For sale by auction on Saturday 24thNovember 2012 with Historics at Brooklands, Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, Weybridge, Surrey.

Humber have been making vehicles since Thomas Humber's bicycle company was founded in 1868. It was taken over by the Rootes Group in 1931 until 1967 when it was then taken over by the Chrysler Corporation; the name ceasing to be used in 1979. Similar to the earlier Sunbeam Rapier, the Humber Sceptre was a four door, four-seater designed for long distance transport in comfort. Launched originally in 1963, it had the 1592cc engine in a slightly higher state of tune but this was replaced with the larger 1725cc engine from late 1965, with that engine also being in a better state of tune than that used for the lower models. The manual gearbox model was fitted with overdrive on 3rd and 4th gears and the 3-speed automatic gearbox was produced by Borg-Warner. As befits its status, the Sceptre had additional sound deadening and was designed to be a quiet and very refined drive. To add to this, it had all the usual luxury items inside, including very comfortable seats and a plush interior with a full range of instruments including, fuel gauge, oil pressure, ammeter and water temperature along with a centrally mounted clock complementing the usual speedometer and rev counter. Performance and handling were reasonable from the tuned engine and, although it might not have appealed to the sports car minded driver, it was certainly adequate for most. The car was slightly bigger but, despite all the extra equipment, it was not a lot heavier and this, with the higher tuned engine, resulted in uncompromised performance.

This Humber Sceptre has had three owners from new; the vendor having bought the car a couple of years ago from the family who purchased the car new in September 1963, who passed ownership from father to son. The car was repainted in the early 2000's in the original colours of white with blue roof and boot before being placed into storage in 2005. The interior is in very good original condition, finished in blue, and only requires minor attention and replacing the door seals. Re-commissioned by the vendor after being in storage for nearly eight years, he has had the cylinder head reconditioned, the water pump replaced and new water hoses. This series one Humber Sceptre is supplied with a V5C registration document, MoT and tax until May 2013 and comes with the previous MoT from 2005 showing the mileage, the old V5 registration document verifying the ownership and the owner's handbook. The ideal transport for any 1960's revivals or festivals.

http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2012-11-24/car/1963-humber-sceptre.aspx