Enter Jeff Smith. Jeff lives near where the truck was laid up – Dandenong South, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne – and it was love at first sight. Bought on his 21st wedding anniversary, Jeff’s new truck was about to be put to work doing what she does best. First, though, she required a bit of work herself. Finding himself bitten by the love bug, Jeff didn’t waste any time getting back down to the Beddy and firing her up. As the ad had said, she ran a bit rough but after a “muck about with the timing”, there was some improvement. A further visit was very productive with the Beddy receiving a new set of plugs, fuel drained from her carburetor and filter bowl and 20 litres of premium fuel in her tank. Quite the birthday but, really, don’t all Bedfords deserve that sort of treatment?
Jeff also reset the points gap and set the timing right. The result? “Running like a Swiss watch”! The brakes have also been sorted so she now pulls up straight.
While Beddies in general are pretty intoxicating, this little J2 has proven even more so for Jeff as he realised it is the same model as the truck he first ‘drove’ at the age of eight when carting hay!“Watching him drive it, I’m not sure who had the biggest grin on their mug, me or him!”, said Jeff.
“He did alright too, although the re-entry into the farm was a bit quick but he kept it shiny side up!” The drive home was not without its drama either with a small electrical fire under the dash proving a challenge as Jeff was “singing” along at 40mph.
Another challenge faced the Beddy at her new home with enough hay cut to make 1,000 small square bales. It could be argued the J2’s power proved too much for Jeff’s father-in-law as he kept launching bales over Jeff’s head and back into the paddock but it was simply because he hadn’t used a bale elevator before – second gear and 1500 rpm is a bit too much! Having said that, the Beddy did get a load of 60 bales in 10 minutes!
Above: first load for the J2. Note the bale under the front axle - a product of Jeff's father-in-law launching bales off the elevator!
Despite being a joy to operate, the J2 still has some issues to overcome. Jeff discovered the float wire pivot mounted upside-down which was causing flooding at idle and “pops and farts” under load besides over-fueling/plug fouling. Jeff’s last words about the J2 before I wrote this story were “we got 600 bales in yesterday before the rain beat us.”
Above and below: Oh yes, Jeff found the original delivery slip in the glove box! The original owner a Mr TA Seiffert of Leopold, Victoria (just SSE of Geelong). The truck's serial number is J2LC2/96658/M. Can't quite make out the dealer - it looks like Esler & Belton Motors of Geelong.
