Greetings John H. Andy W has just pointed me in the direction of these photos. I didn't know of Pearse's but they are great shots. Was this Gill's at Huntly or Auckland. Bryan Gill (son of the founder) was still selling trucks recently but I heard he is not well so am not sure now. They were selling remanufactured TS3s in the early 1980s for $5000. I know someone who has one still wrapped in its plastic. These were motors that Rootes Group felt weren't up to scratch but after Chrysler took over and found them 'out the back' they had them put them out with derated F.I. pumps (125 bhp). Of course, people quickly reset the pumps back to 135 bhp and then they didn't last the distance with leaking liners, etc. In their little museum at their dealership at Papatoetoe in Auckland, Gills still have the plate that states that the motor they had was the last TS3 made, but it is pretty worthless without the motor!
The first photo shows 2 CA models (first of the larger cab - 1962-64) then a Mk IV CDY and a Mk III (1956/57 - first of the TS3 powered Commers) followed by a later Mk III interim (1957/58) which is probably petrol (no pre-cleaners at the back of the cab) then a later C series followed by a Mk IV petrol / diesel?
The second picture is possibly earlier as the two CAs are there but not the later C series. 4 Mk IIIs around the Commer van - I had two of these - this is a 62-64 1600cc model with the roughly made grille which was hastily introduced to overcome an overheating on the early models.
There are two interesting artic units in this photo. It looks like the one to the right is a petrol which would have been working hard. The Mk IV behind the orange van looks like a tractor / trailer unit.
I would love to use these photos on my Commer website at
www.commer.org.nz
If you wanted to get in touch, you could contact me at howard.pettigrewATxtra.co.nz
Cheers and thanks
H
PS The narrow wheelbase on the PA and PB van was to allow for the sliding doors on the early models. They were a gutless but easy to work on van, probably the best of the bunch at the time until the Transit came along. They were a real Rootes parts bin special with a Humber Hawk rear diff and lots of bits from the car range in the front end. They were actually kept in production longer than intended as the GPO put in a huge order for more in England. Not too many left now as if you spat on them, they rusted. I had to glue the roof back on, on my first one with Bondy! Starting to fetch big prices in NZ
