Humber 80 & 90
New Zealand only · Todd Motors, Petone · a Humber badge on a Hillman body
“Humber 80? There’s no such car!” There was — and underneath, yours is a Hillman.
Find Humber 80 & 90 parts by category
RelatedHillman MinxHillman Super MinxHumber
Not listed? Plenty of parts suit several marques and never get the model name in the title — ask us and we will check the books for you.
About the Humber 80 & 90
The Humber 80 is a Hillman Minx. The Humber 90 is a Hillman Super Minx. Todd Motors, the Rootes importer and assembler at Petone, created them for two reasons that fit together: New Zealand rationed imports by quota, and a second model name meant a second allocation of licences for CKD assembly kits — and it gave Humber dealers, who otherwise had only the big Hawk and Super Snipe, something small to sell. Neither car was ever offered in Britain. The name is not one model year either: Todd applied the Humber 80 badge across successive Minx generations, from the Mark VIII era through the Audax Series III, IIIB and V. The Humber 90 is a Super Minx, and on surviving registration data it appears only in model years 1962 to 1964 — Mark I and Mark II cars. Roger Hall put it in Prisoners of Mother England, where a newly arrived immigrant spots one and exclaims, “Humber 80? There’s no such car!”
The good news, and it is the whole point of this page: Hillman parts are the right parts. The only differences any source records are the badges and name scripts, and on the 80 a horizontal-bar grille in place of the Minx item. Bodyshell, doors, panels, glass, engine, gearbox, clutch, suspension, steering, brakes and axle: no source records a single difference, and a New Zealand Minx owner reported in Driven Car Guide that a Humber 80 key opened his Minx boot lock. So order to the Minx series for an 80 and the Super Minx mark for a 90. We will be straight with you about the limit of that, though — instruments, seats, upholstery, trim brightwork, engine tune and axle ratio are not documented either way, and no Todd Motors parts book or service bulletin appears to survive online. Check those against the car rather than assume.
Humber 80 & 90 — specification & changes within the model
- Which Hillman is it
- Humber 80 = Hillman Minx. Sourced examples run from the Mark VIII era through Audax Series III, Series IIIB and Series V. Humber 90 = Hillman Super Minx, and on surviving registration data only Mark I and Mark II (model years 1962–64). Work out the Hillman series first, then order to that.
- What is actually different
- The badges and name scripts. And on the 80, a horizontal-bar grille. That is the complete list of documented differences. Everything else — shell, doors, glass, engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes, axle — is the Hillman.
- What we will not tell you
- Instruments, seats, upholstery, interior trim, engine tune, carburettor specification, axle ratio and paint colours are NOT documented in either direction. The absence of a recorded difference is weak evidence of sameness, not proof. Check those against your own car. Nor do we know whether these cars had their own chassis-number prefixes — that would settle everything and it does not appear to survive online.
- Why they exist
- New Zealand rationed imports by quota. A second model name meant a second allocation of import licences for CKD assembly kits — and it gave Humber dealers a small car to sell alongside the Hawk and Super Snipe.
- How rare
- 87 Humber 80s and 27 Humber 90s are currently registered in New Zealand, the 80s spread across model years 1954–64 (peaking in 1959 and 1960) and 21 of the 27 Humber 90s from 1963 alone. Those are survivors on the road, not build totals — no production figure exists for either car.
- Do not confuse it with the Australian Humber Vogue
- Rootes Australia sold the Super Minx as a Super Minx, and badged the Singer Vogue as the Humber Vogue and Vogue Sports, 1963–66. That is a different car from a different donor in a different country. A claim that the Humber 90 was built at Port Melbourne is circulating and is wrong.
- Your car is a Todd Motors car
- Assembled at Petone, on the Hutt Road — not the General Motors plant on Bouverie Street, not the Austin plant on McKenzie Street across the road, and not Ford at Seaview. From 1939 upholstery could not be shipped in the CKD pack, so seats, headlining, trim, glass, paint, battery, tyres, wiring and bumpers were made here. UK mechanical parts usually fit; UK trim parts often do not.
- Not claimed
- Launch and end dates, production totals, what the numbers 80 and 90 denote, price positioning, and whether any estate, convertible or van was ever built (every sourced car is a saloon). One reference work also lists South Africa for the 90; no New Zealand source agrees and nothing corroborates it.