JANUARY UPDATE

Our Commer WINS TROPHY!! in South Australian Car Show.

After crossing into South Australia we spent the rest of January exploring some of the states beautiful towns and we met many fantastic and some very interesting people along the way.

From Ceduna we moved down to Streaky Bay then onto Whyalla,  again the thermometer soared into the high thirties so we decided to head south once more back to cooler weather.
On the way to Adelaide we stopped for a couple of days at Port Pirie which has the worlds largest Lead smelter and quite an attractive town "apart from the smelter of course."
From there we moved onto Adelaide and spent the next 4 days taking in the sights.  During a bush walk in the hills east of Adelaide Amanda, our wildlife photographer, took some great shots of Koalas in their natural environment.  We also visited the National Motor Museum and were given privileged parking on the forecourt.
With the Australia day long weekend now upon us we had to leave Adelaide as all caravan parks were pre booked out and the holiday rush had set in.
So we moved on to Waitinga beach on the south coast and set up a camp in the bush to spend a further 4 days and "wait" out the holiday peak time.  This lull in our travelling gave me some time for some maintenance and the Commer got a well needed oil and filter change and her many nipples greased.

We ended the month in Victor Harbor, a very pretty town and popular tourist destination with steam trains, horse drawn tram and paddle steamers nearby just to mention a few of the towns attractions.
It is a beautiful place to visit, so we stayed a week.  During our stay the Historical Vehicle Club of  SA was holding a Classic/Vintage car show and a Vintage Auto Jumble.  So, after a good clean up and a trip to the Auto Parts store for some polish we decided to enter the Commer and see what the locals would think of her.
There were many beautifully restored and unique vehicles on display and i didn't expect to win any of the categories with such a high quality display of vehicles present.  However interest from the locals had kept me busy answering questions and showing people over her.
Whilst drinking a coffee in the canteen area i was very surprised to hear the PA announce that the "owner of the Commer Bus from WA" was required at the winners tent.  It was a very proud moment to receive the trophy from the president of the HVCSA and from the boys at Shannons classic car insurance. We won "Best Commercial Vehicle" an unexpected victory especially with some of the older and very unique vans and light trucks on display.
A great way to end our stay at Victor Harbor.
.

The only Commer on show here!

Well spotted Amanda.

Vintage Tram, Victor Harbor

The proud winners!!!

At the show.

Distance since leaving home 2765 Miles
No major mechanical problems as yet. The 1724cc Rootes motor is chugging & tapping away happily. "TOUCH WOOD!"

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Crossed the Nullarbor

10th-13th January 

Crossed the Nullabor Plain.

One section of the Plain,
perfectly straight and flat for 90miles.

We have just successfully crossed the Nullabor,  A 1200klm arid desert plain that spands from Norseman in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia with only a hand  full of roadhouses in between. Our fully loaded old Commer performed admirably.  With no fresh water supplies freely available for the full 1200klm we were extra heavily loaded with 100liters of water and extra fuel on board.  We tried to maintain our full cruise speed of 75-80kph (50MPH) for 8 hours on the first day and for 5 hours per day on days 2,3,4.  Hills and strong head winds slowed us down considerably at times but all in all it was a great trip.  We witnessed a few modern cars and 4wd vehicles that failed along the way and had to complete the crossing on the back of recovery lorries albeit after very long waits on the side of the hwy for help.
We spent the nights camped in some desolate but beautiful places.  We spent one night parked on the edge of a cliff in the Great Australian Bight enjoying the spectacular scenery, and a couple of  nights camped on the plain.
We saw wild horses and a Dingo curiously circled one of our campsites.  Amanda shot a great photo of a Wedgetail Eagle that swooped in front of our slow moving bus.  It was a great relief to finally reach Ceduna under our own steam as vehicle recovery costs on the Nullabor are extremely high and many abandoned vehicles can be seen along its length.
We will rest in Ceduna for the next few days and clean up our now very dirty and dusty old bus before moving on to explore SA.

Wedgetail Eagle

The Nullabor through our eyes.

SA, WA Border

Plenty of large trucks for us to get in the way of.

Is it a highway or a zoo?

Coastal camp site.

Camp Sunrise. 

NULLABOR IS FROM LATIN MEANING,
NULL - NO
ABOR- TREES

There are trees, as you can see in the pictures,  just not very many.

Distance since leaving home - 1480miles

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December Update

 lake Dumbleyoung in the background where Donald Malcolm Campbell set a water speed record in 1964

Distance since leaving home 567miles

After a fantastic time visiting family and friends for Christmas we made our way towards Esperance exploring some of the massive salt lakes along the way. We camped a night at Lake Dumbleyoung made famous by Donald Malcolm Campbell's world famous water speed record in 1964 of 276.3 MPH. 

The lake, now almost totally dried out was a beautiful and interesting rest point but with the day time temperature exceeding 40%C it was nice to head south again and back towards the coast. 

The Commer has found the heat hard going and highlighted the need for an electric fuel pump to be fitted to reduce the annoying fuel vapor locks on hot days that make engine restarts very difficult.  The heatwave WA is experiencing at present is a good initiation for us as we prepare to cross the Nullabor Plain "684miles of arid desert country" in the old girl in the coming weeks.

Departing Nannup after XMAS with family.

Crossing Lake King

At 50MPH,   With thousands of Miles to go.
Are we there yet??
Are we there yet??

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DSLH -567Miles

The Adventure 
has began.

Having left our home on the 28th Nov, we are now at our bush campsite on privately owned vacant land near the Stirling Range National  Park and Porongurups.  We will spend the next two weeks here while Amanda completes her employment contract in the area before moving on to visit family in Nannup 160 miles away for Xmas.  From Nannup we will say goodbye to family and friends and make our way east.

Click here to view location map.

Distance since leaving home : 64 Miles.

Once a Bus now temporarily a Camper for our upcoming Australian road trip.

Some photos of the transformation.

 Interior out, again!

 Beds with storage & cupboards installed.

Sink installed with 60L tank in storage area under beds.

Wiring in progress,

Van wired with both 12Vdc & 240Vac power.

 Inverters, Generator & Solar power will also be

installed in the trailer.

More pictures to come!!,

What is a Commer 2500? pop facts & info

About Commer and the 2500 Van.

Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles which existed from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, military vehicles and buses. The Commer brand was exported widely, with examples, albeit collectors' vehicles, still running far from the UK manufacturing base.^{[citation needed]} Commer designed and built its own diesel engine for its heavy commercial vehicles.

Commer became known in later years as a maker of vans for the British Post Office—particularly the Commer FC which was introduced in 1960 with many body styles, including a 1500 cc van. After engine and interior upgrades it was renamed the PB "2500" in 1967 and the SpaceVan in 1974. As noted above, it would be sold as aDodge and Fargo model until 1976, when both Commer and Fargo names were dropped. These were rounded-front forward control vans with narrow front track—a legacy of their Humber car-derived suspension. Utilising at first the Hillman-derived 1500 cc 4-cylinder engine in the PA series, then the larger 1600 cc, and from 1968 onwards the 1725 cc unit in the PB, only the cast-iron-head version of this engine were used. A Perkins 4108 diesel was also available.

The "1725 cc engine" (as it is known; it actually displaces 1724 cc) was available in the 1970s with a Borg Warner (BW) Model 35 3-speed automatic transmissionwith a dashboard mounted selector. This was not a popular option and few were built.

The 4-speed gearbox on manual transmission models was based on those fitted to contemporary Hillman Minx (of the "Audax" generation) and later Rootes Arrowseries cars such as the Hillman Hunter.

An unusual feature of the model was that the handbrake operated on the front drum brakes.

One of the reasons that the van was less popular with fleet operators than the Bedford and Ford Transit models it sold against was that, as on the BMC J2 andJ4 models the forward-control design restricted access to the engine and made engine changes labour intensive: the only way to remove the engine without dropping the suspension subframe was to remove the windscreen and crane the engine out through the passenger door. A 1974 road test of a motor caravan version fitted with the 1725 cc engine reported a maximum speed of 70 mph (113 km/h) and a 0-50 mph (km/h) time of 25 seconds, indicating a higher top speed but, in this form, slower acceleration than the BMC competitor.^[15] However, the testers reported that at 70 mph the van was "plainly at its absolute limit, screaming away in a most distressing fashion":^[15] readers were advised to view 65 mph (105 km/h) as a more realistic absolute maximum.^[15] 

Pop Facts

The Commer 1500 and 2500 vans were available in many different configurations including Milk Floats,  Grocery Vans,  Delivery,  Light Buses, Ice cream Vans etc.

They were also widely used by British Telecom,  Police, Army and other Government agencies.

Did you know?.

World famous tour company CONTIKI started business in 1962 with this  Commer Light Bus.

The first CONTIKI TOUR Bus

The first CONTKI TOUR Passengers.

Some Commer Van variants.

Leisure

Ambulance

Buses

Removals

Fire Brigade

B.T

TV Detector

Restoring the Commer

Here we have some photos of the refurbishment of the Commer.  We found the vehicle in 2010,  it had been stored in an old barn for more than 15 years and had not been licensed for around 25 years.  She was in reasonable condition for her age and as rare as they are here in Australia now, we were determined to acquire her.
After 3 weeks of  negotiation/pleading with the owner who had no intention of selling, he finally agreed to let her go.

She Arrives

                                                                 

Rubbing back and repairing bodywork.

Adding undercoats

Removing the tired engine & transmission.

                                                         

With the trans removed first its a "just" fit through the drivers door.

Engine back overhauled, ready for painting & reassembly

Painted ready for completion and installation.

Fully assembled and craned back in, in my front yard "my neighbors, not amused"

Test firing the refurbished motor.

The original refurbished power plant.


Interior out

Inspecting Dads re-upholstering of the door trims.

Interior back in 

Wow! my own Bus!!

Interior finished, & First test run.

More pictures coming soon!!!