Did a paper-round in mid-'60s. I remember being so impressed with the picture of a Bedford KM (then newly unveiled) on the front of the motor show issue of CM, that I squandered my earnings on a copy of it (we’re talking hard-bitten transport-bound schoolboy here)! As it turned out, I drove very few Bedfords during my lorry driving years: a horrible TK rigid, a ghastly TL rigid and an even worse TL artic, which I drove to France. Basically, I wasn’t really a Bedford man, having been completely spoiled by driving blissful ERFs. 
Robert
19 ton KH when brand new with typical 36 ft trailer. This was put straight onto the Farnworth to Rugby night trunk. During the day it would run on bulk delivery, local inter factory or warehouse delivery. It Was often swapped over onto inter depot runs to East Kilbride or Paddock Wood with very occasional trips to Hastings. It stayed on the active fleet until 1980 when it was relegated to being a spare vehicle. This did not mean that it didn’t have to sub for another unit on a longer run. By then on its second engine it became a very reliable standby vehicle for the very troublesome DAF FT 1600 units, it was only permanently retired when the Seddon Atkinson 300 units came onto the fleet.
cav551:
19 ton KH when brand new with typical 36 ft trailer. This was put straight onto the Farnworth to Rugby night trunk. During the day it would run on bulk delivery, local inter factory or warehouse delivery. It Was often swapped over onto inter depot runs to East Kilbride or Paddock Wood with very occasional trips to Hastings. It stayed on the active fleet until 1980 when it was relegated to being a spare vehicle. This did not mean that it didn’t have to sub for another unit on a longer run. By then on its second engine it became a very reliable standby vehicle for the very troublesome DAF FT 1600 units, it was only permanently retired when the Seddon Atkinson 300 units came onto the fleet.
Hi Cav,
A Shropshire reg no, was it supplied by Vincent Greenhous? Cheer’s Pete
Yes supplied by Vincent Greenhous Shrewsbury on contract hire via their subsidiary Longmynd Leasing, who still trade under an Asset Management title. I can’t at present recall the name of the Bedford dealer in the Manchester area we used, since I live at the paddock Wood end of the country.
cav551:
Yes supplied by Vincent Greenhous Shrewsbury on contract hire via their subsidiary Longmynd Leasing, who still trade under an Asset Management title. I can’t at present recall the name of the Bedford dealer in the Manchester area we used, since I live at the paddock Wood end of the country.
Greenhous still going but selling DAF’s now.
DAFs reminds me of our local dealer at Sidcup, Penfold Commercials - oh the aggro we had with them, fair enough the FT1600 wasn’t a mainstream vehicle for them, but they did know we had half a dozen of them, but everything still had to come from Holland by one-winged carrier pigeon. In the end as soon as the vehicles were out of warranty we used Arnold Motors the local Shelvoke and Drewry agent in East Peckham as much as we could. The Bedfords relied on Drake and Fletcher in Maidstone after the excellent Baker East ceased trading in Tonbridge. Vincent Greenhous used to supply us with all lubricants from Morris’s of Shrewsbury whose oils I still use today.
Double post, please remove.
.
robert1952:
Did a paper-round in mid-'60s. I remember being so impressed with the picture of a Bedford KM (then newly unveiled) on the front of the motor show issue of CM, that I squandered my earnings on a copy of it (we’re talking hard-bitten transport-bound schoolboy here)! As it turned out, I drove very few Bedfords during my lorry driving years: a horrible TK rigid, a ghastly TL rigid and an even worse TL artic, which I drove to France. Basically, I wasn’t really a Bedford man, having been completely spoiled by driving blissful ERFs.
Imagine how i felt when my f86’s engine blew up and i had to take the mobile homes to st tropez with a tk drawbar
Instead, crackin trip down, 30 mph all the way
I think Draycott Transport ran a Few S Type Bedford artics painted green with ■■■■■ bros on the doors
Tony
I took this photo of a photo in the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs, Australia. It shows butch looking Bedford KM 6x4 Artic with sleeper cab. Does anybody know anymore information on it?
andrew.s:
my mates restored tk artic
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Blimey, that’s nearly as good as your new model of it! Robert
robert1952:
andrew.s:
my mates restored tk artic
0Blimey, that’s nearly as good as your new model of it! Robert
the resto was much quicker Robert !!
This is one my dad drove
andrew.s:
my mates restored tk artic
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That’s a great looking lorry
Gordon wil:
A couple of small Bedford Artics hope of interest///?
Nice little set , reminds me i had a Spot on Thames trader artic . still have it must be worth a fortune , regards Keith .