The Caversham Beauty

For a new manufacturer dipping a toe into the water of motor car production in the early 1920s, there were two ways to go about things. The easy way was to build up a car entirely from proprietary parts – a chassis from one maker, an engine from another and steering, axles, transmission all from different sources.

The second, much more difficult and considerably more expensive, was to design and build everything in-house. This is the path the Herbert Engineering Company of Reading chose when it entered the market in 1920. The company's name gives a clue to its background in light and heavy engineering. It operated its own foundry and could produce engine blocks and axles with ease. Even the coachwork, a component even long-established marques tended to leave to others, was designed and built on site.

Cleary, the HE, as it was christened, was a car of excellent quality. Four- and six-cylinder models were available over a 12-year period, but few were built and today only a handful survives. The car in these photographs has been in the same family since 1930, and has recently emerged from a sensitive rebuild after laying dormant since the 1970s.

In the latest issue of The Automobile, which you can buy by clicking this link, you can read about the history of HE, this car's past and its very bright future in the hands of an enthusiastic owner.