Bedford

1931–1986 · Vauxhall’s commercial arm · Luton, Dunstable — and Petone

Assembled in New Zealand from 1931 to 1984. And 1939 is the line where the brakes change.

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All Bedford PartsEverything we list for the marque, in one place

Bedford K, M & O1939–1953 Bedford CA Van1952–1969 Bedford J Series1958–1998 Bedford CF Van1969–1986

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Window SealsWindscreen · Rear screen · Quarterlight Door SealsDoor rubbers · Pinchweld · Bailey channel Boot & BonnetBoot seals · Bonnet rubbers · Buffers Body & TrimPanel rubber · Mouldings · Bumper fittings Clips & FixingsTrim clips · Moulding · Screws · Washers Brakes & ClutchCylinders · Kits · Hoses · Pedal pads Suspension & SteeringBushes · Ball joints · King pins · Idlers Engine & GasketsGasket sets · Mounts · Seals · Bearings CoolingHoses · Thermostats · Caps · Senders Ignition & ElectricalPoints · Caps · Rotors · Coils · Leads Fuel & FiltersPumps · Hose · Filters · Exhaust mounts Lighting & MirrorsLamps · Lenses · Bulbs · Mirrors Axle & GearboxSeals · Mounts · Bearings · Universals

Not listed? Plenty of parts suit several marques and never get the model name in the title — ask us and we will check the books for you.

About Bedford

Vauxhall Motors became wholly owned by General Motors in 1925, and the Bedford name appeared on GM commercials from 1929 — applied at first to Chevrolet models built at Colindale in north-west London, not at Luton. The first true Bedford came in April 1931: a two-ton lorry, WHG on a 10ft 11in wheelbase or WLG on 13ft 1in. The 500,000th Bedford truck was built in 1947, and by 1958 there were more than a million Bedford commercial vehicles. One thing worth knowing if you are chasing a chassis plate: the trucks were not built at Luton. Through the 1950s truck and bus manufacture moved entirely to Dunstable, where GM put up two new double-storey factories in 1955–57 — a production line a mile long and 5,500 people. Luton stayed the car plant.

In New Zealand, Bedford is General Motors at Petone. General Motors New Zealand was formed on 4 January 1926, and Bedford trucks went down the Petone line from 1931, alongside the first British Vauxhalls — right through to the last CF in 1984. The TK is specifically recorded as a Petone truck, and Te Papa holds a photograph of a Bedford at the plant from about 1936. Trentham opened in August 1967, was down to truck assembly by 1990 and then closed; between them the two plants built 593,945 vehicles. And the New Zealand fact worth leading with: New Zealand Railways Road Services ran what was probably the largest fleet of Bedford SB buses anywhere in the world — roughly 1,250 of them, almost all bodied by New Zealand Motor Bodies, and almost all on the 300 cubic inch petrol engine rather than the diesel. Only 39 of the whole fleet were diesels.

Bedford — the range, and what changes between the vehicles

1939 — the brake line: Pre-war W-series Bedfords are rod-braked, with a Dewandre vacuum servo. From the 1939 redesign — K, M, O, OB, and the military OY, OX, MW and QL — they are Lockheed hydraulic with vacuum servo assistance. A W-series lorry and an O-series lorry of the same size share no brake hydraulics at all, because the W has none. This is the first question to ask about a pre-war Bedford.
Where Vauxhall parts genuinely cross: CA — the 1,508cc four of the Vauxhall Wyvern, then the 1,594cc Victor FB unit from 1964. CF — the Slant Four, 1,599 and 1,975 from the Victor FD, then 1,759 and 2,279 from the Victor FE in 1972. HA van — a Viva HA that took HB engines in 1967 and HC engines in 1972. TJ J0 — the 2,651cc Vauxhall Cresta six, the one Vauxhall car engine in a Bedford truck.
And where it does not: Bedford’s truck petrol sixes descend from Chevrolet, not Vauxhall — the 214 and 300 cubic inch units are developments of the Stovebolt, and no Vauxhall car has an equivalent. No Bedford diesel is a Vauxhall engine. Bedford began building its own from 1956; before that a diesel in a Bedford is a Perkins or a Leyland. The CF’s diesels are Perkins and then Opel, and the CF2’s 1,979cc petrol is an Opel CIH, not a Slant Four.
On a bus chassis the number is the engine: 5 = Bedford 330 diesel · 8 = Leyland O.350 · 13 = Leyland O.375 · 14 = Leyland O.400 · 70 = Bedford 466. An SB5 and an SB8 are different vehicles under the bonnet. On a Y-series coach it is the middle letter: R = 466, L and M = 500 Red Series, N = 500 turbo Blue Series.
The 3,519cc six — the wartime engine: The 214 cubic inch overhead-valve six at 72bhp at 3,000rpm runs through the OY, OX, MW, QL and the OB bus, and the M series. 72,385 OYs, 65,995 MWs, 52,247 QLs, 73,135 RLs.
An Australian Bedford may not have a Bedford engine: Australian TKs could be fitted with Holden 253 or 308 petrol V8s, and GM-H built the CF with Holden 2.85 and 3.3 litre sixes. Worse, from 1972 GM-H badged Isuzu trucks as “Bedford by Isuzu”, dropping the Bedford name by 1979. An Australian “Bedford” of the 1970s may be an Isuzu.
The Petone trap: Petone is General Motors — Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Bedford, later Holden. But Petone is also where Austin was assembled, by Associated Motor Industries for the Austin Distributors Federation, a completely different company on a different site. And Seaview, Lower Hutt is Ford. All three are within a few kilometres of each other and they get confused constantly.
1986 did not end the trucks: Bedford-badged manufacture at Dunstable ended in 1986 and the business went to AWD — which had to use its own name because GM kept “Bedford” for light vans. But the TJ was still being built for export in 1998, and the TK in Turkey by Genoto until 1994.
Earth polarity: We cannot tell you, and we will not guess. The only polarity statement we could find for any Bedford is a single spec database giving the CA as 12 volt positive, and nothing corroborates it. No source gives polarity for the TK, TJ, TL, TM, CF, HA, any bus or any military Bedford, and none gives a date for a changeover. Check the vehicle before you order a coil, a regulator or a radio.