Pioneer Bedford

Luya Julius had Bedfords as they did all GMHs car carrying in Qld......one reason I think Fleetways bought them,fleetways had all the rest of GMH s business.The Julius name was well known,but few knew Herbert Luya.He was killed in 1930 in an argument outside an inner city pub,story goes he had seen a Australian National Airways pilot very drunk in the bar,and as LJ were backers of Kingsford-Smiths airline,told the pilot he was sacked.In the scuffle,Luya was knocked down and fractured his skull.....he was dead.

wish it was in my shed, very hard to get KM Bedfords, love to restore one

local farmer has one sitting with a heap of 1418s and inters but wont sell any of them, old story going to do them all up one day, he is 85 and on a walking stick

mmmm just need to wait for one to come along

Have a Swiss mate, now retired, who has driven all over Europe and the UK.
He relates the story of applying for a job and on seeing the fleet was Bedfords, walked away. Told the supervisor that no driver with any self respect would drive a Bedford.
Might have been referring to the older models as that GM powered unit looks pretty good.
Did it score a tilt cab as maintenance would have been dreadful otherwise.
They might have gone through a gearbox every fortnight but Luya Julius' 7t petrol TK Bedfords grossing the same 28t as me would piss all over my AEC Monarch. Embarrassing.

67mustang,
Keep watching the death notices and clearing sales in your local paper. That should put you in the front running.

The crowd used to do propety electric poles at Greenbank used to have a yardfull of Bedfords with 500 motors..........bought from the glass co at South Brisbane as spares for their 4X4s.They were some of the last sold here,as GMH wisely dumped the Beddies in favor of Isuzu..........A 300 motor and 4 speed box were fantastically reliable,and one of my earliest employers did the overland trip to England in a RLHC bought from the Inland Resources.Dept....We went right thru it,it never missed a beat on the trip,but his back was R/S from the hard springs.

John K,

That's a story we would all like to hear.

Post away and don't forget the pictures,

Not me,the guy was Ron Thompson,who was one of the first Readymix subbies from the Kangaroo Point plant,first in Brisbane.....or so Im told........

Dave_64 wrote: That pic and caption (#19774) with the 8 wheeler Bedford/AMCO, what was the deal there?
Must admit had never even heard of them until they appeared here.
Had seen a few Bedford cabbed "specials", but not that particular make.
Dave

I found these AMCO pics on Facebook. NMP's.

That style cab was never tilt,but acess to the motor wasnt as bad as you might think.......the guards folded up like wings ,and the motor was mounted well back ,so a lot easier to get at than a Commer for instance......Just about every 8 wheeler was a lazy ,OK on the road,but easy to get stuck.......the bigger Bedford diesels were never much good,even the 466 didnt out perform a 354 Perk.......in fact ,the best big Bedfords were the early ones with a 400 Leyland and a No 4 Eaton diff.

RFW also custom built 6 and 8 wheelers, I think most had “Permatrak” (also by RFW) lazies.