Rootes Archive Centre - Rootes at War.

What is the Catalogue?

The Rootes Archive Centre contains information about the models of car and commercial vehicles produced by Rootes and their associated companies. This page supplements the main catalogue of civilian vehicles by listing those produced specially for the armed forces. For more information about Rootes commercial vehicles see the main catalogue and http://www.fleetdata.co.uk/rootes.html.

We note that William and Reginald Rootes both received knighthoods for their efforts during the second World War, so this is an important part of the story.

I was prompted to attempt to produce this list by an enquiry from Martin O'Neill who had bought a Humber 1 ton cargo truck otherwise known as an FV1601. FV stands for "Fighting Vehicle". Other recent enquiries have come from Dennis Stevenson, Stephen Flitcroft, Paul White and Graham Barron (Humber "Box").

I have a lot more information about Rootes' war time activities. If you are interested in knowing more or contributing to the knowledge base, please contact:

Many of the Humber, Commer and Karrier vehicles were supplied as chassis with cab and bespoke bodies were produced by Thrupp and Maberley. These were destined to be ambulances, platforms, pickup or covered trucks, road sweepers, mobile laboratories, etc.

There is good documentation for many of these vehicles as there are thriving groups researching and restoring old military vehicles. Some are mentioned below. A general explanation of British Army vehicle registration numbers is at VRNARMY.DOC.

Aircraft manufacture and other component supply is listed below under Rootes Securities Ltd. This part of the Rootes history and concerns the "shadow factories" that were loaned to major manufacturers from the government for the wartime effort 1939-45.

• Commer.
• Armoured car and 3 1/2 ton WD Subsidy vehicles (1914-18)
• Armoured Car (1940-)
• Scout Armoured Car (1940-)
• Coventry Armoured Car (1940-)
• Van (which?) Army registration 14ET87
• Commer 15cwt 4x2 general service
• Commer CB 4 1/2 ton cargo truck. Some under EM registrations.
• Commer Q2, Q3 and Q4 general service trucks.
• Commer 3-ton Q4 4x4 general service. Used as mobile laboratory, office, tipper, workshop, radar, instrument, telecommunications repair units for REME. Army BH registration series.
• Commer Q15, mostly to the Air Ministry
• Commer sweeper 52EK64
• Hillman.
• Utility trucks from 1941
• 10HP convertibles. Some were armoured and had gun turrets, known in military vehicle circles as "The Gnat".
• Minx deLuxe, touring saloon, ladder vans, etc.
• Hillman Husky utility car 14EK64
• Humber.
• Super Snipe staff car (c.1941). The 1943 car used by Field Marshall Montgomery during the 1944-5 campaign in N.Europe is in the Coventry Musuem.
• Light Reconnaissance Car armoured personnel carrier (1940-) c.3,600 built. Early versions were known as "Humberette" (for home defense) and from July 1940 as "Ironside". MkII versions had a gun turret and MkIII-IIIA has FWD.
• Heavy Utility (1941-6) 8cwt 4x4 based on Super Snipe chassis used as ambulances, utility and pickup vehicles. This was a completely new design with a roomy box shaped body on the four wheel drive chassis as used by the Light Reconnaissance Car and Light Ambulance. It had a steel body with six seats and was issued to commanders and staff officers who needed good cross country performance. Known in military vehicle circles at "The Box".
• Super Snipe and Pullman cars, e.g. registered as 17DE67, 22ER32, 20ET74 were used when FWD was not required.
• Humber scout car (1943-)
• Humber Hawk car 03EM61
• FV1601 (1952-4) 1 ton 4x4 cargo truck general service with winch (FV1601A and FV1601B had no winch). Used as cargo trucks for general supply, missile test, wireless etc. transport. Army BK registration series.
• FV1602 (c.1954) 1 ton cargo truck with or without winch
• FV1604 corporal missile command wireless vehicle, mid 1960s
• FV1604 light wireless vehicle
• FV1609 PIG hard top MkI prototype later converted to FV1611
• FV1611 (c.1958-60) 1 ton 4x4 armoured personnel carrier (2x crew, 6x passengers) known as PIG. Based on the FV1601 1 ton cargo truck chassis. This had a 6-cyl 4.5l Rolls Royce B60 engine and was mainly for use in Northern Ireland. Army BK registration series. Some 1,700 were produced.
• FV1612 PIG ambulance, BK series
• FV1613 PIG radio command vehicle, BK series
• FV1620 Hornet armoured cab with Malakara ATGW launcer - early anti-tank guided missile.
• FV1621 1 ton missile supply vehicle
• FV1622 1 ton missile supply vehicle
• Some for FVRDE c.1962
• Karrier.
• Bantam from 1942
• Karrier tractor from 1942
• Karrier armoured car from 1942
• Karrier 4x4 3 ton load carrier
• Karrier CK6 c.1944
• Karrier chassis/ cab 43CC83
• Rootes Securities Ltd. Second World War time aircraft. 14 percent of Britain's bombers were built by Rootes.
• Bristol Blenheim MkI (1939-45, 380 built at Ryton-on-Dunsmore and Speke)
• Blenheim MkIV (1939-45, 2,100 built at Speke)
• Blenheim MkV (1939-45, 942 built at Blythe Bridge)
• BeaufighterMkVI F (1939-45, 150 built at Blythe Bridge)
• Beaufighter TF21 (1939-45, 110 built at Blythe Bridge)
• Handley Page Halifax (built at Ryton-on-Dunsmore)
• Sunbeam.
• Sunbeam aero engines were produced during the WWI for Sea planes and Bristol fighters.

Other Sources of Information