The Car is Born

In 1936 Rootes introduced a new more rounded body design for the Hillman range although these still had some of the coach built wooden framing found in earlier models.

These vehicles were produced at the Hillman Ltd factory in Coventry and included the Minx with a 1185 cc 9.8 hp side valve 4 cylinder engine and three luxury models - the Sixteen" (also known as the “16”) with a 2576 cc 16.65 h.p. side-valve straight six engine, the "Hawk" and the "80" Limousine both of which had a 3181cc 20.9 h.p. side-valve straight six engine.

The “80” was a 7 seater with two fold down seats and, like its earlier Hillman and Humber predecessors, had a longer wheelbase (10ft 6ins) than that of the "16" and "Hawk" models. Some "80"s had a partition between the driver and passengers.

The production of these three luxury models continued into 1937 but only the "80" was produced in 1938. The chassis design of these models was covered by patents taken out by Humber Hillman Ltd. A few of these models were custom built as sports tourers and cabriolets by Thrupp & Maberly and the coachbuilding firm of Wingham-Martin Walter.

There were a number of these models (including some Hillman Minx’s) that were modified by Hillman, and later by Humber, for use as staff cars by the War Department during WWII. Humber’s output was turned over to producing military vehicles and armoured cars at this time. In 1939 Humber stopped production of its “entirely” coach built models and took over the production of the Hillman “16”, “Hawk” and “80” models, improving their specification and rebadging them as the Humber “16”, Snipe and Super Snipe, the last of which had its 3181cc engine replaced by a 4086cc one.

 Two open top 1940’s Humber Super Snipes (“Old Faithful” and the “Victory Car”) were based on the body of the 1936 – 1938 Hillmans but were modified with armoured reinforcement, heavy duty springs and a redesigned boot. These vehicles were used by Field Marshal Montgomery and Churchill in the North Africa campaign against Rommel and during victory parades after the war.

After 1944 the Humber “16”, which in 1938 had replaced the Hillman “16”, was rebadged as the Humber “Hawk” ( with a 4 cylinder 2 litre engine ) alongside the Snipe ( 6 cylinder 3 litre ) and Super Snipe ( 6 cylinder 4 litre ), initially using up the stock of prewar and wartime engines.

The body style (with a few modifications) and engine types of these three Humber models lasted until 1948 after which they were rebodied - although the Humber Super Snipe, Pullman and Imperial models still carried elements of the older prewar Hillman body style into the mid 1950’s. It is interesting to note that the more mass market 1936 - 1947 Hilman Minx ( with a  4 cylinder 1185cc engine ) had a similar style, but smaller body, as the Hillman “16”, Hawk and “80” models and the “Minx” also used some of the same components as those larger models. Rootes continued producing different series and varying styles of the Minx up to about 1970.