The original AEC Matador five-ton 4x2 commercial lorry was introduced in 1932, but the name was most famously used for the 4x4 artillery tractor version introduced in 1938. These vehicles exploited AEC's experience with four-wheel drive that it had gained from its involvement in the British Four Wheel Drive vehicles marketed under the name Hardy. AEC produced 9,620 artillery tractors; 514 6x6 bowsers for the Royal Air Force; 192 6x6 lorries (some of which had Coles Cranes mounted); and 185 similar vehicles, but 6x4, for mobile oxygen plants. They were known by the nickname "Mat". New civilian Matadors appeared after the war, and many ex-military Matadors were adapted for post-war commercial use, especially as timber lorries and recovery vehicles. There was a final short run of the 0853 4x4 Matador for the Army in the early fifties, due to ongoing issues with the introduction of the replacement Leyland. The last Matador was a 4x4 variant of the Mercury, introduced in 1960.