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. 
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