A truck for every occasion

Long-time ACC reader Brent Ladyman in Western Australia has been busy over the past few years restoring the ‘C-model’-cabbed trucks you see above – namely two Commers and a Dodge.

The Dodge D2F on the right was Brent’s first project and is powered by a 6-354 Perkins. She is used as the main farm truck with the tipper proving useful when filling the combine seeder. The ‘Dodge’ badge gave Brent a lot of trouble as he tried to source the letters. He eventually turned to a mate and sign-writer who did the computer artwork based on the Commer badge. The letters were then laser cut in 6mm brass before being chromed. The results speak for themselves and, as Brent said,

“Total cost $130. Bargain.”

The next project was the yellow Commer (a CB, I believe). Originally operated by a local transport company in Katanning, the truck is powered by a Vale Cummins 185hp V8 diesel. As you might guess by the red beacon on the driver’s side, the CB serves as Brent’s fire fighting unit and is equipped with a slip-on tank and pump (can just see the tank in the photo).

Finally, the truck on the left is a CE built between 1968 and 1974 and powered by a TS3 215 Knocker driving through a six-speed box (makes it a CEGV?). The engine was reconditioned with the kind help of Kiwi Knocker expert Mark Erskine. The VC cab shown in the photo will be used for this truck as the original was too far gone. Double headlights will replace the singles and an original flat floor will be fitted. There is apparently still a lot of rust to repair but this truck is well on the way to joining Brent’s fleet.

Post-war Commers are proving to be very popular to restore and it is great to see the attention this important make is receiving particularly the later-cabbed models.

Thanks to Brent for the photos and info and to Howard Pettigrew’s Commer Connections for its help with my model guesses!