A rare utility/pickup truck based on Hillman/Commer mechanicals.

Phil dropped me a line, after reading about various old Bedford utes elsewhere on this website. Many Australian-bodied utes, or coupe utilities to give them their full name, were based on the front end panelwork and running gear of British vehicles, and fitted with locally-produced pickup, or 'ute', bodywork. The Commer ute shown here shares much of its basics with the sidevalve Hillman Minx saloons of the 1950s.

Commer MkIV utility

"Hi there, some great pics on the site ..... but I have a vehicle that is not represented, and it is very rare. It is a 1950 Commer Utility, apparently only sold in Australia and only a few hundred made, with about 2-3 driveable ones left in the country. Mine is very original, as sold by original owner about 1995 as far as I can figure out.

It has the original sidevalve engine, as per Hillman Minx Phase IV. Apparently they were shipped to Australia as parts, and built by hand here on a van chassis. The back end is a wooden frame, you can see some nail holes in the back quarter near the filler neck. I took to this ute initially because it has a coupe style roof with the little side window. The window was deleted in the next model as it reduced the load space. A shame really as the later ones looked much less stylish and more functional. You don't see that style much in the 50's, nor the little sidevalve engine, so it feels more like an early forties car than a fifties one."

Thanks for sending the photos Phil! if anyone else has a rare ute they'd like to see featured on OCC, please get in touch :-)

More stories about cars, vans and pickups belonging to visitors to oldclassiccar can be found here.

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