When British Leyland Truck and Bus was put up for sale by the British government, General Motors who founded and owned Bedford Trucks wanted to buy it. When this didn't come to pass, they took revenge by closing down Bedford Trucks and pulling out of G.B. Of course, it's a bit more complicated than that but American companies are and continue to be ruthless. Just at what they did to their own city of Detroit. The worst part of the KM was the cab ergonomics, they were nothing special.
The deal was to buy Land Rover and Leyland Truck but Margaret Thatcher said no even though GM offered a large amount of money more than the two companies were ever worth.
GM never updated their Bedford range over the years and by the 80's they were so behind the times, with dwindling sales and operators increasingly buying other brands, the writing was on the wall for the Bedford range, and through 1985 GM announced that they would stop making them.
I was 8 in '66... My dad used to sell bedfords & at the time, to my eyes & ears, the KM was the best truck in the world! Gad to have watched this...:-))
The problem with Bedford was they had a huge contract to supply the British Army and because of this they never really kept up with the truck developments particularly for the driver.The TK had no power steering. They never produced a sleeper cab as far as I know. With no tilt cab like the Ford D series, Bedford's main rival, they were difficult to work on. Commercial sales fell and once the army contract came to an end they were finished. We had one KM in our fleet. It was a beast. The brakes were crap when loaded and the air operated parking brake would not release on many occasions. Ron Self who drove it got used to it but the rest of us did not like it at all.
The bedford TM has it's bed behind the seats... i had one... the parking brakes has twin big booster... the cabin is tilted by a hydraulic pump too the TM and the TL series have it
i used to drive a 1974 KM skip lorry..."the green goddess"..lol...funny i cant remember much persuading to take the Leyland that replaced it... although i'd like to drive both today to compare...
Difficult to work on having a fixed cab changing a fan belt was difficult the radiator could only come out from under the truck not enough air flow due to the radiator mounted high above the grill
Did I hear him say a 5 SPEED only! No wonder Australians turned to Yankee gear. British trucks just didn't suit the extreme distances and conditions that Australian drivers endured.
![ได้เวลา! พาน้องแฝดฉีดวัคซีนครบ 1 เดือน🫣 [cc] แดนแพทตี้ SS2 | EP.52 |](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IzeLtaXBLNE/mqdefault.jpg)
When British Leyland Truck and Bus was put up for sale by the British government, General Motors who founded and owned Bedford Trucks wanted to buy it. When this didn't come to pass, they took revenge by closing down Bedford Trucks and pulling out of G.B. Of course, it's a bit more complicated than that but American companies are and continue to be ruthless. Just at what they did to their own city of Detroit. The worst part of the KM was the cab ergonomics, they were nothing special.
The deal was to buy Land Rover and Leyland Truck but Margaret Thatcher said no even though GM offered a large amount of money more than the two companies were ever worth.
GM never updated their Bedford range over the years and by the 80's they were so behind the times, with dwindling sales and operators increasingly buying other brands, the writing was on the wall for the Bedford range, and through 1985 GM announced that they would stop making them.
What about the TM
5 years late but a very modern truck in it's day
The main problem was M Ks were not fitted with a tilt cab ,otherwise a good replacement for the R L . EX REME 1960-1977.
Love the KM I did my apprenticeship on the Vauxhall Bedford range,
Good solid lorry, very well made. We had a TK tipper, never let us down once, and we used to tow with it, I learnt to drive in it
I was 8 in '66... My dad used to sell bedfords & at the time, to my eyes & ears, the KM was the best truck in the world! Gad to have watched this...:-))
The problem with Bedford was they had a huge contract to supply the British Army and because of this they never really kept up with the truck developments particularly for the driver.The TK had no power steering. They never produced a sleeper cab as far as I know. With no tilt cab like the Ford D series, Bedford's main rival, they were difficult to work on. Commercial sales fell and once the army contract came to an end they were finished. We had one KM in our fleet. It was a beast. The brakes were crap when loaded and the air operated parking brake would not release on many occasions. Ron Self who drove it got used to it but the rest of us did not like it at all.
The bedford TM has it's bed behind the seats... i had one... the parking brakes has twin big booster... the cabin is tilted by a hydraulic pump too the TM and the TL series have it
Firth brown sheffield had one with a v6 Detroit, sounded great.
466 should have had an oil cooler, oil would turn to piss and run the crank out on long motorway trips!!!!
My father had one, in a furniture removal form, it was great and could easily do 70mph that was great in the mid 70s.,a far better vehicke than the TK
Still got 1 in 2018..running perfectly...best truck ever...
Nitesh Gopaul still got it?
my dad had a tractor unit and a TK it was my fav to drive round the yard when i was young
Bedfords,first I drove and passed test on in Raf, Tk, Mk,Mj,Rl,drove also Tm.
They were a great Lorry back in the day my dad drove a few of them but he liked the Ford D 1000 better
What a beautiful lorry
Askerde kullandim hayran oldum, kullanmaya doyamadigim kamyon.
i used to drive a 1974 KM skip lorry..."the green goddess"..lol...funny i cant remember much persuading to take the Leyland that replaced it... although i'd like to drive both today to compare...
5:03. "Go ahead, make my day".
Difficult to work on having a fixed cab changing a fan belt was difficult the radiator could only come out from under the truck not enough air flow due to the radiator mounted high above the grill
1:16 - an assembly worker wearing a bloody neck tie...no way that could ever get caught up in anything!
As long as you serviced them correctly, drove them with a degree of mechanical empathy you had a willing work horse and very simple to service.
The KM was brutally handsome in a macho kind of way - good engines too
5:03.... is that, no can't be. Cheers for the upload very interesting video.
the worst trash the fire service ever bought
my uncle had 1 KM truck from UK. carrying 25 tons. named TuckWell
Wowwww im a driver thanks to bedford TL truck
Can someone please assist me? I am trying to locate the chassis number on my Bedford KM. Thanks.
vmcarriages Victor Muscat it was on a plate in the cab by the seat as far as I remembered it’s not on the actual chassis
I love old films like this have you got any Bedford cf films my dad had one with sliding doors in dark blue l reg
wat happened to this company.no more or
5,16 panorama plaxton..
466 some tool
lovely
Did I hear him say a 5 SPEED only! No wonder Australians turned to Yankee gear. British trucks just didn't suit the extreme distances and conditions that Australian drivers endured.