16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer

| 22 Apr 2020
Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer

Some of the most storied Humbers are to cross the block with Hansons Auctioneers – and will be sold as one incredible job lot. 

So amazing, it seems, that, “Due to major interest, this auction has been rescheduled,” said Hansons, “to allow interested parties to view.”

The set is owned by Allan Marshall, a potato merchant who started buying Humbers in the 1970s to such a point that it grew into the ‘Humber Cars Museum’. Not a museum per se, but a personal collection that could be viewed by the public by appointment.

His cars were first advertised for sale in 2018, and Marshall hopes they will sell this week to a buyer who will still allow the public to see them. The group is expected to fetch between £200-250,000.

As you would expect, some of the Humbers on offer come with royal approval, including the earliest of the 16 cars available. The 1932 Snipe 80 was owned by abdicated King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, and his divorcee wife, Wallis Simpson. There’s also a 1951 Humber Imperial Landaulette that was ordered by King George VI shortly before his death in early 1952.

Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer
Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer

Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer

Clockwise from top left: the landaulette of King George VI; the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson’s Humber runabout; EGS 21 was delivered new to the Queen Mother

The 1952 Super Snipe MkIII – EGS 21 – owned by the Queen’s mother, original and running, is also included, so too the Pullman MkII formerly of Lord Harris of Kent.

Racing royalty is among the lot: Stirling Moss, who passed away recently, drove Marshall's Super Snipe MkIV. The Grand Prix great has history with Humber, because he and Le Mans podium finisher Leslie Johnson drove a similar model through 15 countries in 90 hours to prove the Humber’s versatility, going from Oslo to Lisbon in 1952.

Three from the collection have been in films, a Pullman MkI with Thrupp & Maberly coachwork from Operation Crossbow and Royal Night Out, a MkIII Super Snipe from a Buddy Holly picture, and a 1967 Imperial from The Big Sleep.

In fact most of the Humbers have a story to tell, such as two Earls Court Show cars – a 1955 Super Snipe MkIV and 1961 Super Snipe Series 3 – and the only Pullman known to have an electronic divider. There’s a 1946 Hawk MkI police car still with its original interior, a Radford owned by an army major and a Super Snipe MkIII once the property of a mayor of Jersey.

Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer
Classic & Sports Car – 16-strong Humber collection goes under the hammer

Buddy Holly Humber (left); the Pullman limo is the subject of an Oxford diecast

Thrown in are two early bicycles, the manufacture of which being how Humber began, plus plenty more automobilia, memorabilia and photographs commemorating the marque. 

His father’s first will be included, too.

“It was a 1954 Pullman built for Baroness Rothschild,” Marshall said. “She used it in London and kept it at Claridge’s. I always remember the day I took the back seats out to deliver spuds to fish and chip shops in Hull.”

The sale will take place on 24 April at www.hansonslive.co.uk.


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