Classic & Vintage Commercials

Classic & Vintage Commercials magazine is dedicated to heavy commercial vehicles. Focusing on the truck manufacturers from the heyday of road haulage over the past eight decades. Take a trip down memory lane with Britain’s best-selling classic road-haulage magazine. From reader’s restorations and recollections to company histories and archive images, you’ll find a welcome mix of nostalgia and news and even some classic trucks for sale.

Comment

HEADLESS WONDER • Poor durability and reliability mean that very few lorries with Leyland’s monobloc 500 engine have survived. Tom Pemberton, however, was determined to own one as a reminder of a similar lorry that he drove in the late 1970s. Peter Simpson begins a three-part purchase and restoration story.

NEWS

PD's archive • No matter how many changes come about in the road transport industry there are always plenty of vehicles and haulage firms to appeal to lorry enthusiast. True, it’s inevitable that many, especially older, enthusiasts reminisce about the ‘good old days’ when Britain was a leading producer of all kinds of commercial vehicles but every generation has lived through major changes. People probably mourned the end of steamers back in the late twenties and early thirties or the progressive transition from petrol to diesel that followed later.

WHITE ROAD COMMANDER 2 • For a brief period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, stateside White Trucks were sold in the UK. Peter Davies begins a two-part look at what was on offer

TONY KNOWLES COLLECTION • Since the late 1980s, the Tony Knowles historic lorry fleet has been an integral part of the preservation scene. Now, though, it’s time for 30 of the older lorries in the collection to find new homes.

TERRIFIC TRADER • As we saw last month, Austin & Arthur own two AWD Thames Traders which worked together from the early 1970s right up to 1994. This is the other one, registration DNK813B. It has not been restored, and though not completely identical to HHX, it shows pretty well how this restoration started.

Letters

130 YEARS ON

STANDARD'S SALVATION • Shaun Russell’s 1959 Standard 10 6cwt van probably survived due to a severe accident early in its life, and visitors to the 2025 National Restoration Show will have seen it pre-restoration. Today, however, it looks somewhat better.

LLANDUDNO FESTIVAL OF TRANSPORT • As usual, the Llandudno Transport Festival held over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend of May 2-4 attracted strong support from exhibitors and visitors alike.

WISBECH & DISTRICT ROAD RUN • Cars, Motorcycles, lorries and a solitary bus all came together for this regular August run around North Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire. Our Editor took part too!

BIDDENDEN TRACTOR FEST 2026 • Though primarily a tractor event as the name implies, Biddenden Tractor Fest in the heart of Kent usually attracts a good selection of commercials as well.

ERF KV Models • Pt2: Mike Neale continues his look at shelf-sized KVs.

KENT AND SUSSEX TRANSPORT

THOMAS ALLEN CARTAGE (AND TWO RON SMITHS)

EVENTS DIARY • This diary has been compiled using information supplied to Kelsey Media’s events diary partner Publishing-works. To get your event included in this listing, which is shared across all relevant titles within Kelsey Media, send details to Sue Fixter; sue@publishing-works.com

A TALE OF TWO ERFs • Evesham-based Rob Shepherd has owned his 1965 ERF KV from new; first as an operational vehicle, then in preservation. When he was operating his haulage business, the ERF box van next to it belonged to a local parts supplier and called round regularly. He now owns them both…

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