page_title: Humber Limited
section_title: 1945–1967
hierarchical_section_title: Humber Limited / History / 1945–1967
caption_attribution_description: English: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wave to the crowds from a Humber car during their visit to Brisbane in 1954 The roof of the car opened at the back above the royal passengers, while the driver is covered. The Royal Standard, the flag which flies from The Queen's car during official tours, can be seen flying from the car's roof.
context_page_description: Humber Limited was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles and motor vehicles incorporated and listed on the stock exchange in 1887. It took the name Humber & Co Limited because of the high reputation of the products of one of the constituent businesses that had belonged to Thomas Humber. A financial reconstruction in 1899 transferred its business to Humber Limited.
  From an interest in motor vehicles beginning in 1896, the motor division became much more important than the cycle division and the cycle trade marks were sold to Raleigh in 1932. The motorcycles were withdrawn from sale during the depression of the 1930s.
  Humber is now a dormant marque for automobiles as well as cycles. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers acquired 60 per cent of Humber's ordinary capital, sufficient for a controlling interest. The two Rootes brothers joined the Humber board in 1932 and began to make Humber the holding company for vehicle manufacturing members of what became their Rootes Group.
  By 1960 annual production was around 200,000 vehicles.
context_section_description: In the postwar era, Humber's mainstay products included the four-cylinder Hawk and six-cylinder Super Snipe. Being a choice of businessmen and officialdom alike, Humbers gained a reputation for well appointed interiors and solid quality. The Hawk and the Super Snipe went through various designs, though all had a "transatlantic" influence.
  Annual output, 200,000 vehicles
  In 1960 Rootes was the world's twelfth largest motor corporation by volume, its annual output nearly 200,000 cars, vans and trucks. They employed some 20,000 people. The group had six million square feet (557,000m²) of manufacturing space and owned nine assembly plants outside Britain. They were involved in car hire, hire purchase and driving schools and even made air conditioners. There were about one thousand dealers in the UK. The two Rootes brothers remained in control of their group from their adjoining suites of offices in Devonshire House, Piccadilly. The ground floor Rootes showroom on Piccadilly is now an Audi showroom.
  Imp and Chrysler
  The success of BMC's Mini made Rootes speed the development of their own small car. A new assembly plant was planned but government was obliging major employers to build new plants where there was surplus labour. Jaguar solved their expansion problem by buying Daimler and its Coventry plant with experienced workforce but Rootes selected a greenfield site by Pressed Steel body works near Glasgow airport in Scotland, at Linwood near Paisley.
  The new factory was officially opened in May 1963 and the new rear-engined Hillman Imp went on sale the next day but there were difficulties with industrial relations and, soon, the Imp's reliability. The Imp's heavy development expenses and slackening sales to USA brought about losses for the Rootes group in both 1962 and 1963.
  In February 1964 the owners of the minority holdings in Humber Limited (and Tilling-Stevens and Singer Motors) sold their holdings to Rootes Motors Limited taking in exchange shares in Rootes Motors. Humber and its two subsidiaries now became wholly owned subsidiaries of Rootes Motors Limited.
  A last major activity of, by then, Lord Rootes, was to open sale negotiations with Chrysler Corporation. He died in December 1964. Chrysler took control in 1967.
caption: Pullman Landaulette Brisbane 1954
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