Humber Snipe & Humber Super Snipe Staff Cars
Jan Hyrman

Thomas Humber started manufacturing bicycles in 1868. In 1890's, Humber was already making light-cycle cars (tricycles and quadricycles), by 1899 the 3 1/2 HP Phaeton was produced, the first Humber car. After management decided to concentrate on high-end products in 1901, the production was gradually downsized from the original four factories (Nottingham, Beeston, Wolverhampton and Coventry) to a single factory in Folly Lane, Coventry.

The confidence in the marque continued to grow up till the end of 1920's, when the effects of the recession forced Humber to join with Hillman, its next-door neighbour in Folly Lane. In 1927, the Rootes Group showed up, acquiring interest in Hillman and Humber marques. Since then, the history of Humber as a marque was intertwined with Rootes, its parent company, an extremely successful enterprise which was established by William Rootes in 1880's as a cycle shop and later as a car sales company and ended up as the owner of several formerly independent companies including Commer, Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam, Singer, Talbot or Karrier, less than fifty years later.

Its image profiled as a luxury model manufacturer, Humber became a part of a firmly established group aggressively rationalizing and modernizing its acquisitions. Machinery for the production lines was being upgraded, processes standardized, cars were being produced to last ? by 1939, the Rootes Group were one of the country's 'Big Six' car manufacturers.

At the time, the Humber Super Snipe was a flagship of the marque, together with the Snipe Imperial and the Pullman. The Super Snipe, introduced in October 1938, less than a year before war was declared in Germany, was a design combining the older Humber Snipe model with a 4.1 litre inline six-cylinder engine taken from the larger Humber Pullman design, its predecessor. The engine gave a remarkable performance, the car was being advertised at the same time as a luxury limousine and a good value for money - "the poor man's Rolls".
The power plant was a 4,086cc six-cylinder water-cooled engine with 2 valves per cylinder, giving about 85 b.h.p. Transmission was manual, 4 gears plus the reverse gear. Power was delivered to the rear axle.  The vehicle was also used by General Alois Liska, the commander of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade group. Reportedly, this vehicle survived the war and actually is preserved up to this day. I saw a very obscure photo of the vehicle, with a light blue paint peeling from the rusty body, but it was only a picture. Surely we all agree that it would be nice if it could be restored to its WWII condition.

Of all the commanders, probably the most notable user of the Humber Snipe staff car was Field Marshal Montgomery. He used it throughout the campaigns in North Africa and in Northwest Europe ? the car was dubbed 'Old Faithful', which is a nickname sometimes applied to all Humber automobiles for their reliability. The photos of this vehicle are quite famous, such as the one from 1st September 1944, on which Montgomery crosses the Seine in his Humber tourer by means of a Bailey pontoon bridge. This must have been a popular event as there are photos of the vehicle from multiple angles, also showing the long line of military transports behind, waiting for Montgomery and his suite to pass and finally let them through.

In December 1954, the British War Department presented the 'Old Faithful' to the Rootes Group in recognition of 'the good service rendered by Humber vehicles' during the war', however, it should be said that Field Marshal Montgomery substituted this vehicle for a more representative Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith in 1944 while in command of the 21st Army Group and later of the British Army of the Rhine (B.A.O.R.).

The Snipe design did wonders for the reputation of the Humber marque, however, the company did not exist long enough to enjoy the benefits ? problems in 1960's forced the Rootes Group into the hands of Chrysler, whose radical cost-cutting campaigns reduced the group down to nothing.
When the war came, Humber Snipe and Super Snipe was an obvious choice for staff cars. It was used along with the larger, Humber Heavy Utility 4 x 4 design (which was, however, a design specially made for the Army as four wheel drive was not usual in Britain prior to WWII). The proud Snipes or Super Snipes, made before the war to high production standards, started coming out as camouflaged saloon staff cars, 8 cwt trucks with cargo bodies behind a two-seat cab or open-top tourers. The 8 cwt design was completely dropped in 1941 when it was realized that such vehicles are an unnecessary addition to 15 cwt GS trucks and the light utility cars, such as Austin Light Utility cars. The chassis also became a basis for the Humber Light Reconnaissance Car Marks I and II.