Commer Details, Photos and Videos

Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car-derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, military vehicles and buses. The company also designed and built some of its own diesel engines for its heavy commercial vehicles.

This business belonged to Commercial Cars Limited a company incorporated in September 1905 by directors H C B Underdown,[note 1] barrister and director of Direct United States Cable Co with H G Hutchinson a director of Royal Exchange Assurance to manufacture: commercial cars, omnibuses, charabancs, fire engines and every kind of industrial vehicle. In 1920, it was described as the first Company to specialise in the manufacture of internal combustion industrial commercial vehicles. In order to go into volume production a site was bought in September 1905 at Biscot Road, Biscot, Luton. Construction of extensive new workshops began on the five acre site which was mostly complete by late 1906. Commercial Cars became a member of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in August 1906. It was one of the first manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom, its speciality being the Commer Car.

At Olympia's Commercial Motor Show in March 1907, Commer exhibited a motor-bus chassis with a 30–36 horsepower engine and a gearbox invented by Mr Linley, the works manager.[note 2] Dog-clutches made the change rather than the spur wheels which remained in constant mesh. As well as the bus chassis Commer displayed a char-a-banc for thirty passengers and delivery vans being run by a substantial enterprise.

A new "large and powerful" lorry, E43, registration BM 787, took part in the Great Commercial Motor Trials in September 1907. It also had a constant mesh gearbox (Comer (sic) slogan—'dogs which bite with a click'). Unladen weight was (3.7 tonnes) 3 tons 13 cwt, the engine had four-cylinders, its output was 33 horsepower at 800 rpm. It had four forward speeds and was driven by side chains. Length 20 feet (6 metres), width just over (2.1 metres) seven feet and height (1.76 metres) two inches under six feet. The platform was (3.6 metres) twelve feet long. The newspaper noted that a Comercars "chassis" was transporting passengers at Widnes.

Production of the first truck, the 3-ton RC type started in 1907. This was later modernized into the SC and so on through the YC range, which was also known as the "Barnet" series of trucks. Their first bus was made in 1909. With the outbreak of the First World War the factory turned to the manufacture of military vehicles for the British Army, and by 1919 more than 3000 had been made.

Though obliged to undergo financial restructure in 1920 in the hope of avoiding creditors, the business was unable to avoid repayment of a debt of £75,000 due to the Treasury, raised in order to pay 60 per cent Excess Profits Duty on wartime activities. Eventually, after agreeing terms with the Receiver in 1925, Commer was bought in 1926 by Humber. In 1931 Humber became a 60-percent-owned subsidiary of the Rootes Group.

The Commer name was replaced by the Dodge name during the 1970s, following the takeover of Rootes by Chrysler Europe. After Peugeot purchased Chrysler Europe in 1978, the Commer factory was run in partnership with the truck division of Renault, Renault Trucks. For some time, it continued to produce the Dodge commercial truck range with Renault badges, and there was a small amount of product development. Eventually, Dodge production was cancelled in favour of mainstream Renault models, and there was a switch to the production of Renault truck and bus engines in the early 1990s.

Many Commer vans and lorries are notable for being fitted with the Rootes TS3 engine, a two-stroke diesel three-cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine, which came to be known as the "Commer Knocker" owing to the distinct noise it produced. Newer Commer vehicles had Perkins and Cummins diesel engines, and, less commonly, Mercedes diesel engines.

The N-series was introduced in 1935, and was also used by the British armed forces in World War II. Production was halted in 1939 and was not recommenced after the war. Cab-over and bonneted trucks were both available, fitted with petrol or diesel engines. The six-cylinder petrol engine was available in 3,181 cc (194.1 cu in) or 4,086 cc (249.3 cu in) versions. The Perkins Leopard diesel engine was also available.

The range included N as well as the lighter-duty LN range of trucks (numbered N1 through N6 depending on their approximate weight capacities in tons), as well as the PN-series of buses, commonly fitted with diesels. There was also the 4/5 ton PLNF5 introduced in 1938. The LN was officially capable of carrying weights similar to those of the corresponding N-series trucks, but had a lower overall max weight and was "definitely not intended to carry an overload" - a tacit recognition of British truckers' habitual overloading of their trucks. The LN-range was also designed to operate effectively within the 1930s 30 mph speed limit for heavier lorries. After the introduction of the 4/5-ton LN5, the 5½-ton (5,600 kg) N5 was discontinued. However, the market decreed otherwise and the N5's revival was announced in February 1938.

The Commer Superpoise range (Q-series) was introduced in 1939, with both semi-forward and full-forward control options. The line included trucks of 1½ to six tons capacity powered by 6-cylinder petrol or diesel engines. A new Superpoise range (QX-series, although QX had also been used on some earlier Superpoises) with payloads of between two and five tons was introduced in 1955.

Commer produced buses and is recorded as delivering four to Widnes in 1909. The Commando was released after the Second World War, and the Avenger on 28 February 1948, fitted with the TS3 engine from 1954. The Commando was used as a Crew Bus by the Royal Air Force following the Second World War with a 1 1/2 Length Observation deck.

The Commer Light Pick-Up was a pickup truck based on the Hillman Minx saloon and produced by Commer during the 1950s; a similar Hillman-badged model was also produced. The Mark III was powered by a 1,184 cc (72.3 cu in) four-cylinder engine, the Mark VI by a 1,265 cc (77.2 cu in) unit and the Mark VIII by a 1,390 cc (85 cu in) engine. Production ended in about 1958.

Australian production circa 1950 included a coupé utility variant with an additional side window.

The Commer Express Delivery Van was a light commercial vehicle produced by Commer during the 1950s, competing in the 8–10 long cwt (410–510 kg) van range. It was based on the Hillman Minx saloon and evolved in parallel with that model, with designations ranging from Mark III to Mark VIIIB. The 1957 model, which featured a load space of 100 cu ft (2.8 m3) and a payload of approximately 9 cwt, was powered by a 1390 cc four-cylinder Hillman engine and was fitted with a four-speed column-change gearbox.

The Commer Cob is a 7 cwt delivery van introduced in early 1956 based on the Hillman Husky, itself a derivative of the Hillman Minx Mark VIII. In 1958 new Cob and Husky models were introduced, based on the "Audax" Hillman Minx.

The Commer Imp Van was introduced in September 1965 and was based on the Hillman Imp saloon. It was renamed as the Hillman Imp Van in October 1968, with total production reaching 18,194 units prior to it being phased out in July 1970. The last generation of the Hillman Husky estate car, which was introduced in July 1967, was based on the Imp Van and used the same sheetmetal ahead of the B-pillar.

Many examples of these vans were coach-built as ice cream vans.

The Commer Walk-Thru was introduced in 1961 as a replacement for the Commer BF. The Walk-Thru was offered in 1½ ton, 2 ton and 3-ton van and cab-chassis variants with a choice of diesel or petrol engines. This van was also built in Spain by Santana Motor, beginning in 1964.

The Commer FC was introduced in 1960 with many body styles, including a 1,500 cc (92 cu in) van. After engine and interior upgrades it was renamed the PB in 1967 and the SpaceVan in 1974. As noted above, it would be sold as a Dodge and Fargo model until 1976, when both Commer and Fargo names were dropped. These were rounded-front forward-control vans with narrow front track—a legacy of their Humber car-derived suspension. Utilising at first the Hillman-derived 1,500 cc (92 cu in) 4-cylinder engine in the PA series, then the larger 1,600 cc (98 cu in), and from 1968 onwards the 1,725 cc (105.3 cu in) unit in the PB, only the cast-iron-head version of this engine were used. A Perkins 4108 diesel was also available.

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