Thread: 1969 Bedford J5

My mates got a j5 on his front lawn

Nice trucks the "J" series,from the "J1" upwards good hard workers, most small city transport companies from the 40's to the 80's had them, and the "A" model before them,engines were the Pommie version of the Chev "stovebolt" six,Bedford being the name of the commercial products of the Vauxhall Coy in UK,a division of GM of America, only faded from the Australian commercial scene when GMH-Aust. made and agreement with Izusu to import their products and rebadge the smaller ones as Holden like the Rodeo,same as the US does, and calls them Chevrolet, Bedford is still a vehicle brand in the UK and has links to DAF. I drove Bedford's both as long nose A & J's as well as forward control T & K series,also buses from SB through to VAM's all good workers in both petrol and diesel.

cheers

Old mates goes like a ripper carrys his show car on its going to be getting a turbo shortly as custom turbo work is his business and the car he carrys on it is to show off his work it's petrol

Stretching the memory here, back 30+ years. J's usually were sold with one of two petrol engines and the smaller Bedford diesel in the bigger ones. All the Bedfords of the time were noteworthy for their reliability, simplicity, and low operating cost. One time they had 32% of the Australian truck market.

One of my customers had a large fleet of them, all body trucks, and bought another company that had Leyland Chieftains and Comets. Inside two years the cost per ton/mile had all the Leylands traded in on more Bedfords.

Forward control KC, KD, KE, were all good honest low cost workers. The bigger Bedford body trucks had one of two Bedford diesel engines and never achieved the popularity of their smaller brethren. The KMR-XT5 with Detroit 6V53, Roadranger ten speed and double reduction Eaton diff, with the biggest brakes in the class was probably the best light prime mover on the market but never achieved acceptance. Pity. I operated one for two years on Brisbane-Sydney and reckoned it was a good little earner. Cost me $9,000 on the road ex GM-H company fleet. It was a demonstrator.

GM took up a shareholding in Isuzu. The first effect it had on us at GM-H was the "Bedford by Isuzu" range in 1972(?). The little ones were a bit oriental funny and hard to sell, but the eight tonners and up were an eyeopener. I remember taking a small fleet owner to Pagewood plant to look at the new range. He sat behind the wheel of a long wheelbase 4 x 2 with his eyes wide open in wonder and said something like "why are they so far ahead. What a hell of a good eight tonner".

Speaking of Leylands my other halfs uncle has a Leyland marathon 60'000 miles on it and still has the plastic on the seats and door trims

Originally Posted by 460cixy

Speaking of Leylands my other halfs uncle has a Leyland marathon 60'000 miles on it and still has the plastic on the seats and door trims

Cummins NTC290 or Leyland headless horror?

Of interest, particularly given Brian's comments, is the origin of Bedford trucks. During the Great Depression, one Laurence Hartnett, at the time an up and coming executive in GM, originally from the UK, but having made his mark in Singapore and Scandinavia, was handed Vauxhall, with instructions to shut it down if he could not make it profitable pretty quickly. His major tool in doing this successfully, was the introduction of the Bedford, as a simple, reliable, cheap and rugged truck, designed specifically for "the colonies", which meant predominantly Australia, South Africa, India and NZ (I don't think Canada was ever a serious market as they were right on the USA doorstep).

Following his success with Vauxhall, he was given the same job with GMH, turning it round with the successful expansion of the bodybuilding for a wide range of cars, not just GM. He followed this by being one of the leaders in Australia's rearmament in the late 1930s (getting GMH to help start Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, and becoming Director of Ordnance Production for the duration of the war), and was responsible for the introduction of the Holden car in 1948, although he was forced to resign from GM a few months earlier when he refused a transfer to Detroit to allow the much expanded GM operation in Australia to be headed by someone whose loyalty to Detroit was beyond question.

After this he set up the Hartnett car company, which started production of a Gregoire design (all alloy body and chassis, four wheel independent suspension, front wheel drive) in about 1949. Only about 120 of cars were built, and the venture collapsed when Pressed Metal Corporation failed to perform as contracted (Hartnet won the case, after dragging it through the courts for years, but by then it was too late).

Later he produced the Lloyd-Hartnett, which also ran into problems with suppliers, in this case Borgward, and ultimately was responsible for bringing Nissan to the Australian market in 1960.

John

I remember driving a new Bedford J cab/chassis from the factory in Brisbane to a country dealership. Slow, bumpy, low-geared - the worst new car delivery I ever made (the best at the time were EH 179's).

There are plenty in Adelaide still earning a living with the market gardeners.

Stephen.