Bedford
The British automobile industry - it seems to be there, but only factories and trade marks do not belong to the British, as a rule. Many of them passed from hand to hand several times, gradually disappearing from memory. It's a pity of course..
Bedford, a firm that lost its independence and was taken over by GM in 1925.
In the fall of 1939, the Bedford automobile company began the production of the most unified military trucks of the OX and OY series with single wheels, created on the commercial chassis of the model O. Despite the different purpose and parameters, they were supplied with the same units, cabins and even tires, and differed in a purely army unassuming exterior with a flat front panel with integrated one or two headlights and a radiator mesh.
This range is topped by the compact 1.5-ton OXD machine with a 3.5-liter overhead valve engine producing 72 hp. and a multipurpose side body. On such a chassis, water and fuel tanks, airfield refuellers and starters were mounted. One of the options was the OHS truck tractor, which worked with several types of single-axle military semitrailers with different heights of the loading platform.
At the same time, a militarized three-ton Bedford OYD truck was in production with the same "unique" appearance, which differed from the OXD model with a reinforced and lengthened frame, a vacuum brake booster, a sunroof and a roomy wood-metal body with high sides and a tarpaulin awning. A car with a gross weight of 6.5 tons developed a maximum speed of 65 km / h.
Bedford TL
Of the 72 thousand OYD trucks produced under Lend-Lease, a fairly large batch of 1,662 vehicles was sent, of which only 1,387 reached their destination.
The Bedford TL truck has been produced since 1980 in the UK. This truck model continues the Bedford TK series, on the basis of which it was created. This model was discontinued in 1986 with the closure of Bedford Vehicles. Production resumed in 1988 with new owners, and in 1992 the last truck rolled off the assembly line. The trucks were equipped with six-cylinder gasoline engines with a volume of 3.5 and 4.9 liters, and diesel engines: a four-cylinder with a volume of 3.6 liters, and a six-cylinder with a volume of 5.4 liters.