Love Instruction...

An interesting part of owning a new and different vehicle is trying to understand how it works. With owning two Bedfords, I now have user manuals, parts maunals and a handy workshop training manual to help with any problems and the workings are fairly well understood. However - the Commer? Er, no idea. Yes - it's a green truck but quite a bit is different to the Bedfords, in detail if not style.

I managed to pick up an unused workshop manual on eBay just before I bought 519 and then got hold of the military and civil defence parts manuals from LW Vass when I popped in a few days ago - these were the last two and had been sat on a shelf since they sold most of the AFS Commers which were disposed of in the late 1990s and early 1990s, hence the 'do not sell' note on one of them!

Just the user manual to find now.....

Love at first sight...

After yesterday's truckin' across the UK, today's job was to get 519 unloaded and into the shed.

Unloading was simple enough, although nerve-wracking given that the foot brakes don't currently work and the hand brake is weak to say the least! Still, with Tony's gentle guidance, 519 eased down the ramps and onto the concrete.

I then spun it round across the concrete pad so I could unpack the Ikea-style flatpack bodywork on the back! As promised and confirmed by a cursory check yesterday, it was all there - tail board, side boards, corner posts, hood sticks (with hose layer adaptations) and the centre partitions. Excellent! Now just to wrestle with the bits and get them back on.....:

Once that was done, out came the pressure washer and years of grime and dust were blown away, as were a few birds nests underneath!! The finished result looks much more pleasing.....!

Once that was done, 519 was moved inside and over the pit in the workshop so that some oil could be removed from the engine, which had been over-filled. In the end, I guess about 2-3 litres were dropped, and I almost kept my hands and arms oils free!!

This did give a great chance to see how good the engine access is on a Q4 compared with the Bedford RL where you have to fold yourself around the cab in various contortion exercises!

Before it was put to bed, I also had a good nose around to see some of the other features of this strange vehicle! It is like a complete time warp, it having only really had two owners since it was in AFS service, service to the nation which finished in 1989 with only 600 miles on the clock.

The 'flared nostrils' look at the front:

The cosy but well laid out cab with additional, more modern AFS switches on the drivers side:

The four wheel drive controls with low and high range and front axle de-clutch unit:

The original trim intact and unmolested, including the headlining:

The proof that it's hardly even broken in!! Just 1,742 miles since 1954......:

It may well be a good few months now until more progress is made, but please do keep watch on the restoration of this fascinating and increasingly rare vehicle!

Truckers Delight...

So, on the appointed day, I found myself in Suffolk, leaving towards the A14 in a classic 1969 Atkinson Borderer towing a low-loader, bound for Wiltshire.

A good run down with no traffic, we arrived at lunchtime, to be met and guided in the last few miles of country roads by the current owner, Adam and his son.

We pulled into the conveniently located pub car park almost opposite to the farm, then wandered down the road to see the old Commer Q4 in the flesh for the first time. As the tarps were pulled back, the vehicle underneath was revealed, in all it's complete but slightly faded glory. All there, a time warp.

As we gazed, the heavens opened so we retreated to the house for coffee and cookies. Well, I say house, the current owner lived in a fantastic classic Commer horse box converted into a cosy and snug living van!

With the shower past and the V5 signed and torn apart, we went back outside to see about moving the Q4 through the field and back to the road for loading. Gingerly, I started it and remembering that there were no brakes, shunted it back and forth to turn it round. A bit of rear wheel slip and a realisation that the front axle declutch handle wasn't in properly - ah, yes - four wheel drive now. So then, at magnificent low range snail's pace, the Q4 wandered across the fields with me hanging on in the curiously small cab and towards tarmac for the first time in a while. Back into two wheel drive, then  into the car park for loading.

A bit of prior homework had suggested that the Q4 was the same length as the Bedford RLs that the AFS also used (in greater numbers). However - how could that be? If the body is the same length, the Q4 has a bonnet, so it must be longer? Anyway, the front overhang is less and the rear greater, so rearwards on the trailer was the order of the day....

Lined up and ready for winching:

On the ramps:

Safely on!

It fits perfectly - front and back:

So, once it was lashed down, it was ready for the off, back to Suffolk:

The run back was longer with the traffic and fuel stops, including on the M25:

We arrived back late in the evening, happy and ready for a glass of wine or three.....!

The Winner Takes it All...

So, 9 days later, I was sat by the computer on a Wednesday evening, watching the minutes tick by until the end of the auction. Would I win? Would I be sniped at the the last second?

In short, no! The bid which I had made and which crept over the reserve stood - and I was the winner, and thus the proud owner of a an ex-AFS Commer Q4. Exciting times. What now?

Below are a few of the pics from the eBay advert, showing a pretty much complete vehicle, flat-packed for ease of storage:

eBay.....

eBay has a lot to answer for.....!

Already having a couple of other ex-Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) vehicles (a green goddess PGW 326 and a Bedford RL petrol carrier GYL 32C), did I really need another in my life. Not really. Two is enough. Happy days.

(You can follow the progress of these vehicles - http://pgw326.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://afspetrolcarrier.blogspot.co.uk/)

Then, there was that fateful day in mid-May 2014 when browsing some of my saved eBay searches (AFS, Commer Q4...) I spotted the following advert:

Seemed like a nice vehicle and a few others on RSOLES (the online AFS and Bedford RL community) saw it. And that was that. Happy days.

But, something was gnawing away.... I had (foolishly) commented a few times that whilst you see many ex-AFS vehicles around, they are mainly the Bedford green goddesses and Bedford RLs trucks. You never see a Commer Q4. Wouldn't it be nice if you did??

Was it time to put my money where my mouth was?

A quick chat with a friends suggested that transport and storage might be available, so perhaps I should bid?

I mulled over it, then saw that only a few hours into the 10 day auction, a couple of others had. So, I entered the fray and placed a bid, setting it straight away at my maximum. 9 days is an awfully long time to wait!!