SDU looking at the rad grille shape it was a guess.
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I will try remember that SDU if i win on the lottery and they launch the jet that gets me to Oz in 2.5 hours
Oh that, yes, at a stop after a river crossing half a dozen of us were pulled up to have a brew and get the fallen ones on their feet. I couldnāt understand why everyone rushed to volunteer to get in the crates and bully them, I thought I was lucky be the one on the ground prodding them through the slats.
I soon understood when, covered in brown stuff, all I could do was walk into the river and submerge myself for what seemed like ages. 
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I donāt think it left the factory like that.
Something the cheer @star_down_under up (via SemmyTrailer on flickr)
SDU and @oiltreader just to confuse matters more, Isuzu trucks in Oz and NZ often wore Bedford badges:
Well i think iāve seen it all now.The new breed of drivers we have are grinding me down.This morning i went for diesel at one of our yards and while filling up the supervisor mechanic came over and said we need to measure your unit and trailer.I said why it hasnāt grown since last week. He said one of our new drivers thinks our lorries are too long ffs. To cut a long story short there were 4 drivers adamant that they werenāt leaving the premises until measured.Mine was 24 cms over length. I had to drop my trailer and take another which was still slightly over length. I was thinking how would they go over in Oz with 3 trailers or even two. Well they wouldnāt. Iāve never been pulled for being over length or even checked.The only place you may get checked is on a ferry and i never did then. Some drivers must just sit and study what bother they can next cause because theyāve nothing better to do. God i hate this job
That triangular badge on the lower left of the bonnet, says Bedford by Isuzu. It was only on the first of each model, to give confidence to dyed in the wool Bedford buyers. There was absolutely nothing Bedford about them, which probably why they outsold Bedford.
A lot of the problem is the job is a means to an end for them, they donāt have a passion for the industry as we did. Then again, they could be like Carryfast, only interested in the driving bit of the job, not the complete role.
These are a totally different breed we have loads of downtime it drives me mad only last week we were sat 5 hours waiting to load (10.30 am to 15.30) then round the corner to the powerstation. I went and unloaded the same driver whoās caused all this bother stopped for his break for a hour then went back to the yard and tipped the morning after. Nothing said to him
Didnāt know that. The later (SBR and JCR) Isuzu Forward also had Bedford badges on them (only the early ones, I think).
[quote=āstar_down_under, post:889, topic:238798ā]
absolutely nothing Bedford about them, which probably why they outsold Bedford.[/quote]
My impression is that GM didnāt invest very much at all in Bedford in later years and it shows. Certainly the big TM (3800?) was well-regarded by some, but the rest of the range including the TL (which never got exported over here) was ageing fast. That said, all the early Isuzus Iāve driven (SBR, JCR, KS, KT) were appalling things that made a TL look like it had come from the next century.
As an aside a (very) small commercial was marketed in the UK.
K as the Bedford Rascal. It was a joint Suzuki/GM product, again nowt Bedford except the badge.
I drove SCRs and JBRs in the 80s, they were streets ahead of anything in their classfrom Bedford, Ford or Leyland, even Dodge or Inter. They had a spacious cab,comfortable seats (for the first 50,000 km at least), quiet and came standard with an exhaust brake, two speed wipers, headlight flashers and AM radio, all very deluxe in the day. They also had a decent turn of speed, only beaten by the V8 petrol Dodges and Inters.
I suppose it all depends on context. When I was driving them in the early 90s I found them crude, noisy and the cabs were an ergonomic slum (twist-off handbrake operating a drum on the propshaft, heavy pedal efforts etc.). The SBR might have been speedy enough in Oz but the Bedford TL got a turbo and a stereo and a spring/ air handbrake. Of the Jap middleweights I drove in the late 80s/ early 90s, Iād take a Hino over an Isuzu or a Mitsi any day of the week.
Yer pays yer moneyā¦
If youāve never been to the cool wet forests of Victoria (what remains of them anyway), go (same with Tassie). Look at the width of the bu tt of that tree c/w that lorry.
Definitely a no-no from a safety point of view, snap a half shaft on a gradient and roll backwards or keep foot on brake 'till someone comes along to chock a wheel. Out in the back of beyond you could be holding it with a trembling leg for days. 
Never mind the back of Bourke, an hour in any urban area would be more than enough. Iād point the thing into a wall and leave it there.
Iām surprised there were any still around by then. Rust, particularly in the A pillar, was not kind to them, nor was the comfortable upholstery very robust. In the early eighties they were Christmas on a stick.
What was your pick, in the 90s?