Commer Q2: Truck, 15-cwt, 4x2, Van

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Mr. Anderson's Commer Q2 30-cwt truck was sold to a Mr. Steve Williams:

The Anderson 30-cwt Q2 was recently sold on to Kevin:

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[KevinHann]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

The Anderson 30-cwt Q2 was recently sold on to Kevin:

Attachment 116348

Just a Hello from me, I have just joined the forum and this is my Commer. She is proving to be a difficult one at the moment, the restoration is well underway but getting her to start and run are troublesome.

We will keep at it though, we spent an awful lot if time finding a wartime Commer, we have other Rootes vehicles too, but our aim is to preserve rare Commers and Hillmans of this period.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by KevinHann

Just a Hello from me, I have just joined the forum and this is my Commer. She is proving to be a difficult one at the moment, the restoration is well underway but getting her to start and run are troublesome.

We will keep at it though, we spent an awful lot if time finding a wartime Commer, we have other Rootes vehicles too, but our aim is to preserve rare Commers and Hillmans of this period.

Hello Kevin, welcome on here.

Here’s another photo of your truck taken by Dave Boxall at the Southsea 50th anniversary D-Day show at the end of May 1994.

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Les Clanchy wrote: “Commer Q2 15cwt warming van being used to warm up the engines and de-ice the cockpit windscreen of a Hudson belonging to 233 squadron (Coastal Command) at Thorney Island, 19th January 1942“

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by KevinHann

Just a Hello from me, I have just joined the forum and this is my Commer. She is proving to be a difficult one at the moment, the restoration is well underway but getting her to start and run are troublesome.

We will keep at it though, we spent an awful lot if time finding a wartime Commer, we have other Rootes vehicles too, but our aim is to preserve rare Commers and Hillmans of this period.

Kevin's restoration is progressing nicely: https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/42848-1942-...t-restoration/

Finally some better weather, had to move our shed around so the Commer was moved out into the yard.
All the welding is now finished on the cab, plenty of rot has been cut out, fabricated and welded. Onwards with filling and rubbing down.
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Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/521975...h/51920228898/

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by KevinHann

Just a Hello from me, I have just joined the forum and this is my Commer. She is proving to be a difficult one at the moment, the restoration is well underway but getting her to start and run are troublesome.

We will keep at it though, we spent an awful lot if time finding a wartime Commer, we have other Rootes vehicles too, but our aim is to preserve rare Commers and Hillmans of this period.

Meanwhile, Kevin has finished the restoration of this Commer Q2 30-cwt truck - see more photos here: https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/42848-1942-...comment=499556

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Found some more pictures in this documentary: RAF Coastal Command (1944)

It shows two RAF Commer 15-cwt Vans (one with census number RAF 4722) in use at Royal Air Force Station Reykjavik, where "Coastal (Command) anti U-boat Squadrons in Iceland have two main jobs. (...) Intermittently, over various periods American squadrons both Army and Navy, have cooperated in this work", as per the voice over.

We see aircrew scrambling "off to a job", board a Commer which then drives off to the flight line:

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[Alex van de Wetering]

Kevin,

I promised on HMVF to post some pictures of your Commer in a previous life...so I have attached them here and will also upload them to HMVF later on.
The pictures were taken by my dad, in Haarlem (Netherlands) 7 May 1995.

The Commer also appears in this youtube movie (not mine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZCoFjUP0Ao

Trouble is we all know that wartime Commers are very rare but we will keep looking cause you just never know what will turn up one day. Be it a 15cwt RAF van or a Q4 3 tonner we would be interested to hear and be keen to save another wonderful vehicle of this marque.

I think you should check the forum, as I seem to remember there has been a Commer project mentioned here on the forum before.

Commer-Haarlem 1995-1.jpg Commer-Haarlem 1995-2.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

I promised on HMVF to post some pictures of your Commer in a previous life...so I have attached them here and will also upload them to HMVF later on.
The pictures were taken by my dad, in Haarlem (Netherlands) 7 May 1995.

The Commer also appears in this youtube movie (not mine)

Excellent, Alex! Great to see photos and footage of this particular truck.
The first picture shows Jim Anderson behind the steering wheel. I have tried to share them with his son, but his email address is no longer valid.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Some details of a rare surviving 1939 civilian Q25 Lorry. It may well have been used by the armed forces during WW2.

From the National Transport Trust, May 2021:
"This Commer was restored by Roger Turpin from Gedney in Lincs. Purchased as a dismantled chassis cab in October 2018 as the classic ""basket case"" and found to be missing many parts. Through the help of a sympathetic land owner a second very rotten Q2 was obtained and sufficient axle/brake parts were present to make the restoration a possibility to it's original form.
It is said to be the earliest Q2 in existence. It is chassis number 12A0042 which is dated June'39, the model first appearing in April'39. Many of these vehicles were impressed by HM Govt in Sept '39 and were subsequently lost in France in 1940. Traces of RAF blue were found when the cab and panels were taken back to bare metal.
Stage one is complete as the Commer has been returned to ""flat bed"" configuration, engine rebuilt along with all brake equipment. Once cab internals finished, vehicle could be driven.
Stage two, planned for this winter, is the completion of cab interior and the mounting of a 500 gallon tank to the rear bed. this would be in the style of a kerosene delivery vehicle of the period."

It has changed hands recently and is now in the care of Alexander Scott in the UK. While this had a six cylinders engine originally, it is now fitted with a more modern engine and gearbox and is driven regularly.

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