Editing Commer (section)

== History ==
[[File:Commer bus reg EO 634.jpg|thumb|Front of a 1909 Commer bus]]
This business belonged to Commercial Cars Limited, a company incorporated in September 1905 by directors [[Harry Charles Bailee Underdown|H C B Underdown]],<ref group=note>
In 1905, Underdown formed a small syndicate to try out and determine the commercial value of the Lindley automatic change speed gearbox. A four-ton motor lorry using the gearbox was made in a South London workshop and its success led the syndicate into giving birth to Commercial Cars Limited.

[[File:Commer in New York 1910 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Commer lorry, New York 1910<br>leading a parade of 400 Oldsmobile cars]]
In October 1917, Underdown was appointed Director of Agricultural Machinery at The [[Ministry of Munitions]] and the following biographical notes were published:
:Landowner, of 4,000 acres in Norfolk, a Governor of the [[Royal Agricultural Society of England|Royal Agricultural Society]], chairman of the commercial vehicle committee of [[Agricultural Engineers Association|ABRAM]], chairman of the general vehicle committee of the [[SMMT]], Director of:
:Direct United States Cable Co
:The Trinidad Oilfields
:[[Sheffield-Simplex|The Sheffield-Simplex Motor Works]]
* page 3, The Commercial Motor, 25 October 1917
</ref> barrister and director of [[Direct United States Cable Co]] with [[Horace Hutchinson|H G Hutchinson]] a director of [[Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation|Royal Exchange Assurance]]<ref>New Companies registered, p 1194, ''The Automotor Journal'' 23 September 1905</ref> to manufacture: commercial cars, omnibuses, [[charabanc]]s, fire engines and every kind of industrial vehicle.  In 1920, it was described as the first company to specialise in the manufacture of internal combustion industrial commercial vehicles.<ref>Commercial Cars Limited Prospectus ''The Times'', Tuesday, Jul 27, 1920; pg. 22; Issue 42473</ref> In order to go into volume production a site was bought in September 1905 at Biscot Road, [[Biscot]], [[Luton]].<ref>page 5, "Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle" – Thursday 19 October 1905</ref> Construction of extensive new workshops began on the five-acre site which was mostly complete by late 1906. Commercial Cars became a member of the [[Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders]] in August 1906.<ref>page 9, ''Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser'' – Wednesday 15 August 1906</ref> It was one of the first  manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom, its speciality being the ''Commer Car''.<ref>Commercial Cars, Ltd. ''The Times'', Saturday, Oct 09, 1926; pg. 9; Issue 44398</ref>

At Olympia's Commercial Motor Show in March 1907, Commer exhibited a motor-bus chassis with a 30–36 horsepower engine and a gearbox invented by Mr Linley, the works manager.<ref group=note>The new change speed gear(box) invented by Mr Lindley has its spur wheels in constant mesh and separate gears are engaged by a series of dog clutches. It is impossible to damage the gears when changing their ratios. A change is preselected and engaged by "disengaging the drive for an instant"</ref> Dog-clutches made the change rather than the spur wheels which remained in constant mesh. As well as the bus chassis Commer displayed a char-a-banc for thirty passengers and delivery vans being run by a substantial enterprise.<ref>page 5, ''Luton Times and Advertiser'' – Friday 15 March 1907</ref>

A new "large and powerful" lorry, E43, registration BM 787, took part in the Great Commercial Motor Trials in September 1907. It also had a constant mesh gearbox (Comer (sic) slogan—'dogs which bite with a click'). Unladen weight was (3.7 tonnes) 3 tons 13 cwt, the engine had four-cylinders, its output was 33 horsepower at 800&nbsp;rpm. It had four forward speeds and was driven by side chains. Length 20 feet (6 metres), width just over (2.1 metres) seven feet and height (1.76 metres) two inches under six feet. The platform was (3.6 metres) twelve feet long. The newspaper noted that a ''Commercars'' "chassis" was transporting passengers at Widnes.<ref>page 5, ''Luton Times and Advertiser'' – Friday 13 September 1907</ref>

Production of the first truck, the 3-ton ''RC'' type started in 1907. This was later modernized into the ''SC'' and so on through the ''YC'' range, which was also known as the "Barnet" series of trucks.<ref name="olyslager">{{cite book | ref = sbcv | title = A Source Book of Commercial Vehicles | publisher = Olyslager Organisation, Ward Lock Limited | location = London | date = 1972 | last = Miller | first = Denis N. | editor-first = Bart H. | editor-last = Vanderveen | isbn = 0-7063-1286-4 | page = 34 }}</ref> Their first<!--complete?--> bus was made in 1909. With the outbreak of the First World War the factory turned to the manufacture of military vehicles for the British Army, and by 1919 more than 3000 had been made.

Though obliged to undergo financial restructure in 1920 in the hope of avoiding creditors, the business was unable to avoid repayment of a debt of £75,000 due to the Treasury, raised in order to pay 60 per cent Excess Profits Duty on wartime activities. Eventually, after agreeing terms with the Receiver in 1925, Commer was bought in 1926 by [[Humber Limited|Humber]].<ref>Humber, Limited. ''The Times'', Thursday,  Dec 03, 1925; pg. 22; Issue 44135</ref> In 1931 Humber became a 60-percent-owned [[subsidiary]] of the [[Rootes Group]].

The Commer name was replaced by the [[Dodge]] name during the 1970s, following the takeover of Rootes by [[Chrysler Europe]]. After [[Peugeot]] purchased Chrysler Europe in 1978, the Commer factory was run in partnership with the truck division of [[Renault]], [[Renault Trucks]]. For some time, it continued to produce the Dodge commercial truck range with Renault badges, and there was a small amount of product development. Eventually, Dodge production was cancelled in favour of mainstream Renault models, and there was a switch to the production of Renault truck and bus engines in the early 1990s.

Many Commer vans and lorries are notable for being fitted with the Rootes [[Commer TS3|TS3]] [[internal combustion engine|engine]], a [[two-stroke engine|two-stroke]] diesel three-cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine, which came to be known as the "Commer Knocker" owing to the distinct noise it produced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commer.org.nz/TheProducts/motors/TS3Background/TS3Background.html |title=The TS3 |access-date=4 April 2015 |quote=The engine was a direct injection, high speed diesel engine with three horizontal cylinders, each containing two pistons. Each cylinder had specially designed ports to control the inlet of air and outlet of the exhaust which are controlled by the pistons. The pistons controlling the inlet ports are known as the air pistons (left-hand side of the engine), and the pistons controlling the exhaust ports are the exhaust pistons. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113132420/http://commer.org.nz/TheProducts/motors/TS3Background/TS3Background.html |archive-date=13 January 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Newer Commer vehicles had [[Perkins Engines|Perkins]] and [[Cummins]] diesel engines, and, less commonly, [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes]] diesel engines.<ref name="allpar">{{cite web|title=Dodge Spacevan / Telecom Van (Fargo F-series, Dodge K-series, Commer PA and PB vans) |url=http://www.allpar.com/squads/spacevan.html|work=Allpar|publisher=Allpar LLC|access-date=18 August 2010}}</ref>
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