Where does one begin with badge-engineering? How best to explain what we’re looking at here? It’s a 1957 Commer Express, and readers will all be aware that by the 1950s Commer belonged to the Rootes Group, which also built passenger cars under the affordable Hillman, upmarket Humber and sporty Sunbeam brands plus, from 1956, the mid-range Singer. Commer and Karrier were Rootes’ two main commercial vehicle brands, the former making vehicles for private businesses and the latter for municipal purposes.
Rootes did not begin badge-engineering in earnest until it introduced the Audax range of models – the Hillman Minx, Singer Gazelle and Sunbeam Rapier – for 1956, but prior to that the practice had been ongoing between Hillman and Commer for some years. The low-priced Minx was the mainstay of the Hillman range from 1932 to 1970, and since the canny Rootes brothers, William and Reginald, were not oblivious to the marketability of light vans to small businesses and tradesmen, it was 1933 when Commer brought out its first car-derived 8cwt van, with chassis and front-end styling identical to the Minx.
The Minx chassis allowed for a payload of 8cwt and it ensured that Rootes was never without a light
