Pictures from Easter drive

https://picasaweb.google.com/106196328645811041160/20160327HumberMuseumVisit

 

I would have liked to have been there too, but it was just a bit too far away.

Many years ago I owned a Series IV Humber Hawk, bought as the car for a growing family in preference to a more expensive Mini.

I owe my life to that car, because a Sunbeam Alpine sports car jumped the lights and spun 30cwt of Hawk 180 degrees around the traffic light post into the other lane where I was then rear-ended by a truck as well. The passenger door behind me was dented about six inches by the post and there was a full print of the front of the sports car square across the near-side rear wheel arch. If I had been in a mini it would have been cut in half like a branch that has been snipped by a secateurs, and the truck would have run over what was left. As it was the Hawk almost looked OK, but it was actually a genuine write-off; broken rear springs, broken diff, bent chassis, flattened boot, four bent wheels where they had been pushed over the kerb (but the cheap ‘reject grade’ Dunlop SP Sports originally intended for an XJ6 were still inflated), 15 gallons of petrol on the road from the gashed fuel tank, etc.

That old Hawk had double wishbone front suspension, and with those Jag radials it cornered like a mini, making up for the total lack of power from the 2.2litre four cylinder that was over-revving at 80 mph in top. No power steering yet that heavy car always felt light and perfectly balanced, and having driven that I often wondered since why so many cars ‘need’ PS.