My 1957 Cob Van

Hi Everyone

This is my little Commer Cob, now we are talking rare, only 3 are known to survive in the world, mine and another one in the UK and one in Norway ...

I can tell you more if you want more info ....









Thanks Gary

In the mid '60's my Dad used two Commer Cob roofs to make an Aussie equivalent of a Doormobile tilting roof for a split window Kombi.

We took the van to Europe and drove 18,000 miles in 8 months before bringing it home again.

If I can find a photo I'll post it up.

My sister had a Cob in around 1969 the same colour as yours.

Good little car in the right environment.

My parents also had one when I was only a few weeks old and my Mum rolled it in a ditch beside a road in the middle of NSW. I was sleeping in the rear on a matress. Seems I survived OK.

They tipped it back on ts wheels and drove the 300 miles to Sydney for repairs.

Hi Zuffen

Great story, love to see the photos, I suspect it may have been the later Cob ?, mine is the very first model a MKI Side-valve, a few more of the others survive with larger OHC engines, the Series 1,2 and 3 ( I also have a SII Cob ). Mine MKI is in Cactus Green so I called him Spike

Thanks Gary

Wow, that didn't just survive, it looks like it thrived. Neat little buggy. The rear window and roof line looks very similar to a VW. Feel free to give us a little history lesson. - Paul

Hi Paul
You will be shocked at the photos below as found, The Rootes Group tried a double skin rear body, they just trapped moisture and rusted just for fun ...









The MK1 Cob is a rare commercial, it is definately on the endangered species list, good ones can be counted on one hand, These cute little MK1 cob vans are so scarce that you will be extremely lucky to ever see one on the road today, or even at a classic car day. I typed in the word ‘Cob’ on the internet and it refers to a horse term ... A name given not to a breed, but a type, saying it is small but of stout build, with strong bones which is why Rootes chose the name.

The MK1 Cob was introduced in February 1956, being based on the Hillman Minx MKVIII saloon but had 9 inches taken out of the wheelbase, a very short overhang at the rear made the cob another 5 inches shorter than the saloon. The Saloon had a generous boot ( trunk ) that gave it a less squat look, but I quite like the short look of the MK1 Cob, it makes it much more appealing, dating it to the era in which it was made, the era we now want a commercial from. As with most small light commercials back then, they shared the front half of the saloon body to maximise production, in this case, the Cob shared the whole body with the Hillman Husky. The Husky was the estate version, and without the early Minx MKVIII saloon and Husky there would not have been any Commer Cob vans. The MK1 Cob has some very precious metal today, I bet any body panels if they could be found, would be more expensive than Gold per ounce, sad fact is ... Gold is still readily available, Cob tin is not.

The MK1 had a 1256cc sidevalve engine which had a power output of 37.5bhp, a four speed gearbox with syncromesh on the top three gears, it could reach 60mph given enough time!!. The Cob had the Morris Minor, Austin A35, Thames 300E and Standard 6cwt vans as it’s rivals when released. It was expensive to buy at £441 for a basic 7 cwt van in primer, if the customer wanted a gloss paint finish it was another £10. The colours Rootes listed for the Cobs were : Golden Beige, Thistle Grey, Cornish Blue and Cactus Green with all the Cob vans having red interiors which looked great with the white steering wheels. Rear vision was much better than most of it’s rivals, only the A35 had the same large rear window and side hinged door which was good for loading, payload was 7cwt with 47 cu ft of load space. Like most light commercials small luxuries were nearly always optional extras, the Cob was no different. Summer wasn’t a problem, ducting pipes were directed from behind the radiator grille into the cab, operated by pulling a lever, but for those cold winter mornings a heater had to be purchased as an optional extra along with : extra pipe to cool the passenger, front and rear overriders, drivers side sun visor, passenger seat, ashtray, chrome wheel rimbellishers and a roof rack.

The MK1 Cob had Lockheed hydraulic drums all round, front suspension double wishbone arms, coil springs and lever shock absorbers. The first Commer Cobs were introduced in 1956 and were replaced in January 1958 with the Series I.


Thanks Gary

Great story and beautiful van WOW

Absolutely amazing what that van started out like and the piece of art it is now. Quite the transformation indeed. Thank you for the history and for restoring another gem especially a rare gem like this one.

Hi Space Truckin / Vanny

Thanks ...

Gary

Custardtart cool rig I think it's awesome what you have done restoring it. When you first posted I thought to myself that looks like a Hillman (my grandparents had one in the early 60's) . Bill

Welcome and thanks for the story!
There were a few Hillmans around San Diego in the 70s.
I tired to get a wagon out of wrecking yard back then, but was too young/broke.
A panel nearby had been stuffed with a 289 Ford, ala a Sunbeam Tiger. That one ended up getting chopped a couple inches. Turned out nice.
Never knew about the Comer version. I was exposed to a lot of euro cars, but you Brits always seemed to have yet another little cottage manufacturer that slapped it's name on something the the big 20 or so had built then call it something else. JOKING!!!
It does seem that we had a great winnowing of mfgrs in the 30s and again in the late 50s. The UK seemed to avoid that until the 60s. Of course, it did allow for such lovely things as Lotus and TVR....

Custardtart,

Finally found a photo. This was taken in Switzeralnd in June/July 1962,

We had hundreds of slides of our trip to Europe but my mum and sister (standing beside my mum) turfed them out about 5 years ago and only kept a few of them.

Am I pissed off. Yep.



You may be able to identify the series roof from the line running down the length of it.

There's an added section of steel below that line to make the roof taller.

I would suspest it's a Series I as the roof was built in 1965 so finding two roofs to join from a SII may have been a big ask.

Hi Zuffen

Thanks for the photo but this looks like a VW, not a Commer Cob.

Gaz

Gaz,

I'm aware it's a Kombi. 1958 model if I remember correctly. My dad had perhaps 15 VW vans in his TV service business over the years so it's hard to remember the year model.


Actually the first vehicle I legally drove on the raod was a Kombi.

The roof on the van isn't a Doormobile (it looks like one) but it's two Cob roofs welded together. We couldn''t get Doormobiles in Australia and I don't think the old man could afford an 8 month tour of Europe and a new Doormobile in the UK.

Gary -

That is one nice ride you have there, what color did you use?

Mighty fine ride there, Gary. Thanks for the history lesson and the photos. I've always liked the old British motorcars.