Finally......I got a screamer!

No, not a new missus. But when she heard about this I almost needed a new one :

As a few of you know, I have owned a Commer Knocker for a little while and I have quite a soft spot for them. Since getting mine on the road (exhibit A)............



I have been subtly looking around for something else to fill the garage. As much as I would have loved something really old to throw on the back of the Knocker, the trip to Sandown in 2008 in it was the last straw for the motor and I almost have my new Knocker engine completed with what seem to be some of the last new parts available. Therefore I felt that I was in need of something a bit newer to cart the old girl longer distances. As much as I would have loved a 'REAL' truck (that was for you Swish ) storage issues at home and a fundamental lack of mechanical genius and funds meant that Diamond T, B model or White were out of the question.

However I had another passion that stemmed back to my childhood as my earliest memories of trucks were my Uncle taking me in his 4/71 powered Dodge cabbed Commer back in the early 70's. I originally put a notice on this forum and an add in 'The Land' trying to find my Uncles old truck and lo and behold, Pat 'MelonReo' Morris located it in Wauchope on the NSW mid north coast. It is owned by a collector and my Uncle has been to see it and has identified it as the same truck, but not for sale and heavily modified from the original. So close, but no cigar.

I then chased one that used to run around Sydney with a spread axle trailer up until about ten years ago when the original owner passed away. I managed to find it in Manilla near Tamworth (exhibit



As good as it was, it had a UD 5 cylinder 2 stroke in it (which just didn't sit right with me) and I heard that they were fairly hefty price wise for a rebuild. Also, the owner was a right knob so I decided to pass and keep my eye out. I was offered a few knocker powered ones but my heart lay with a Detroit and I figured that one day I just may stumble across one.

As you are probably guessing, I found one.A mate rang to tell me that he had seen '..........an old piece of pommy cr#p' like mine just near my work. A visit a few days later revealed a Dodge badged late cab Commer that originally came with the Cummins V8 (Dodge's had the Cummins and Commers ran the Knockers while Chrysler were phasing them out......). I nearly didn't go in but thought that it was worth a closer look. I was surprised to find that it had a 4/53 Detroit and automatic in it. It was outside a diesel spares outlet which was closed so I went back a few days later and was told that the owner of the business owned it after a failed deal and was planning to rebuild it. I offered my contact details if they needed bits and a few days later the owner called and said that he was thinking of parting with it. My boss came and had a look with me (his dad has a significant collection of restored trucks including a few of these Commers) and he then sent one of our employees with a Detroit background down with me to try and fire it up.

Exhibit C



We got it going for the first time in 18 months and when I commented that it seemed clean the owners employee told me that the motor had been fully rebuilt 4-6 years ago and had not worked since It sounds sweet!



Full air and power steering but the cab is rusted out. My boss has donated a turntable for it and another mate has offered me a rebuilt 15 speed road ranger for the right price. My boss picked it up with his Dads tilt tray and a very good mate is storing it for me until I can bring it home for a makeover. Hopefully it won't lower the value of his collection of American bred trucks too much .

Hope you enjoy it. Let the bagging commence

Stunning
GuddayM8

Gr8 pix
keep m cummin

Any screemer power is better than nun @ all
LOL

Twaz gunna suggest twould B a tuch slo with the auto but looks like U go n for the RR

it may seem small a 4-53 but @ leat U will B able to put it thru its paces n screem along

It should buff up A OK

Cya

[ch9787]

Thanks Swish, I was hoping it would be a 4/71 but it will still be good fun to drive. I thought that deep down, you'd like it.

Boody well done, Bruce.

Good job dude....The 4-53 is the noisiest screamer of them all !

Basil

It sounds brilliant and I can't wait to get it up and running, but it'll be at least a few years.

Any old photos of these with a neat paint scheme would be appreciated :

Well Bruce the big advantage of the 4/53 over the 71 is that the 53 does 2800 revs, if it's a bit slow you can always turn that Roadranger around to Overdrive.

That would be an idea, the heaviest load it'll have will be a trailer and the Knocker which is about 4.5 ton so it won't be too bad. Of course all I've ever wanted is two sticks but that will have to wait for another lifetime most likely.

youv,e now got a nice pair of knockers

I knew you liked the 2 Strokes Bruce, and the Commers, but I didn't know you were looking for one like this. I'd forgotten about this one at Arndell Park & it looks like it was still there when you found it. At the time they wanted too much for my Scottish wallet. I hope you got it at a better price. Will look quite the matched pair pulling the Knocker once it's done up.
Good luck, Stephen