Marshalls Wedding Cars
They were once loved by the British Army, Prime Ministers, and Kings and Queens alike. Humbers were known as the poor man’s Rolls-Royce. But while more than 80 per cent of all the Rolls-Royces ever built can still be traced today, fewer than one in 100 Humbers have survived. The largest collection in Britain isn’t kept in a national museum but belongs to a potato merchant from Hull.
Allan Marshall, keeps 27 Humbers in a 10,000 sq ft building next to his lorry depot
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‘My father, Reg, bought his first one 51 years ago for £90. It was a 1954 Pullman built for Baroness Rothschild.
She used it in London and kept the car garaged at Claridges hotel. Once I took the back seats out to deliver spuds to fish and chip shops. I’ve even used it to tow a 16-ton lorry from York to Hull.’
The future King George VI took delivery of his first Humber in 1935. He was so impressed by the limousines that after the war he ordered 47 to be sent to British embassies around the world. Every prime minister of the day arrived at Downing Street in a Humber; Winston Churchill boasted a fleet of five Humber Pullmans.
The car’s robust build quality and reliability attracted the attention of the Army too. Specially modified Super Snipe models were turned into field cars during World War II.
The most famous, staff car No M239485, was used by Field Marshal Montgomery from the D-Day landings until the end of the war. His 4.5-litre model covered 60,000 miles around Europe in less than a year. The car is still affectionately known by the nickname he gave it, Old Faithful.
Humbers fell out of favour in the late Fifties. With thirsty, six-cylinder engines they guzzled fuel at just five miles per gallon. The Suez Crisis and rising oil prices meant owners couldn’t haggle a part-exchange – not even for the new, fuel-efficient car of the era, the Mini. The last of the large Humbers were finally sold in 1968.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1371567/Humber-Car-Museum-A-stunning-collection-classic-cars.html#ixzz3TcYgpWZu
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