Meet The Morris Commercial Club

We all love the classic car scene but saving the nation’s commercial vehicles is arguably just as important.

The Morris Commercial club can trace its roots all the way back to the early 1950’s as the Morris Commercial Apprentices Association.

In 1994, a separate club, The Morris Commercial LC Register, which had been formed the previous year, saw the benefits of producing a joint magazine for both clubs. However,due to the challenges of incorporating the volume of articles and the extensive vehicle archive information, from both clubs, it was not until 1998, that a merger of the two clubs took place.

Following a successful rally at the Oxford bus museum, the Morris Commercial club was formed.

There was further expansion of the club in 1999 when the then chairman of the LD van register Jim Murphy stepped down and suggested that club members should consider joining the Morris Commercial club.

In 2011 at the AGM a member proposed that the club should expand its area of interest to cover pre-war Austin K series vehicles, this led to a regular Austin page in the club quarterly magazine which is called “recalling” referencing the in-factory magazine of the time “Morris Commercial Calling”

There is no greater example of the benefits of joining a classic vehicle club than Morris Commercial club, there is a full list of vehicle designations from the 1920’s onwards including production numbers, years in production, which factory they were produced in and available engines and their cubic capacities.

The club does not remake any parts as the vehicles by their nature as commercial vehicles can be very rare but recommends talking to other enthusiasts in the club that can advise solutions to known problems on similar vehicles.

The club still greatly benefits from the information and experience that ex apprentice employees bring to the club.

As with story of the car brands, the history of Austin and Morris commercial vehicles is similar in as much as Austin and Morris were separate commercial vehicle manufacturers as well as serious rivals and had their own independent network of dealerships with many customers loyal to one brand or the other.

An example of this is the relatively unknown Austin 1000 van and pick-up range which gave the still separate Austin dealerships a replacement for the much loved and successful, but discontinued Austin A35 van range. The average passer-by would just assume it was a Morris Minor van, it looked the same, but closer inspection would reveal the Austin grille and Austin badge on the bonnet.

In time as the Austin and Morris brands were merged and became part of the British Leyland empire, the vehicles went on to be badged as  Austin-Morris and then Leyland, before becoming part of the DAF trucks group with the Leyland DAF Vehicles (LDV) brand becoming well established and very successful, with an extended van range based on the well proven Sherpa. 

If you own an Austin or Morris commercial vehicle or just love them, you can’t afford to miss out on being a Morris Commercial Club Member.