Humber / Hillman / Rootes / Chrysler / Peugeot

Before it became the Rootes Group, was it known as Humber / Hillman / Sunbeam / Singer / Commer ??

Great Pics Michelle - thanks for sharing

The days when a lot of men wore a shirt and tie to work even on the 'shop floor' ! My Mum worked at the Humber as a typist in the Production Control Dept. until her retirement in 1979.

I think he retired in the mid '70's.

Fantastic photos, Michelle, thank you! It will be lovely if any members recognise their relatives among those Humber employees - they were certainly one of Coventry's major firms for several decades.

You appear to be right, Mick - and according to Wikipedia (which isn't always as wrong nowadays as some might say!), there was also Talbot and Karrier to be added to the list.

Oh boy, the memories! I was and am still, very proud to be a Humber apprentice. Having served my time (sounds like a sentence) from 63 to 69 I can say that it was an incredibly happy time of my life. Those shots of the Christmas drinking parties bring back memories. During the year it was the custom for production gangs to have a Christmas kitty to provide drinks for the last day of work before the holiday. Being an apprentice and having worked in so many production areas it was a very interesting last day visiting 'old' workmates! So many stories to tell.

Hi Rob and thanks. The "Commer Karrier" was a fire engine? Karrier was also a "truck" maker.

We have a friend who worked at Hams Hall and was also on call for the fire station there. We got into trouble if we called them fire engines, he said they are Fire appliances !

Always thought that was a poker?

Good Morning Anne, My son and greatgrandson have always called them Fire Engines. Fire appliances are what is carried on them. I am sure children today still call them Fire Engines despite what the Fire Dept. calls them. (Sorry if I have strayed off the post.)

I am new to this Forum although I have great affection for Coventry having worked at the Standard-Triumph factory at Canley from 1970 to 1974. I am now semi-retired from the transport industry and am devoting some time to volunteering at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu where the Sunbeam 1000HP is being brought back to life - hopefully in time for the Centenary of its record on the 29th March 2027 at Daytona. The photograph in Wolverhampton is likely to have been taken prior to loading the car for transport to Southampton to be loaded on to the Cunard liner Aquitania in late February or early March 1927, as noted in the post featuring the press cutting. The restoration work on the Sunbeam has been proceeding over the past few years and began as a conservation investigation into the car's state of preservation. The Sunbeam was the first car to break the 200 mph barrier driven by Henry Segrave. Henry Segrave was knighted by King George V in 1929 following his final land speed record with the Golden Arrow which is also displayed at Beaulieu. The Museum workshop team are restoring the engines, its chassis and bodywork to bring this iconic car back to life. A recent Friends evening at Beaulieu, also attended by Richard Noble, featured the fascinating history of the car, its manufacture at the Sunbeam works in Wolverhampton, Henry Segrave's 203.792 mph world land speed record, and the Museum's Doug Hill and Ian Stanfield explained about the efforts to restore this truly impressive vehicle. As mentioned, the Sunbeam 1000HP was recently displayed, along with the 350hp Sunbeam of 1920, on the National Motor Museum's stand at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC where it attracted an enormous amount of attention. One aspect that this Forum may be able to help with is the parade that was held in Coventry on the 21st September 1946 where, I think, the Sunbeam was featured on the back of a Rootes Group truck. If anyone has any pics, I would love to see them! Ian Robinson

Welcome to our forum Ian. I'll check for any of those 1946 images however our member AnneW might be able to look in to the Newspaper Archive to see if it was covered.

Sorry Neil, can't come up with anything this time

Thank you for your kind welcome and for looking at potential new information on the Sunbeam 1000HP's relationship to Coventry. It would appear, however, that although two other LSWR cars were involved, the 1000HP was not. The original photograph, that I responded to, shows the car after it returned from the USA as it has an acknowledgement to the 200mph record in the inscription on the car's nearside. June 1927 is suggested and that would mean it was heading to or from either Brooklands or Montlehery (French GP venue) where it was demonstrated by Segrave and by Albert Divo (a fellow Sunbeam - Talbot Darracq team member) respepectively. There were also London appearances including at Selfridges in April 1927. Yesterday, I was updating the thread on The Nostalgia Forum - link details below - and one of the respondents has also been digging in the SMMT archives (held at Coventry) and suggest that the parade appearances are as follows: "The Coventry to Birmingham parade on September 21st - although by far the biggest - is very under-reported, apart from the chaos it caused in Birmingham city centre, but the only record cars I've seen mentioned as present on that one are Golden Arrow and Bluebird (which could be the 1935 car). The SMMT's archives are at the Herbert in Coventry, but they apparently contain nothing regarding any of the parades - I asked about them when I was there in October 2022. Apart from the Belfast and London events, the 1000HP was definitely in the Cardiff parade on August 31st too, although I've seen no mention of it in reports of the Edinburgh one on October 5th. Nor the final one in Manchester on October 26th." Sunbeam 1000HP restoration