Season's Greetings

Best wishes to everyone who enjoys any Bedford in one way or the other.

Thanks to Lars Petter Skau and owner Ole J. Hellerud for this taste of a Norwegian winter.

Sandown 2010 - when it rains, it pours Bedfords

The Historic Commercial Vehicle Club of Australia's annual display day, held at Sandown race course in Melbourne, was again threatened by rain this year but managed to shine on the day (Nov 28). A good selection of trucks attended, well over 200, and there were a number of Bedfords flying the flag. Unfortunately I didn't get photos of them all as we left by midday for the seven hour drive home. There's probably a good three of four at least that are not featured in the photos below.

I've tried to put them in age order - oldest to youngest - but am purely guessing in some places. Again, due to lack of time and my strategy for this year (concentrate on shooting the trucks moving), I do not have any detail shots of interiors for you to enjoy.

Some familiar faces below but hopefully some good new ones too.

Above: WL and K-type keeping each other company. Golly, I didn't even take photos of the placards for further information!

Below: OB in a reflective mood.

Above: the ACW Bedford convoy arrived with some fine examples of their earlier projects. The '68 or earlier TK is a regular attendee along with ACW's CDJ 'support vehicle' below.
Above and below: this KM was a distinct surprise when she arrived. I had not seen or heard of her before so I relished her GM as she idled past (drowning out the similarly-engined R190 that preceded her). Not the CF in the background. Unfortunately, I blew the photo out for this truck i.e. I stuffed it up. She was a tidy little thing with a good-sized tray and, making her a real truck, dual wheels.

Above: Southern Cross Recyclers operate a number of Bedfords and regularly have them serviced or rebuilt by ACW. Why wouldn't you operate good, solid trucks that don't cost an arm and a leg to simply pay interest on? Note the early W on her back. One of two at the show (although decidedly more complete than than the other one), yet another truck I can't for the life of me think why I didn't have a closer look.

"A good student but must try harder"! Gawd.

Remarkable RLC recovery

On a cold Sunday in February Dave Gothard was travelling home along the motorway when he spied this RLC3 recovery. Pulled out of the yard for transporting to her new owner in Manchester, she's certainly distracting. Dave returned on Monday and, after convincing the yard's owner of his bona fides, was able to look over the Bedford and shoot these photos.

She appears complete and is definitely a superb restoration prospect (my first thought was "awesome" when the emails came through). Note the spare cab frame/shell on the back of the Bedford. This is the first time I've seen this structure and it is interesting to see details of what's under the skin. The photo below of the rear of the truck shows this cab component to include the dash. Quite an impressive piece that'll certainly be useful given the corresponding parts of the Bedford's cab are showing rust in the usual places - the cab-front vents and the base and crease of the doors.

Here's the official numbers off the data plate/s. If anyone can interpret them I'd be most grateful as I know very little about the R-type.

CHASSIS NUMBER RLC3 34076
TRACTOR 3 TON G. S. RECOVERY LIGHT 4X4 BEDFORD RL
VEHICLE 36-CL-37
CODE NO 434862.01 360
CONT NO 6/VEHS/27936

It'd be great to see this old girl restored to the civilian colours she's currently (sort of) wearing. In all honesty who cares what colours she ends up in as long as she's on the road.

The Derelict Bedford - part one

With the large numbers of Bedfords built and sold, you'd expect to come across a variety of challenged examples in your travels. Some can be saved while others are too far gone and would even be doubtful as sources of parts. However, Bedfords are Bedfords no matter what their condition or how much or little they did in their working lives.

A well-restored Bedford is magnificent but a worn working example or even just a cab sitting in a paddock has just as much appeal. For those who appreciate old machinery, I know I'm preaching to the converted. Here's a few pics from Ian Storrie - working Bedford owner - who has a habit of turning up old trucks in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully they illustrate what I'm dribbling on about.

I hope to find out some more detail about each truck from Ian in the near future so for the time being I hope you enjoy the pics. A nice foil for the lovely shiny things in the preceding post too.

Still rolling after all of these years. While the A-frame attached to the front of this O-type is an indication she's more trailer than truck these days, it's good to see she's still useful.

I had forgotten about this O until I was going through Ian's old emails. I got rather excited as it's not every day you come across a complete truck with a van body such as this. A lot of preserved trucks these days are finished with trays because, let's face it, they're more useful that way. However of late I've noticed vans becoming a more popular restoration subject particularly in the UK where some new restorations have appeared wearing wonderful period livery. They are certainly refreshing when you are accustomed to trays - not that there's anything wrong with those of course.

A mate of mine has suggested we do our TK as an Arnott's truck. He even knows where there is a former Arnott's body that might be available. Of course me being the king of procrastinators...

Having said that, this O would be wonderful to park in the shed for one day in the future. Superb. I hope she is still with us.

A-types are rare the world over as they seem to have been cast aside when the TJ appeared - just like the majority of road-going (as opposed to the fire appliances etc) S and C-types when the TK was released. Always pleasing to see one.

What looks like a J1. This might have a fibreglass body as something similar - and in much better condition - was recently for sale on Ebay.

A 1968 or earlier (note the 'ridge' on the front panel) TK-style cab. Looks like she would still yield some decent bits.

Peterborough Truckfest - the Bedfords add the class...

George Ward attended the Truckfest on May 2 and, among the huge number of trucks (old and modern) present, he found a few Bedfords and has graciously given his permission for them to be posted on BTW - since it desperately needs an update. Anyway, enjoy.

The oldest Bedford to feature on BTW to date, this 1936 WL tipper was photographed during one of the show's parades. A couple of years or so after this truck was built, the W-type received a facelift when the bonnet and grille more associated with the later KMO range 'replaced' the front-end you see above. The cab remained until the KMOs arrived on the scene just before the war.

Speaking of the war, the polar bear on the left guard of this 1941 O-type radio van (?) is the insignia for the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. Interesting to see the fuel tank on the left. Would it also have one on the right in the standard position?

Probably one of the most extensively restored Bedfords on the road in the UK, this Jeakins 1951 ML (same age as our ML but infinitely more complete!) accompanied a Model T to Truckfest.

I'm afraid I'm no good with the dating of UK number plates (L reg?) but based on the lack of 'ridge' on the front of the cab, I'd argue this TK 'type' is post-1968. Helping this argument, and going by the combined indicator/clearance light and assuming the "Bedford" badge would have been on the grille, I'd also say post-1973. Can anyone confirm? She's certainly a very tidy example and wonderful to see.

Budget Bedford Shines

UK-based restorer Mick Austin, and his brother Bob and good mate Neal, have recently finished this superb O-type. Mick has written a little story below giving the background of the Bedford and how and why she looks so wonderful today. Proof of what can be achieved on a limited budget.

The Bedford was new to Co-Operative Dairies, Northampton, England, and was used for collecting milk churns from various farms for many years. She was then sold to the Perritt’s company (also of Northampton) and used in their scrap business making runs to London a couple of times a week. After she was retired, restoration was started and abandoned and the vehicle was sold on to a local garage where her condition quickly deteriorated due to being stored outdoors and vulnerable to the British climate.

We bought the Bedford in a rather dilapidated condition and restored her in the open over a six-year period. This restoration was the subject of an eleven-part series in Classic and Vintage Commercials magazine. The whole point of the restoration was to see another Bedford O-type based on our Dad’s old motor which he drove for Procea Products Ltd in the 1950s. Neither myself, Bob or close friend of some 45 years Neal Boddington are skilled mechanics or vehicle body builders and we purely made it up as we went along ... on a ‘shoestring’!

It’s good to see our Australian cousins have opened up such a great Bedford web-site, good on yer sport and success for the future!

Thanks Mick and a huge thank you for providing the wonderful photos. The magazine series is a constant source of inspiration for me. I’ll have to read it again when I finally bring our Bedfords out of storage. Congratulations again.

An ad from 1960 - market leader!

Here's an ad from 1960 broadcasting the reasons why Bedford was a smart choice. Fair to say this is borne out by the number of surviving examples. It's an interesting little read but apologies for the quality. It is a scan of a small picture included in the August 2009 issue of the Trafalgar Truck Restorers Club's excellent newsletter. If anyone has a copy of the original I will gladly replace the picture above. Click on the picture for a larger version.

New email address

Hi everyone

Just a quick post to let you know of my new email - aircrewbooksATiinet.net.au

We've just changed ISPs and although we had a connection on Thursday the modem/router has only just arrived. If I haven't replied to your recent emails, this is why.

Photographed a very tidy J1 on Thursday so will post her up shortly. I've also been receiving a great amount of photos of Bedfords at truck shows and Bedfords looking sorry for themselves. The manual list has been added to so I'll also get that posted. If anyone has old Bedford ads, I'd love to post some scans of them. I've got a couple of loaned Bedford magazines from the 1970s which are full of great ads and articles. I hope to be able to scan these in the near future before returning them to their owner (you probably all know him - Dave Horne).

Andy

Manual Library

I've had this idea to make available the manuals I have lying around. The plan is to scan these manuals and make them available to those who need to reference them. Sure, many owners/restorers will already have what they need but just in case a copy can't be sourced or only a section is needed, perhaps the scans will come in handy.

At present I only have the operator's handbook and the big manual for the KMO range; the handbook for diesel-engined TKs and several TK/TJ service training manuals for various components and sub-assemblies. I'll put up a list of the titles as an ad on the right-hand side. This will make it easy to update.

Through The Fence - a Bedford weekend

We did a fair bit of travelling this weekend and just happened to stumble upon several Bedfords. We were in Parkes on Friday and while Jodi was at the physio, I headed off to a yard in the LIA to stick the camera through the fence to record several trucks we'd found a few months ago. Had forgotten about this pre-1973 TK - note the old style clearance lights above the headlights. Doesn't look like she's been anywhere for a while. I also found a shorter wheelbase tipper but half of her was hidden behind a pile of dirt.

Decided to head out to Parkes airport for a sticky but noted the pre-1968 TK cab and chassis - note the 'ridge' above the grille and clearance lights - parked under a tree at a water tank manufacturer's yard. Decided to be cheeky and ask if I could have a look at this and a truck-mounted crane parked nearby. Fortunately, the owner was a pretty cheery bloke. The cab of the TK was totally stripped-out but it's only just occurred to me that I didn't look at the back of the rear wall on the left for the data plate. That's what I get for walking over sheets of tin in Crocs (shoes) and worrying about things that don't like being disturbed!

The D-type with the mounted crane (anyone heard of a Steinbock?) is a familiar sight from the highway as you head north out of Forbes. However she points away from the road so I had assumed she was a J-type. Imagine how chuffed I was to see her from the front! She actually looks in decent nick so I'm entertaining the idea of having a closer look i.e. seeing if the owner will let me into the paddock.

Finally, with my sister and brother-in-law visiting over the weekend, we did some sight-seeing and since the b-i-l is a car enthusiast we went back to Forbes to visit McFeeter's Motor Museum. Full of a surprising range of cars so not quite my cup of tea (hee hee) but, happily, housing a J1 fire appliance from 1962. On loan from the Forbes fire brigade - note the number plate - there's a surprising number of these still around and, according to the museum guide, they are bullet-proof. A couple of these live here in West Wyalong so I'll check them out. I was a bit cheeky and asked to hop the rope to see inside the cab. She's in original condition and I was surprised to see many cab features that were unchanged from the KMO range - even the 'vertical' pedals. Somewhere in the dark depths of my mind is something about smaller Js having the Bedford six-cylinder 214 cu. inch motor ... just like the KMOs. A cab and front-end change and ... was it that simple? If so, a good, long-lived basic design under the skin.

Sydney Tramway Museum's MLZ tower wagon

Andrew Blacklock - contributor to my other old truck site Australasian Classic Commercials - sent in this photo of a wonderful Bedford M-type tower wagon. The truck was part of the annual NRMA Motorfest held on Australia Day in Sydney's CBD. Looking immaculate, you can see she has an Australian-built cab by the curved section below the door. The fixed windscreen and wind-up windows are other, less obvious indicators of this type of cab (the English cab has a push-out driver's windscreen and slide-up windows). Good to see she's got a decent set of mirrors too.

Here's the details copied verbatim from the Bedford's placard:

Throughout the era of electric tramway operation in Sydney, road tower wagons were used to service the overhead trolley wire. Initially the towers were mounted on horse-drawn drays, from the 1920s motor trucks replaced the horse vehicles. This tower wagon is representative of the type used in Sydney in the 1950s. On the closure of the Sydney tramways in 1961 several tower wagons were sold to Melbourne. In 1980 the Melbourne tramways disposed of these vehicles, one was offered to the Museum, and it returned to Sydney in 1981.

A pump, driven from the power take-off, operates a ram to raise the work platform, this platform can then be rotated through 360 degrees enabling the workers to reach well to the side of the truck. The platform has a safety handrail that can be raised and locked in position.

Make: Bedford

Model: MLZ

Year: 1950

Owner: The Sydney Tramway Museum - Loftus (South Pacific Electric Railway)

Now, as part of trying to explain the various models of Bedfords (in an attempt to make this site useful!) that I actually understand, here's a break down of what MLZ means. Firstly, of course, she's an M-type of the KMO (read K-type, M-type, O-type ... lighter payload to heavy). The M-type has a nominal rating of 2-3 ton (2032-3048 kg). The L refers to her chassis. In this case she's 'Long' (as opposed to S for 'Short') with a wheelbase of 11 ft 11in (3.63 m). Finally, the Z is the code for her factory fitout. Z = Chassis only. In other words she would have been delivered as a rolling chassis with engine, controls and, I believe, bonnet and mudguards. Makes sense given she's got an Australian-built cab. The other ML designations are MLC (chassis with cab) and MLD (dropside). It makes a lot of sense when you discover all of the designations in the Bedford Shop Manual Models K, M & O and can then apply the details to an actual truck. I've used the manual to make sure the above is correct. There's a few more designations in the KMO range but we'll cover those when there's photos to illustrate them.

Bedfords at Sandown 2008

What's better than seeing a Bedford on the road? Seeing several! The Historic Commercial Vehicle Club's annual show at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne had a good showing of Bedfords in 2008 (when I last managed to get there). Here's a selection of the majority as they arrived on the Sunday morning.

Above: I believe the cab of this fine, pre-1968 TK was restored by ACW Bedford. Note what appears to be their signature vinyl roof protection. Below: I first saw this J1 (?) at Sandown 2006 ... and it was just as shiny then (although her teeth were still white)!

Above: this post-1973 TK gets around a fair bit and will feature heavily here over the next few posts as I'll use it to explain my TK-ageing technique. Below: ACW's mobile workshop CDJ (not a TJ, note the Griffin badge on the bonnet) has a nice metallic green finish which might not be obvious in this sun-drenched (read slightly over-exposed!) photo.

Above: I've admired this little post-1967/pre-1973 TK on a number of occasions but have yet to meet the owner. He did feature over on the HVCV Forum last year but I've forgotten his name. Below: this J1 (?) was parked outside the venue but is a worthy exhibit in itself as it is still clearly working and how often do you see Bedfords with more than just a tray these days? A bit hard to photograph though...

Above: not really my cup of tea but it's a Bedford ... and it's not selling ice creams!

Our Bedfords - Part One

Well, I guess I had better put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. Here is one of our three Bedfords. We'll talk about her and her sisters' various 'issues' at a later date but, to kick things off, here's our TK - a 1968 EFN (conveniently called the effing TK on occasion) - with the nose of our 1949 MLZ edging into the picture. I'm still learning the various incarnations of the legendary TK so would welcome a run down if anyone can make any sense of them!

One thing I have worked out is how to get a general idea of the age of a TK. It all has to do with the location of the 'Bedford' on the front of the cab and the style of indicators. Not foolproof of course but it has served me well. I'll write something later with photos to illustrate (need to do that for the KMO series too).

Bedford Logo

Until I find a better one or take a photo myself, the TK-style logo at the top right of the page will do. I think I'd prefer some artwork so I'll throw the challenge open to whoever manages to find this blog! Can you comeup with a better logo image?

Welcome to Bedford Trucks Worldwide

I'm an old truck/lorry fan in Australia and already run another blog on the subject - Australasian Classic Commercials. Since I'm my own worst enemy I figured I didn't have enough on my plate already and decided to address the apparent lack of good Bedford truck information available on the net.

The plan here is to feature the range of Bedford trucks to be found in most corners of the world, talk to owners about their projects, share sources for parts and the various skills needed for operating vehicles that can be over 70 years old ... and basically spread the awareness of one of the most successful and prolific truck makes to turn a wheel.

We all know Bedfords tend to get some stick for being, well, Bedfords. However there are many still working and many continuing in their second (or third or fourth or...) lives on farms as paddock trucks, fire trucks etc ... and those of us who own them know they have character and their faults but...

I've cursed my Bedfords from time to time and I love any old truck from any country. For some reason, though, Bedfords just strike a chord with me. Leylands and Macks do the same but I'll stay small for the time being (having enjoyed the honour of owning a Mack in the past). Maybe it's the underdog status of the Bedford. Most tend to walk passed them and ogle over the Kenworth with all the chrome for example. It was the humble Bedford, though, that did everything from delivering the mail to transporting cars across the country.

If you own a Bedford or used to drive them for a living I'd love to hear from you. Photos of any Bedford are more than welcome. I'll even talk about b*ses and vans as Bedford was very strong in that area (don't know much about them though)! Let's increase the presence of these great vehicles on the worldwide web and make sure you can still see them everywhere!