Car of the Month, October/November 2004
Richard Gunn has a thing about British iron, and although he is first and foremost an ardent admirer of the products of British Leyland, he also has a thing for Rootes...
1963 Humber Sceptre Series I
If this rather handsome-looking Humber seems vaguely familiar, that’s because it pops up in Classic Car Weekly newspaper every week and Practical Classics magazine every month…rather unfortunately on the back of a breakdown truck!
Belonging to Richard Gunn - the features editor on Classic Car Weekly - this 1963 Sceptre is a ’figurehead’ (if such a term is appropriate) for the two publications’ classic car breakdown schemes, hence its recurring piggyback rides on the back of a flatbed truck. The regular adverts haven’t been its only brushes with celebrity though. It’s made numerous other magazine appearances - many of them in CCW of course - and also turns up in the opening titles of BBC TV’s Look East regional news programme every weekday night. Although it’s a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment, as it rapidly disappears behind a giant ice cream being passed between the couple sitting in the foreground of the shot.
Fleet
to die for: Sceptre shares drive space with two masterpieces of design: the
Allegro and Princess.
The Sceptre was a lucky find for Richard. Formerly an Anglia owner, he‘d been after a Sceptre for ages, after realising that they were around the same price to buy as an Anglia, but you got a lot more for your money.
“I was doing some test drives at a dealer back in summer 2001 when I noticed a familiar-looking shape under a sheet in the corner of the workshop,” says Richard. “Sure enough, it turned out to be exactly the type of Sceptre I was looking for. The two-tone green paintwork was a wonderfully traditional look, it was a Series 1, which meant it had the proper Humber grille instead of the cheaper Hillman Super Minx-type effort that Rootes stuck on when it realised how much money the Sceptre was costing to make, and the interior, with its fantastically evocative dashboard, was lovely. Best of all though, it had a full Webasto sunroof. I’d never seen one on a Sceptre before, and I’ve since found out that it was an extremely rare fitment on the Sceptre. Although that’s possibly because at anything above 60mph, the booming wind noise really can practically make your ears bleed…”
The car was still being worked on at the time Richard saw it, but a deal was struck and a few months later, he was able to part-exchange his Anglia for the Sceptre. “That raised a few eyebrows at the time, not least because I was then the magazine editor of the Ford Anglia 105E Owners Club!” he says.
Has it been love ever since? Well, almost. Although Richard’s stable has fluctuated quite considerably since the Sceptre arrived, somehow its place as flagship of his fleet has always been secure. “That’s probably because often it’s the only one of my cars that works properly,” says Richard. “When you’ve also got a deep fascination for more idiosyncratic vehicles like Allegros, Princesses and hydraulic Citroens, there are times when your choice of fully-functioning vehicles is somewhat limited.” The Sceptre soon earned a reputation for being an old faithful, ever ready to start even when all those around it were churning their starter motors in hopelessness. That was at least until New Year’s Day 2003 when the Sceptre ran out of petrol and managed to suck most of the rusty particles at the bottom of its tank into its fuel system. It took much of the rest of the year for the grot to work its way through, meaning it would grind to a halt and fail to start again with annoying regularity. And the Sceptre’s photoshoot for the magazine breakdown adverts wasn’t completely faked either. En route to the location, the remould tyre on the offside rear collapsed and so the Humber really did have to go back home on the back of a recovery truck. Still, at least its timing was impeccable, waiting until it was actually being followed by a breakdown vehicle before throwing a tantrum.
Sceptre
and the car it replaced. The 105E Anglia is a much-loved car in the Gunn household
and no way will he have a word said against it...
But the car has given its own help to other classics, including ones far more exotic than itself. At an opening ceremony due to be attended by Sir Stirling Moss a few years back, the Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 due to collect the legendary racer drained its battery when its cooling fans stuck on. In a sight to gladden the heart of all those who prefer Coventry to Maranello, it had to be jump-started from the lowlier British sports saloon. For its troubles, the Sceptre got Sir Stirling’s signature in its handbook, but the satisfaction of being more reliable than a £35,000 Ferrari was just as rewarding.
It’s also proved extremely popular as a wedding car for several of Richard’s friends. “Because they’re aren’t many Sceptres left now, it turns far more heads than something like a Jaguar or a Rolls-Royce,” says Richard. “And I’m bloody cheap compared to a Roller and chauffeur as well!”
On a summer’s day, with the roof back, a great old song playing on the original Radiomobile transistor set and the assorted gauges flickering back and forth on the dashboard - which has to be one of the sexiest British designs this side of an Aston Martin DB-series - there’s little to compare to a Humber Sceptre, believes Richard. It may not be the fastest Sixties’ sports saloons around, or one of the most luxurious, but when it comes to good value character and style, there’s little to beat this particular Rootesmobile.
Now
here's an interior with a sense of occasion... it certainly isn't wanting for
gauges.
Model history
Launched in 1963 - which makes Richard’s car one of the first - the Humber Sceptre was originally conceived by Rootes as the Sunbeam Rapier IV. However, at a late stage, the decision was made to badge it as a Humber, thus giving Rootes’ most prestigious marque its first mid-sized sports saloon. Although based on the Hillman Super Minx and Singer Vogue, the Sceptre was more performance-orientated with a 1592cc 80bhp twin-carburettor engine with alloy cylinder head and overdrive transmission as standard. The lowered roofline, wrap over windscreen, quad-headlamps and comprehensively-equipped interior also gave it a racier edge over its humbler siblings.
However, so well-engineered was the original Sceptre that within two years, an ailing Rootes had to modify it to cut costs, after 17,011 cars had been built. The 1965 Sceptre Series 2 was given the company’s five-bearing 1725cc engine - one of Britain’s great classic powerhouses - tuned to produce 85bhp, but lost its stately frontal appearance in favour of the cheaper-to-produce Super Minx nose, albeit with four headlamps instead of the Hillman’s two. Like its forerunner, the Sceptre S2 lasted just two years, until 1967, when it was swept away by the new Arrow range of Rootes cars. 11,985 models had rolled down the assembly line at Ryton-on-Dunsmore in that period
The square-cut Arrow-type Sceptre Series 3 survived until 1976. When it was dropped by Rootes - or rather the British arm of the Chrysler Corporation, as the old family firm had become by then - one of the oldest names in British motoring disappeared with it, for there were no other Humbers to replace it.
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