Humber Hawk History

Launched after the war in 1945, the Hawk was the four-cylinder volume Humber, a solid, comfortable large saloon pitched at businessmen and officialdom. Early Mark I and II cars used a side-valve engine; the line was repeatedly redeveloped through the 1940s and 1950s, gaining a bigger engine, an overhead-valve cylinder head and, from 1955, an estate version.

A completely new Hawk arrived in May 1957 with a modern, American-influenced body and unitary (chassis-less) construction, sold as the Series I through Series IVA. It shared its shell with the six-cylinder Super Snipe and carried the Humber traditions of a beautifully trimmed interior and unhurried refinement. Production of the Hawk, Super Snipe and Imperial all ceased in 1967 after Chrysler took control of Rootes.