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As recently as the 1980s, you might regularly encounter a medium-sized van that resembled an inverted soap-dish. The latter-day examples bore “Dodge” badging, but this commercial was known to almost all as “The Commer Spacevan”. And sixty years ago, it represented a significant departure for the Rootes Group and for British commercial vehicles

 

The original 1500 FC debuted in 1960 as the replacement for the Commer Express and a rival to the Bedford CA, the Thames 400E and the Standard Atlas – plus the equally new BMC J4. The forward-control body, designed by Steel Fisher, and independent front suspension represented a major change for Ryton even if the engine was the familiar 1,494cc Audax-series Hillman Minx unit.

 

Your friendly local dealer would further extoll the virtues of a track that was narrower at the front than at the rear - to ensure manoeuvrability for urban use -   and a choice of 16 body styles. The buyer could order hinged or sliding doors plus an additional side loading entrance – an option that Bedford did not offer on the CA. As for the body styles,  there was the “High Top Van, the “Chassis Cab Van”,  the 12-seater “Crew Bus” and the 14-seater “Contractor’s Bus” – not to mention the “Dropsider”, “Canopy Pick-Up” and “Bottle Float”.

 

Rootes progressively updated the FC, and it was the first van in its class available with a diesel engine. The Series 2 of 1961 boasted a 1.6-litre petrol unit as standard and the 2500 version of 1962 featured uprated suspension. By 1965 the renamed “PA1500/2500” was offered with either the new 1,725cc petrol or a Perkins 1.8 litre engines. There was even the option of automatic transmission – which was highly unusual for a commercial vehicle of that time.

 

However, 1965 also was “The Year of The Transit” – better to drive and as conventionally good-looking as a young Jim Dale. What helped to maintain PB sales was HM Government; in 1966 alone, the GPO placed a £400,000 order for 600 “Post Office Telephones” PAs.

 

Asides from government service, the Commer’s most famous role was probably as a motorhome. Coachbuilders across the UK appreciated its durability and how the body allowed for the possibility of installing six feet long transverse bed. If you look at virtually any picture of a 1960s or 1970s camping site, there will be at least one FC or PA. Bluebird Caravans Ltd. boasted that their Wayfarer could be used as a mobile office or ‘in emergencies as an extra bedroom when those unexpected guests turn up!’. Whether such individuals would ever return after being offered accommodation on the driveway was another matter.

 

In 1963 Autocar evaluated a “Four Berth De Luxe” devised by Commer. The firm proclaimed their in-house motor caravans were ‘The Perfect Holiday Home!’ for ‘Accommodation and transport worries’ were now in the past. The price was £927, plus £18 14s 6d for a cab heater and £37 7s 6d for a rear tent canopy. As for road manners, the writer was impressed at the way the PA could be ‘driven quite fast over really rough tracks, without the risk of smashing crockery’.

Perhaps the best-remembered of all the motorhomes is the “Auto-Sleeper”. The Worcestershire firm adopted an all-Commer policy until 1971 and buyers could specify between two to seven berths in their home from home. The equipment list even included a 24-piece cutlery for all models. By 1975 the list of extra included a “Rear Annex Tent” for just £79.84 and a free-standing table for a mere £2.43. There was also the facility to house a “Porta-Potti” in the rear offside wardrobe - a reminder of the sheer glamour that was a typical holiday of the period.

 

As for the standard vans, Rootes – and Chrysler UK from 1970 onwards – continued to face the major sales challenge from the Transit. Fleet buyers and small traders both appreciated how the Ford was also more straightforward to maintain than a Commer - not least because it did not require a crane to extract the motor via the front passenger door. The updated PB of 1967 with its alternator was a response to this upstart from Langley. By 1970 the De Luxe version even came with a cigarette lighter and hazard warning lamps as standard.

1974 saw the adoption of the popular “Spacevan” name, for none of its competitors could match its 200 cubic foot of load bay; the Commer was almost literally a “box on wheels”. However, by the mid-1970s it looked very dated as compared with the Transit the Bedford CF and the Leyland Sherpa.

 

August 1976 saw the Spacevan now wearing the faintly incongruous “Dodge” name, which was shared by almost all of Chrysler’s British-market commercial vehicles. Many drivers were probably more impressed by the electric windscreen washers and two-speed wipers than mere semantics. In 1977, the range gained a new black radiator grille, so that it could better compete with the Transit Mk. II and in that same year Commercial Motor reported on a £1.25m Post Office order for 1,185 Dodges. However, when the magazine tested the 2500 version in 1978, the scribe remarked:

 

We speculated at the time that if Chrysler had not been in financial difficulties, a replacement van would have no doubt been introduced. However, the Peugeot-Citroen takeover may see some changes. One wonders if the Post Office and other municipal undertakings will be so keen to buy Chrysler badged Peugeot vans instead of the PB.

 

PSA intended to cease Spacevan production in 1981, but the demands of British Telecom meant the final Spacevan left the factory in 1983 – several years after the launch of the Renault Trafic. By that time, it was part of the fabric of life in the UK, whether it delivered your milk or bread, or formed part of your collection of die-cast Corgi models. And the Commer also starred in one of the best-remembered public information films of the 1970s:

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