No Spare Parts...

Although it will be October before any work commences on the Commer, that's not to say that there isn't progress!

The brakes have been stripped - the front wheels are fine but needless to say the wheel cylinders are seized solid as the vehicle has been standing for some considerable time. So, they have been taken to Past Parts in Bury St Edmonds to be re-sleeved in stainless steel. The back brakes were a litte worse, the bearsing appear to have been over-greased so this has leaked out all over the shoes and drums. Aside from the similarly seized cylinders, this means the shoes will also need re-lining before re-fitting.

Also, deliveries of oil, grease and spark plugs have been made. As ever, Morris are the supplier:

Golden Film SAE 30 oil: http://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/golden-film-sae-30-classic-motor-oil.html

K42EP grease: http://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/k42ep-lithium-multipurpose-grease.html

Also, a new oil filter has been purchased - thankfully and unlike the green goddess where these are rare and expensive, these are the same as early 1960s series 2 Land Rovers so a fiver a pop!

Also, new Spafax VM2 mirrors have been sourced. I use these on the goddess and RL petrol carrier and they are great - they don't look too modern but are unbreakable, easy to fit and are slightly convex.

As usual, the front and rear sidelight bulbs will be replaced with LED bulbs.

Dawn of Possession...

So, after a couple of weeks, excitement today when the new V5 finally arrived showing me as the owner of 519 ELM. Happy days.

However, the next slight dilemma.....519 ELM was built in 1954 I think, as production of the Q4s stopped in 1955. However, the V5 states that it was registered in 1964, some 10 years later. Initially, I thought this might have been a mistake, however, the copy of the original log book provided by the previous owner shows that it was first registered to the Home Office in 1964. So presumably, it was stored prior to that. But, if it was indeed registered in 1964, it should have had a 'B' suffix registration, not the number and letter format that it has now, which ended in 1963..... Some Q4s did have 'B' suffix registrations, although not many. Strange. So, in fact it is a 'historic vehicle' as it was built pre-1960 but in fact is registered as a PLG (private light goods). So it should need an MOT? Nope, as supplied with it was a letter from the predecessor of VOSA dated 1994 saying that as it was built in 1954 but not registered until later, it is exempt from testing.

So - is there any benefit to getting the DVLA to change the taxation class to Historic, which would probably need a letter from the approved motoring club which holds the records? Or, leave as is?

Just checking a handy site on the origin of 519's number, of the letters ELM, the 'LM' part is the area identifier which places the area of registration to 'London North West'.

http://www.cvpg.co.uk/REG.pdf

Rootes Manuva...

Whilst not directly related to 519, the following book was quite interesting, knowing as I did nothing at all about Rootes Group commercial vehicles.

The Superpoise / Q4 range gets about two pages worth of a mention at the start of the book, as it goes on to examine the success and innovation of Commer vehicles, and then the slow demise in the 70s.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190834704X

Part of me....

Well, another few days have passed and another few parts have arrived.

Although the voltage regulator works at the moment, they are rather old (at least 50 years old!) so it may one day stop working. The original regulator on my green goddess didn't work when I got it, so was replaced by a modern, solid state regulator which were procured by the EFS at Marchington but seemingly never fitted. It has worked very well, so I thought I'd get another for 519 - if the original ever stops, off it will come!

Also, I dropped in today to see the owner of one of the last 'bikini' units still in existence and in anything like its original condition. This Commer-based vehicle carried inflatable rafts for use in fighting fires from the water, the rafts being steered by water jets created by the 'featherweight' pumps. A very pleasant afternoon chatting and poring over photos and the bikini unit itself, as Owen used to work for the EFS at Marchington managing the workshops, so is very knowledgeable on many aspects of the EFS and goddess fleet in the later years. Anyway, amongst the bits picked up was a Commer maintenance book, so that's now the set of manuals complete.

Now to use them to get 519 going again......!

You can see the current, original CAV regulator mounted on the dash panel to the left - the black box with wires coming out!

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.....!