V8 Humber whereabouts??

[RootesRooter]

At SUNI II in 1994, a fellow named Don Bruce brought a very rare car that he'd just bought: a factory prototype, Chrylser V8-powered 1966 Humber SuperSnipe. It was sort of a medium, slightly metallic blue color. Unrestored, but relatively straight.

The last I heard, the owner then tried to drive it home to California despite overheating problems. The engine blew and he had it towed the rest of the way.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Many of you might remember the treasure trove of low-mileage Rootes vehicles that came to light in the California aircraft hanger of a recently deceased movie producer (e.g. Death Race 2000, etc) - whose name was given as Donald Bruce. Could be a coincidence, but probably not.

According to his estate's sale notice, among his Rootes cars were three Humbers that had once been in good condition, but had suffered from sitting outside for a decade at least. One is said to be an Arrow Range body (Sceptre?), but the only photos I've seen were taken in the rain and late dusk, so the other two cars couldn't be made out at all.

The Humbers were said to be there for the taking by anyone interested, but I don't know it anyone's seriously looked at them.

If the prototype is there, it would be a shame to see it go to the crusher simply because no one knew its history.

Does anyone have access to any other photos of the Humbers? If anyone follows up, I'd appreciate hearing the results.

Dick Sanders
Kent, WA

 

[Series3Scott]

You would think one of the motor museums in the UK would be interested in that prototype.

 

[sunbeammadd]

This subject came up on the Yahoogroups Hillman list. Some people went to have a look at the Humbers but none of them were V8s.

 

[64beam]

Hi Kent,

It would definately be a shame to hear that they were crushed, especially if it was one of the prototypes. There are a few pictures in the book, 'Tiger - The making of a sports car' by Mike Taylor if you have a copy.
The book says some twelve cars were produced and the engine was a 4.4 Litre 273 ci from a Barracuda producing 196bhp. Was'nt as quick as the Mk II Tiger, but had a better top end.

Regards, Robin.

 

[lemansvk]

Dick and others,

As Russ has indicated, the V8 prototype was definitely not one of the cars in that sale. This was established by enquiries not only to the people who looked at the cars (including Linden Malki, a well known owner of Rootes cars and seller of Brit car spares in California), but also by contact with the guy who was helping Don's brother ("Thunder") to dispose of the estate.

When the estate came up someone from the Hillman cars group remembered that they had seen Don Bruce driving one of the V8 prototypes. At my request, the question of whether any of the Humbers was a V8 was put to Don's brother who asked Don's widow. Apparently Don had owned the V8 but had sold it some time ago and it has gone back to the UK.

I have pics of the cars somewhere and can drag them out if needed but: The Humber Sceptre was in fact a Mk II (Audax, not Arrow based) and the Super Snipes were all early series, not the V/VA Series with the flat rear screen (which the prototypes were).

So, none of the V8s were involved.

Cheers, Vic

 

[Bratfink]

The museum most likely to have any info on this is the Coventry Transport Museum. Alot of the factory special info was donated to the museum by Chrysler when they bugged out of the UK and Peugeot wasn't interested in saving it.

They have a Chrysler Centura there which they didn't know what it was until I told them. Must have been brought over from Aus to gauge it's suitability for sale in UK after the Valiant range wasn't so successful. It's dated as a 76 so it matches up really.

Anyway I digress. Check there maybe.