187.
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Return to Old Vehicle Photos Page 6.
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