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Humber Sceptre

When Humber made cars, they made them to have impact; the impact being a lasting impression of quality, fine engineering and reliability and this Sceptre is still delivering those qualities decades after first purchase.

But where did it all begin?

The Sceptre was introduced in 1963, and it was initially meant to come in as a replacement for the Rapier. Rootes were really good as a company at keeping everything moving technology wise and you rarely find they sit on anything for too long; with regular adjustments and model upgrades. However, something curious must’ve happened, because instead of bringing this in to replace the Rapier, it ran alongside it in the model line up - with the Rapier continuing in production until 1967.

Although you’ll often hear of the Super Minx when people discuss these cars, because the MK1 Sceptre is based on the Super Minx, although it’s not just a lazy rebadging like you’d see other manufacturers do, because the Sceptre is unique in many ways including the roof, the glass and the rear and upper bodywork which is unique to this car.

The car was positioned in the Rootes line up at the top of the mid range line up of cars and on a wider automotive landscape, it was priced at around £1,000. This meant it was considerably pricier than a Ford Consul Cortina GT but Rootes didn’t think they were pitching to the same customer. Rootes considered the customer to be somebody who might consider an MG Magnette or perhaps had outgrown their beloved Alpine.

In dealerships and in advertisements at the time, The Humber Sceptre was billed by Rootes as a way to enjoy a new kind of motoring. The sceptre was said to have it all - it was the car which was superbly equipped, it was a compact sports saloon with exciting performance and design and best of all, it was built and finished to the highest Humber standards of comfort and quality.

But what does this mean when it drills down into what the car offers to the motorist?

Well, the car had an enviable line up of standard features which many other popular British marques of the era were asking customers to pay extra for. The brochures of the time highlighted important key details such as:

- Diaphragm spring clutch for less pedal effort.
- Overdrive as standard, which I tell you about later in the video
- Built in heating and ventilation - you might consider this an essential, but even Morris had customers paying extra into the 60s for this basic function
- An elegant suspension system for a masterly ride, or in tech terms, fully independent front suspension employing coil springs and swinging links. Suspension control by Armstrong telescopic shock absorbers housed neatly down the centre of each coil spring. To rear, semi elliptic leaf springs with Armstrong double acting telescopic shock absorbers to allegedly, maintain adequate control in all weather conditions.
- A really key point actually which I think supersedes many of the extras, there are no greasing points, a huge plus point for a car of this area.
- Steering - a high efficiency steering unit for precision control, or for those who want more tech and less marketing speak, it’s Burman recirculating ball type on this one. It’s three piece symmetrical track-rod linkage with nylon inserts and sealed ball joints - which again - needed no regular greasing like many other counterparts on the market.
- Wider opening doors and child locks - perfect for comfort and also, for getting children in and out and ensuring they don’t eject themselves on the way to the chosen destination
- Plus many more brilliant features I discuss later in the video!

At the start of this walk around, I spoke of Rootes never resting too long in one place and it won’t surprise you with that knowledge to know the MK1 was only on sale for two years before being replaced by the MK2 in 1965; although it sold quite as many units as the MK1 - so maybe it’s not just me who prefers the early styling!

Now this is a special car, so who owns it? Well, the owner Brian was unable to come on camera for today’s video so instead Kev tells us a little of the sceptre magic - he’s worked on this one for 20 years so has a particular love for it!

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