195? O model Bedford Long body,Short nose Help nee

Yvonne, you have got a great truck.... mine is a one owner family heirloom too. 1950 model and 7 ton if I remember rightly... I thought mine was an Aussie cab, will have to look again, it has an aussie Patterson Cheney (or just Cheney) tray. It appears yours and mine are the same colour originally... a suprisingly light & bright blue with black guards. These pictures are of me using it for what its was made for... it on blocks now as I need to do the welch plug in the back of the block... ohh and brakes of any sort could be good.

Change it to 12 volt (keep the same starter motor) while you are repairing it, saves a lot of headaches in the long run.





There are a few about, driver side doors almost new should be hidden in old sheds every where, back when new the delivery blokes would take them off for ease of access jumping in and out.

I see you have the lift up windows too, later ones have up market window winders....

we just need an expert to tell us if the doors on the M & O are the same... I know of one here in Central Vic that is/was up for sale...



good luck

/me

I agree with HARDSHAR, Dave, she looks an English cab to me too - flat panel under the door, push out windscreen and slide up windows (as opposed to wind up).

Great looking truck, Yvonne.

Andy, the panel under the door on the white one looks like it is curved or curled slightly, does that make it an Aussie cab (it has wind ups too)

and is it an O

/me

G'day Sarge, looks like an O to me as that seems to be a pretty short nose (the bonnet sides - missing on this truck - and the vents are the giveaway, three equal length sets equals K or M, the O has two long and then two short at each end). Also looks like an Aussie cab with the 'stylish' panel below the door and the driver's windscreen looks fixed. I'm assuming Holden made the one style of cab as I haven't heard any different. Might they have made the English-style for the O?

To answer an earlier question, I don't know if Aussie cab doors will fit an English cab. I've always thought, however, that the Pommy doors were flatter than the Australian ones. The Aussie cab seems more rounded if that makes sense. I never confirmed that when I had my English-cabbed ML (now sold) and the Aussie-cabbed ML (gathering dust in Melbourne).

If you have a close look at the two pictures you will notice that the top door hinge is in a different location on the pommie cab. It is higher up the door and i am pretty sure that the cab is higher as well. So to fit a pommie door to an aussie cab would take a lot of work. I'm not saying it can't be done because anything is possible but it would be a lot of work. Would be much easier to find the correct door, maybe try England.
The photo of the white O is definatley a Holden cab and i see the battery cover is missing under the door. The cover was missing on my O as were the bonnet sides but i was lucky to get a pair at the Cootamundra swap so things keep turning up. I was lucky that Hardenfast was there and he spotted them for me. So don't give up Yvonne because you never know what is still out there and it would be good to see another Bedford on the road.
Cheers Kevin.

it would be good to see another Bedford on the road

Absolutely!

Good eye there, Kev, re the hinges.

I'll have to check my pics from Ed Eminson's place as he had several M and O Beddies available. I have spare doors but they're off a Holden cab.

Yvonne, you're going to need a new radiator shell too as it looks like yours has had the bottom lopped off.

Edit: actually, thinking about it further, if you were to happen across a little K (looks similar but single wheels all around) they all seem to have the English cab. Am assuming the shorter nose of the O only affected the firewall of the English cab and not the doors.

common cab parts - the difference between the O and the others is that the cab has been pushed forward and over the motor so that more weight goes onto the front axle. The motor intrudes further into the cab. So the only difference is in the firewall and bonnet.

Pom vs Holden. Holden used GMH (chev?) pressings for the turret and screen surrounds so had to have doors to match. Bonnet and radiator between the two are interchangeable.

The current Heritage Commercials magazine (pommy) November No 275 features an OSS and Scammell trailer combo

All imports to NZ had pommy cab on all models. Pommy cabs in Aus are fairly rare and could be on any of the range. Andy, all of the K's I have seen had Holden cabs. The K is identified by the wheels being disc type and rear axle being semi floating, as it could (IDSTBC) be possible for an M to have singles on the rear.

Hi guys, looks like the wife has been on the computer again. Just a bit of background on these trucks that she may not have known that I have found out. Since the war finished, the Australian government wanted to boost manufacturing, but also keep the poms happy. They were able to import Bedford trucks just as a rolling chassis and Holden were to build the cabs locally. Best of both worlds. As a result, to find a truck like this with an English made cab (push up windows & push out drivers side window) on the short bonnet truck, is quite rare. Having said that though, trucks with the long nose & pommy cabs are quite common. But the doors are different. The bottom front of the door is different to fit the guards. I have another O- model with the Australian cab & badly bent chassis that I am using for parts & a friend has the long nose model with the pommy cab, so I can easily compare parts. Seems the brake problem is a common complaint with these trucks. Dad pulled the drivers side door off so he could get out in a hurry and chock a wheel after he rolled to a stop. Seems in the fullness of time, the door has become another creation due to the scrap metal man. That's the way it goes.
Andrew

The O model was (and still is) my favourite Beddie

Now you mention it, Steve, yes, the Ks here do all seem to have Holden cabs. Looks like I need to re-order the images in my head! LOL.

G'day Andrew, sounds like you've got it licked, mate! Looking forward to seeing your progress.