Commer, full stop

Sir,

I read with great interest David Bryant’s letter (June issue) on Commer’s T35 engine (the T stands for Terrant, the Canadian designer).

It was a unit widely used in Australia because of a fundamental government foul-up whereby the engine was given a 12hp rating. Thus one could license an eight-ton truck at the same rate as an Austin Devon, which the Aussie truck driver thought was marvellous.

I arrived here in 1967 and did a course on these engines with a mining company in the north-west The trucks were fitted with elongated trays to accommodate drilling rig tubes used in exploration. The engine was also widely used in fishing boats because they were easy to keep cool and relatively cheap to run although very noisy. They were, by the way, called ‘Knocker Commers’ for obvious reasons .

Since I seldom get hold of your highly esteemed publication, I would like to say the standard is still as it was in the 1960s, in those days when Bill Boddy had a passion for the Beetle. I used to be connected with Reg Gabbins, Trevor Taylor and Dave Wyn William when we were running East Anglia club racing. We actually put a V8 Buick lump in a Ford Anglia making it go round Brands for the first time was a story in itself .

I am,Yours etc,

Paul Needham, Carnamah, Western Australia