A cache of Commers | Classic Commer & Karrier lorries & vans of the 1930s - 1970s

A collection of Commer & Karrier lorry, van, breakdown truck, coach, camper and ex-military vehicle photos make up this video. If classic British lorries, and Commers/Karriers in particular, are your particular interest, then hopefully there'll be something in this selection of interest.
The vehicles range from the 1930s and 1940s, into the post-war 1950s and through into the 1970s, by which time the writing was on the wall for Commer and Karrier-badged vehicles within the Rootes Group (later Chrysler) empire.
Many of the Commers were seen at vintage vehicle shows, classic lorry road runs, and also in museums, while a few were caught on camera "at rest" in whichever hedge, field or barn they'd been left in many years previously.
Being keen on old lorries it was no hardship to spend hours trawling through folders of photos going back 15+ years, in order to put this collection together. The majority of the Commers and Karriers are shown in civilian hands, but a number clearly were built with military service in mind - especially the charismatic Q4s, the militarised cousin to the bonnetted civilian Superpoise lorries of the 1950s. Smaller vehicles here include the Commer Cob van, the forward-control PB, the Commer Imp van, and the super-rare Express Delivery van of the mid-1950s.
To see all the videos now on the channel, many of which relate to commercial vehicles from days gone by, please visit the following page:
/ oldclassiccarrj
Thanks, RJ.
#commer #britishlorries #classiclorries

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Hi, thanks for watching, a full list of the videos on the channel is here:

[@andrewsnoozy]

Favourite Commer, has to be one from the 50's, just love the style, shape and the big grill, oh and it must, must have the TS3.

[@johnmorgan1102]

I worked at Commer Cars Boscombe Rd Dunstable in the Production Control Office 1965/1967. Saw these lorries and vans being made. The factory has been demolished and houses now occupy the site.

[@mikepeirson1150]

Thanks for video. The same Commer as PBR 806 at 137 was the first Commer I drove. I was about 18 years old at the time. I worked in Brighton at the wholesale fruit and vegetable market unloading spud lorries at night. The lorries were the same TS3 vehicles. I worked alone and when I had unloaded the lorries I had to put them in the car park and get another one in. I had an ordinary driving licence but before long I was taking liberties and going around Brighton and just driving the lorries. I became a lorry driver after that experience and got a full HGV licence when I was old enough. I loved the feel of these lorries and how smart the cabs were after driving mostly old crates. When I was a bit older I had a job in the summer driving around Kent fruit farms picking up fruit and veg. I am 79 now but I would love to own one of these, the best lorry ever, even after driving all sorts of military vehicles in the army. A real good looking truck, and the roar of that TS3 engine was delightful. Enough of that, thanks again.

[@markfiges999]

Thank you OCC, ..........Closing my eyes I can go back back nigh 60 years, I can still hear the Commer tippers with the TS3 2 stroke diesel, pulling their (over??) loads of wet sand (water running out of the tailboard) up the steep hill to our village, ....once heard that screaming roar is never forgotten ..................as is the Foden 2 stroke - but that's another saga.

[@petersymonds4975]

When I started as an apprentice with Post Office Engineering Department in 1967 my first posting was with a gang of 3 technicians on overhead & underground construction. We drove around the Bridgend are in a Windsor Green Carrier. Don’t know the model but they were popular with POED around the country. The cab had room for 4 with a fold down table in the passenger area. I spent ages making tea there. The rear goods area had a cross transom near the tail gate and hatches at the front top so we could carry 36 ft poles two at a time. The rear shelving held our tools with a built in ladder rack for 4 ladders, a special shelf of what looked like a load of bobbins and these held the white porcelain line insulters for overhead work. The wagon also had a very strong tow hitch at the back, we used to tow compressors, winches, cable trailers and the occasional Snowcat for radio station work. Haven’t seen a restored one at all.

[@Finglesham]

Very nostalgic. The Commer lorries were a distinctive sound. But the Q4 lorry was amazing. My friend joined the TA and was taught to drive in A Q4 and passed his test so that saved him paying for lessons and he was paid to do it. It was incredible using petrol engined lorries in the late 1960s but the War Office wanted to use these old vehicles up and no Bedford for the TA.

[@robertgates7686]

Great memories. As a 17 year old learner driver the Karrier was the first vehicle I drove on the road. It belonged to the next door coal merchant who I helped with Saturday deliveries. Later on my first car was a Hillman Imp, fun to drive but had reliability issues with its automatic choke and aluminium engine/gearbox. Happy days.

[@briantilke]

I started lorry driving in 1961 for Lameys Transport Appledore Devon and drove a Commer TS 3 reg number vod 253 absolutely loved it lovely sound from the engine but the real fabulous sight was watching it decoke it self while pushing it flat out at night on the A4 from London to Bristol the site of big lumps of coke hitting the tarmac and exploding was better than any fire work display ever Happy Days thank you for the memories

[@user-pq1gy2xx9v]

My Old Man used to work for BT or GPO as it was when he drove a double cab Karrier MLH 400. He used to tell tales of cooking their dinner on the engine as they were going along given access was within the cab. Given the GPO had loads of these ( think they were 3 1/2 tons) very few seemed to have survived. I know his one fell apart eventually with woodworm because the crew cab was made of timber.

[@barry5787]

Owned one of these Commers in the day as an owner driver, working on the M53. Very powerful for their size and under load had a sound of their own but overheating was an issue if pushed hard for long periods. Mine was very fuel efficient, running alongside me on the same job were the Morgan brothers running 2 small Bedfords, they are now a very big outfit based on the Wirral. My tipper had an Eaton 2 speed axel with a York trailing axle and a lot of the M53 through Ellesmere Port was built on clay and in the wet I could raise the axle for traction, some days it was like a skating rink and Paddy the sheeps foot driver spent his whole day pushing wagons about. Those were the days.

[@andyscorgie9713]

Loving the Two Stroke’s such good looking trucks👍👍

[@chrisclarke7828]

Cracking stuff, well done, l owned many commer trucks and vans. Fanfare for a Commer Van should have been the music.

[@Radio478]

Love the commer cobs, husky, imps etc

[@helenphillips4204]

Always loved these. Two stroke ,very distinctive sounding engines. You could tell what they were before you saw them,and the aroma they gave off as they went by..I can just imagine them now.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

The "Imp" van, were called Hillman Imp in Australia, I remember a school chum whose dad had a Commer tip truck in the 1960's and it was powered by a Perkins diesel. Thanks for the memories.

[@petemullen842]

Great video really enjoyed, as I was a driver in the 60s and 70s on commer 2 /Stroke trucks those were the days no power steering no assisted gearchange on the passenger side of the cab floor carried myropes allsoaked in diesel oil to strengthen them never forget the smell and the noise still can hear it today and I’m in my 70s bring it all back I would do it all again thanks again really enjoyed brought back a lot of memories👍

[@jontaylor1652]

Haha, I remember those Commer (PB) vans very well, everywhere they went there seemed to be a five mile queue of cars stuck behind them. Great photos again, cheers.

[@jonathangriffin1120]

When I was a wee lad back in the early fifties the quarry my Dad worked at had some Commer forward control tippers but they pre-dated the TS3 engined ones, these had a low comp. version of the Humber Pullman unit. Our first family vehicle was a '39 Commer van (CMR 908) similar to the Hillman 'Tilly', Dad scrapped her in the late fifties because the brakes had 'gone' due to rust. When I asked how he explained that due to the Commer having cable brakes, when they were applied the chassis would flex rather than apply effort to the brake shoes!

[@petersmith4455]

hi great video as usual, i remember the army commers in germany when we were with the BOAR, in 1969. we had some 1970s commers when i worked for london