
An odd quirk of the Commer FC: its handbrake worked the FRONT drum brakes, not the rear like almost every other vehicle.
Lead trim: FC 1,494 cc four (Hillman-derived)
Commer FCFC · 1960–1967
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Commer FC yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactAn odd quirk of the Commer FC: its handbrake worked the FRONT drum brakes, not the rear like almost every other vehicle.
The Commer FC was a forward-control commercial van introduced in 1960 in many body styles (including a 1,500 cc van), which Commer became known for as a maker of vans for the British Post Office; it replaced the Commer Express and was later renamed the PB in 1967 and the SpaceVan in 1974. These were rounded-front forward-control vans with a narrow front track, a legacy of their Humber car-derived suspension, using at first the Hillman-derived 1,500 cc four-cylinder engine in the PA series and then the larger 1,600 cc, with a Perkins 4108 diesel also available. The four-speed gearbox was based on those in the Hillman Minx (the 'Audax' generation) and the handbrake worked on the front drum brakes. The forward-control layout made engine access difficult, one reason the van was less popular with fleet operators than the Bedford and Ford Transit. The engine years within the range are not dated on the page, so all trims carry the generation's dates. Length 170 in (4,318 mm), width 75 in (1,905 mm). The page's History section carries a needs-more-citations notice.
Collectors Spotted in the Commer FC Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Commer FC yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC 1,494 cc four (Hillman-derived) | 1960–1967 | 1.5 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FC 1,592 cc four (Hillman-derived) | 1960–1967 | 1.6 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FC Perkins 4.99 diesel, 1,621 cc | 1960–1967 | 1.6 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs

Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.

Chevy pitched the Astro as the anti-minivan, telling buyers life was too big for one, while it rode on a rear-wheel-drive truck frame.

The IIHS rated the Astro Poor in a 1996 crash test, yet 2001–2004 Astros later had the lowest driver death rate of any US passenger vehicle.

The boxy, unglamorous Astro quietly posted one of the best real-world safety records in America: IIHS found 2001-2004 models had the fewest driver deaths per million vehicles of any passenger vehicle on US roads.

The third-generation Tourneo Connect, released in Europe in October 2021, is a rebadged fourth-generation Volkswagen Caddy, assembled by Volkswagen in Poland.

Ford beat the 25% "chicken tax" by importing the Transit Connect as a passenger van — rear windows and seats included, then stripped out and recycled once it landed in the US.

Ford spent years in federal court over the second-gen Transit Connect: in June 2019 the US won its appeal, and judges ruled the van was cargo-only — ending Ford's workaround for the 'chicken tax.'

GM sold a rebadged Nissan NV200 as the Chevy City Express for four years, then killed it in 2018, citing weak sales and the fact that its parts weren't even compatible with GM's own parts catalog.

Its name is a pun: "S-Cargo" means "Small Cargo" but sounds just like escargot — French for snail, the shape the whole van was built to resemble.