In 1946 production resumed but the former Hillman Fourteens were now given a protruding boot lid and no running boards and badged Humber Hawk.

The new Hillman was priced at £345 for the saloon, undercutting the Austin which sold for £455, it was advertised as "the car that costs less than it should".

Four wheel, cable operated, drum brakes were fitted from the start but unusually a vacuum servo was an option.

[1] In a test by The Autocar magazine, the top speed was around 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) and fuel consumption 23-24 mpg.

The cars were well fitted out and spacious with a right-hand gear change by the driver's door, a feature regarded as up-market at the time.

Standard equipment included: clock, speedometer, oil gauge, screen wiper, driving mirror, shaded dash-lamp, licence holder, rug rail, floor carpets etc.

[4] In early January 1925, The Times's motoring correspondent described the new Hillman's engine as lively enough, quiet and vibration-free, but said the suspension was hard.

The engine received larger crankshaft and connecting rod bearings and an anti-detonating ("anti-knock") design adopted for the cylinder head.

Other upgrades included a stronger Hardy-Spicer propeller shaft with metal joints, more powerful brakes and shock absorbers all round.

[8] Three Fourteens were on Hillman's stand, a 2-door drop head coupé, a 4-door safety tourer and a 6-light Weymann saloon with a sunshine roof.

[12] The new 2-litre Hillman Fourteen was a much prettier car than their Minx's sole remaining stable-mate their 3.2-litre Hawk which it replaced.

Engine power was transmitted from the gearbox to the half-floating rear axle through a needle bearing open propeller shaft and a spiral bevel final drive.

[13] The design, then displacing 1669 cc, was a scaled down version of the Snipe's engine first used in Humber's Twelve of 1933 and now bored out to 75 mm.

[citation needed] Eighteen months after the new car's announcement The Times published a road test.

Altogether, he said, there was much to commend though the synchromesh required a short pause before engagement and under certain circumstances braking could affect the steering.

[12] At the end of August 1939 it was announced the shape of the Sunbeam-Talbot Ten would be used on the Hillman Fourteen's engine and running gear to make a new car.

In the British Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, where motor vehicles had famously been banned from the public roads before the First World War (although motor ambulances, fire-engines, and a road works vehicle had been authorised between the wars), even the Police force, the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force were not permitted motor vehicles until the Second World War.

General Sir Reginald John Thoroton Hildyard, KCB, CMG, DSO, resigned his offices of Governor and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) in 1939 after the House of Assembly of Bermuda twice refused to allow him a motor car.

[19][20][21] With the declaration of war, however, the legislature soon authorised naval and military vehicles to use the public roads, including cars for both the naval Commander-in-Chief and the Officer Commanding Troops, a Brigadier subordinate to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the command structure of the Bermuda Garrison.