Another project:

The Hambleton Humber

                     This little car we have been inquiring about has now been positively identified as a 1901/02 Humber by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain and the Humber Register, England. 
We wondered if anyone may be able to assist with obtaining chassis details on 1901/02 this single cylinder Humber. 

The information we have is as follows:
The 1901 car had a water cooled DeDion motor, front mounted; coil and battery ignition; live rear axle; two speed and reverse transmission with separate lever for reverse.  Transmission, footbrake, hand brake alongside the driver that works on rear wheels 28"x3" wire wheels; 1/2 elliptic rear springs; full elliptic front springs, with a tubular chassis; a 5'3" wheel base and a 3'6" track.  Wheel steering on an inclined column, control levers on the column, a curved dash with finials, and leather mudguards.  

We have traced this car's history from Trish's great grandfather, Joseph Hambleton, to her great uncle, Fred Harley, who then swapped it for some typewriters.  The typewriter salesman, when he got home to Dunedin, was promptly fired!!  Maybe parts of this car have survived.

Humber History:
In 1900 Humber underwent reorganization and became Humber Ltd.  In this year Humber introduced a strange machine known as the MD Voiturette.  This had front wheel drive with rear wheel steering.  Also was started by raising the steering wheel and giving it a sharp turn.  This action operated a system of bevels, cross shafts and chains to start the engine.

  The year 1900 saw the 3 hp, 3 1/2 hp, and the 5 hp 'Phaeton' models produced.  See photo in The Motor-car Journal, Saturday, December 1st, 1900 page 665, fig 12.  This is the little sister to 'Trish's' car, which appears to be a '1901' model.

In the introduction to the Humber Motors catalogue of 1901, is the remark, ' - - In order to meet the present requirements we have found it necessary to concentrate our attention for the time being on the manufacture of light cars, which are at present so popular, and confine ourselves as far as the mechanism is concerned, to one standard pattern - - '

Humber Story:
Trish's great grandfather, Joseph Hambleton, an engineer and manager of the Dispatch Foundry in Greymouth, NZ, was in Glasgow buying bar iron for the Foundry in August 1904, when he discovered that automobiles were cheap and abundant, so he bought four second hand ones, pulled them to pieces and shipped them with the iron either with Chapman or Chisan & Law of Glasgow.  There were three cars with this first lot, a fourth car following later on.  Joseph paid £45 for the Humber.  The other two cars being a Star and a Hurtu.  An excerpt from Joseph's letter books states, "September 16th 1904, - - - I have sent forward three cars to Greymouth and expect to purchase another."
I doubt that any of these four cars have survived due to the fact that Trish's ancestors were Scots and owned a foundry!  One of her uncles remembers one of these cars being smelted in the furnace!!  If any of them survived it would have been this wee car because Joseph sold this car to Fred Harley who married his daughter a short time later.  We have a honeymoon photo of Fred and Daisy (whose real name was Alice) in this car.  Trish remembers Fred and Daisy well.  They had a series of coach houses at the rear of their property that were mostly closed and off limits.  Fred was a merchant and the first AA rep in the area and in his time owned over 100 vehicles.  So that is how the wee car found its way to New Zealand, as an excerpt from the dairy of Joseph's son, Percy, states, "November 18th 1904, New motor cars arrived."  Also articles of the 1st and 3rd of November 1904, in the local Greymouth papers, mention the cars being on display at the local Greymouth Industries Fair and being driven on the roads around town.

During a trip to Greymouth, early in 1999, researching family history, Trish discovered that this little car, after being sold to Fred Harley, was swapped for four typewriters.  These typewriters were very advanced for their time, each being able to type in three different scripts, writing being one of them.  Trish remembers one of the typewriters, large and black, in her grandparents home and later in her Aunt Jeans home.  When Jean died, the typewriter was handed over to Shantytown Museum, where it most likely still is.
The continuing story of the sales man from Dunedin is rather sad.  Imagine driving this tiny car all the way home from Greymouth to Dunedin, in triumph and minus all his stock, only to be fired upon arrival!

The identification of the salesman, his demise and the following story of this tiny Humber are yet to be discovered. 

In "The Veteran Years of New Zealand Motoring", Pam McLean states on page 68 and 69, in early Dunedin there were just two Humber's on the roads, one we have dismissed as being a Beeston-Humber belonging to Reginald Acton Adams.  The other, and more of a possibility of being this very same car, is stated as being a Humber owned my Rev Father H. W. Cleary.  Did the salesman sell to a clergyman?

We have further information on this cars history, and in fact it did not meet its demise in the smelting pots of the Foundry at all!

We are gathering components for this tiny car.  If anyone can help in any way with information or components, please do not hesitate to contact Trish.

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