HE 16/60 HP Six SWB Six Sports Tourer
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Car producer : |
HE |
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Model: |
16/60 HP Six SWB Six Sports Tourer |
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Year: |
1928-1930 |
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Type: |
Tourer |
The Herbert Engineering Co. Ltd. a British company from Caversham, near Reading (Berkshire).
Herbert Merton founded the company in the 1910s. During World War defective aircraft engines were repaired.
In 1919, the automobile production. reliable sports cars were built under the name of HE, which were equipped by 1929 with side-valve four-cylinder engines. The H.E. was one of a number of high quality fast tourers introduced after WWI. Produced in limited numbers at their workshops in Wolsey Road, Caversham, Reading by the Herbert Engineering Co Ltd, the H.E. offered lusty performance and very handsome sporting bodywork, albeit at considerable cost. The low production volumes and the cars' bespoke nature meant that they were very expensive, selling in the early 1920s for little less than a Bentley.
Designed by talented engineer Roland Sully, the first H.E. cars had conventional four-cylinder side-valve engines with separate four-speed gearboxes and an overhead worm-drive rear axle. Engine capacities were soon increased to a little over 2.0-litres, and with some 40bhp available the lightweight sports model, featuring gorgeous 'Dutch clog' bodywork, was good for 75mph.
Appeared in 1928. The first six-cylinder model. The car reminded in appearance, design and price to the contemporary 3-liter Bentley models.
Like most small manufacturers competing for a slice of the luxury car market, H.E. soon added a six-cylinder model to the range: the 2.3-litre 16/55hp. The latter was joined in 1929 by the short-chassis 16/60hp Sports model whose triple carburettors and close-ratio gearbox made it good for 80mph. Only three such Sports models are believed to have been made out of a total of 61 six-cylinder 2.3-litre cars.
1931 sales were sunk so low that economic production was no longer possible.
