The 1957 Hawk estate briefly held a title you'd expect from a luxury brand: the largest unitary bodyshell of any British-built car, a record it kept until Jaguar's Mark X showed up in 1961.
Median 101 hp across 430 similar cars
Lead trim: Hawk Series IVA 2.3 OHV four
Humber Hawk Series I to IVA1957–1967
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Humber Hawk Series I to IVA yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe 1957 Hawk estate briefly held a title you'd expect from a luxury brand: the largest unitary bodyshell of any British-built car, a record it kept until Jaguar's Mark X showed up in 1961.
A new Hawk announced in May 1957 had a completely new unitary body which it shared with the 1958 Humber Super Snipe; for the first time an estate variant was available from the factory, and the Hawk estate had the largest unitary bodyshell of any British-built car up to that point (until the Jaguar Mark X in 1961). The 2267 cc engine was carried over with modifications, and a Borg Warner D.G. automatic transmission was now available. The body, styled in Rootes' own studios with more glass than previous models and a wrap-around front windscreen, gave it a considerable resemblance to a base model 1955 Chevrolet 4-door sedan. Series 1A (1959) had changed gear ratios and minor trim changes; the Series II of October 1960 had servo-assisted disc front brakes and dropped the automatic option on the home market; the Series III of September 1962 had a larger fuel tank and bigger rear window; the October 1964 Series IV had a flatter roof, smaller rear window, an extra side window behind the rear doors, synchromesh on bottom gear and a rear anti-roll bar; and the final Series IVA of 1965 reintroduced the automatic option, this time the Borg Warner Model 35. A Series I without overdrive tested by The Motor in 1957 had a top speed of 83.9 mph and reached 0–60 mph in 19.7 seconds, and cost £1261 including taxes of £421. Production (Series I 15,539, IA 6,813, II 7,230, III 6,109, IV 1,746, IVA 3,754) ended in March 1967, when Rootes announced that the cars' place in their range would be filled by Chrysler Valiants imported from Australia.
Collectors Spotted in the Humber Hawk Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Humber Hawk yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
6 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawk Series I 2.3 OHV four | 1957–1959 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | 19.7 s | — | — | — |
| Hawk Series IA 2.3 OHV four | 1959–1960 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hawk Series II 2.3 OHV four | 1960–1962 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hawk Series III 2.3 OHV four | 1962–1964 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hawk Series IV 2.3 OHV four | 1964–1965 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hawk Series IVA 2.3 OHV four | 1965–1967 | 2.3 L Inline-4 | 78 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The 1957 Hawk estate briefly held a title you'd expect from a luxury brand: the largest unitary bodyshell of any British-built car, a record it kept until Jaguar's Mark X showed up in 1961.
The Mark VI's brakes weren't an afterthought: Humber gave it 40 percent more lining area than the outgoing Mark V, on top of a 20 percent more powerful engine.
The restyled Mark III Hawk that kicked off this generation wasn’t an in-house Humber design — its body came out of Raymond Loewy’s studio.
Humber's first postwar Hawk was actually longer than the prewar car it replaced, yet somehow ended up 112 pounds lighter, after shedding its running boards.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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