'King of the Classics' Bob Tuck has very kindly decided not to b#ll#ck Biglorryblog for not knowing something about an old truck and instead sent me these pictures of a beautifully-restored Commer and he says: "Brian, thought you might like the attached which follows on to a recent posting. I did a big feature on this vehicle and its owner recently for a magazine called Classic & Vintage Commercials."
Bob goes on to say: "The vehicle started life in 1960 as one of the big Rolls-Royce fleet based at Derby but it was bought as a wreck in 1983 and restored by the Howell family to move their collection of old tractors around. However it was far too slow for them so it was replaced in that job by a quicker Maxiload."
David Howell was only about 6 when he first rode in the motor but he decided that when he got married, he wanted the fully restored vehicle as a backdrop - and that's what he did. The River Sowe Mills livery is the name of an old company ran by the Howell family."
And here's a picture of the happy couple in front of the Commer just to prove it too...And I'll have a glass if there's one going..cheers! Now click through here for more. 
Bob continues: "The father & son, Charles and David Howell, both refer to the model as a Commer QX but when I looked at the registration document, it was referred to as a CDY 762. Meanwhile, the father & son mill specialist chapatti flour in deepest Staffordshire and we did a nice feature in Truck & Driver a year or two back on delivering that bagged flour round the houses in the
Comments (4)
Tilling Stevens 3 cylinder. Tilling Stevens Ltd was the truck and bus manufacturer which was taken over by the Rootes Group, and the Tilling Stevens factory was where the TS3 engine was made for the Commer trucks.
Posted by Vic Hungerford | July 4, 2008 7:47 PM
Posted on July 4, 2008 19:47
Tilling Stevens were based at Maidstone in Kent, they later developed into a company called Rootes (Maidstone) Ltd. who were Rootes dealers and carried out specialist bodywork conversions (crewcabs, buses etc.) to Commer/Karrier/Dodge commercials. On takeover of Rootes/Chrysler cars by Peugeot the company became part of the Peugeot owned dealership chain Robins and Day.
Posted by D Powell | July 7, 2008 9:43 AM
Posted on July 7, 2008 09:43
The current Commer model when this cab style came out was the Superpoise Q and this forward control style was called QX - X for Cabover - used for all 4 versions of this cab from 1948 - 1962.
This specific Mk IV QX is a model CDY 762- C for C7 model, (the earlier model - petrol only - was R7) D is for diesel (TS3 two stroke) Y is for 5 speed constant mesh gearbox (often erroneously called a David Brown box. While it is VERY similar, it was designed by Eric Gill at Tillings Stevens). Decoding the numbers, the 7 is 7 ton and the 62 is for 162" wheelbase (13'6" lwb version) - you add 100" onto the last two numbers to get the total wheelbase length). If you know the code, its easy!
Would love to make contact with the owner, and you can find out more about Commers at www.commer.org.nz
By the way, Don Kitchen is one of the team of 10 that bought the TS3 motor to the truck world in 1954 after many years development (he became head of the Rootes Diesel Division in later years) and it is his 84th birthday tomorrow (20th July).
Cheers from NZ
Posted by Howard Pettigrew | July 20, 2008 8:19 AM
Posted on July 20, 2008 08:19
I think that I was the most fanatic commer man ever, I ran commer qx petrol's which at the time outclassed any other truck in it's class. people said that the TS3 could not fit in that chassis I proved them wrong. I total I fitted TS3's to AEC reliance coach AEC Mercery Tractor unit a Guy Warrior A Daimler road liner coach also a Dodge 6 wheeler, All worked very well. JAS
Posted by john a stapleford | July 31, 2008 12:16 AM
Posted on July 31, 2008 00:16