K, M and O model Bedford trucks.

My uncle bought a new Bedford truck about 1950. I was about seven years old at the time and remember it as beiing grey, about five ton carrying capacity, about a 14ft tray with a pressed steel combing rail. not RSJ or timber.

I have been trying to work out what model it may have been. Were the K, M and O Bedford trucks following models or just different sizes ?.

Did some models have the front axle set further back than others ?.

Geoff.

Mid 1939 saw a complete revamp of Bedfords; with only the HC van continuing in production. The new range consisted of the K (30–40 cwt), MS and ML (2–3 ton), OS and OL (3–4 ton), OS/40 and OL/40 (5 ton) series, and the OB bus. Also on offer was a new 10–12 cwt van, the JC, derived from the new J Model Vauxhall car. Many of the trucks sold by Bedford between June and September 1939 were requisitioned for military use on the outbreak of World War II; many were abandoned after the retreat from Dunkirk, rendered useless to the enemy by removing the engine oil drain plug and running the engine. Because the German armed forces in 1940 were, contrary to their popular image, desperately short of motor transport, many of these captured Bedfords were repaired and pressed into service alongside Opel Blitz (also part of GM) trucks by the German armed forces – although the Bedfords mainly filled second line roles, including civil defence.

Production of the new range ceased, apart from a few examples made for essential civilian duties, when Bedford went onto a war footing. Production resumed in 1945.

Second World War[edit]

Bedford OYD Armadillo Mk III

The war-time Bedford QL, with the driver perched above the engine in a forward control cab, foreshadowed post-war truck designs
In 1935, Bedford began the development of a 15 cwt truck for the British War Office. This entered service as the MW in 1939, and 65,995 examples had been built by the end of World War II in 1945. The MW appeared in a bewildering range of roles, as a water tanker, general duties truck, personnel carrier, petrol tanker, wireless truck and anti-aircraft gun tractor – among others.

The War Office designated 15 cwt vehicles, such as the MW, as trucks, and larger vehicles as lorries.

The 1939 K-, M-, and O-series lorries were quickly redesigned for military use. This was largely a matter of styling, involving a sloping bonnet with a flat front with headlights incorporated and a crash bar to protect the radiator in a minor collision. The military versions were designated OX and OY series, and again were put to a wide range of tasks, including mobile canteens, tankers, general purpose lorries, and a version with a Tasker semi-trailer used by the Royal Air Force to transport dismantled or damaged aircraft. This variant was popularly known as the "Queen Mary". A number of Bedford OXD 1.5 ton chassis were converted to make the Bedford OXA armoured vehicle. A total of 72,385 OY and 24,429 OX lorries were built. The Armadillo was an OY fitted for airfield defence with Lewis guns and an ex-aircraft COW 37 mm gun.

Bedford supplied numerous trucks and tanks to the Soviet Union during World War II.

A radical departure from Bedford's design norms came in October 1939, with the development of a four-wheel drive, forward control lorry, which entered service in March 1941 as the QL, quickly nicknamed the "Queen Lizzie". As with the MW and OY / OX models, the QL went on to serve in a large number of roles, such as artillery tractor, gun porter, command vehicle, wireless lorry and petrol tanker, as well as the troop-carrying QLD, the most common variant. An experimental version used the track unit of a bren gun carrier, or Universal Carrier, as an answer to the German half-track vehicles, which had superior cross-country capability. Production ran at around 12,000 units per year between 1942 and 1944. Many QLs and other Bedford World War II military vehicles served with the British Army, and other forces into the 1960s, and many others were purchased for civilian use after the war.

After the evacuation of Dunkirk in June 1940, the British Army had around 100 tanks, most of which were obsolete and inferior to the German tanks of the day. Vauxhall Motors was given one year to design and produce a suitable heavy tank. In May 1941, the Churchill tank went into production at Luton, some 5,640 units and 2,000 spare engines being produced at Luton, and other sites under contract to Vauxhall. The resultant need to continue truck production brought about the development of the new Bedford Dunstable plant, which came online in 1942.

For wartime production the OB was temporarily replaced by the "utility" OWB, with which Bedford became the only British manufacturer authorised to build single-deck buses during hostilities.

The pre-war K, M and O types continued in production alongside the heavier S types until 1953. Vauxhall had already gone for a transatlantic styling with its E Model Wyvern and Velox saloons, and Bedford followed suit with its mid-range of trucks in 1953. Designated as the TA series, the new range were mechanically very similar to their predecessors, but featured a new Chevrolet-inspired cab. The 'T' designation meant "truck", so the range is generally referred to as the A series. Numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5; as in A2, etc., identified the weight rating. A factory-fitted Perkins diesel engine was an option. The TA (A) series was updated in 1957, and became the TJ, or J series.

The Bedford TJ normal control light truck was introduced in 1958, available with either petrol or diesel engines. Although never a big seller in the home market (with the exception of the GPO), it was a big export earner in developing countries, due to its basic layout and specification, and remained in production (for export markets only) until production of Bedford vehicles ceased.

Gday Geoffa, I hope Lang has given you all the info you need, Jeez, ive
had a M for near on two years and i learnt a heap!
(you'll find that hanging around here does that, there is some bloody cleaver fellas here, just got to listen as they say)

Im going simpler in my answers as thats the only way I can,

The K model was single rear wheel, long nose , 6 cyl light truck. non boosted brakes

The ML and MS same body, dual rear wheels, L= long wheel base, S=short. boosted brakes

O model had the cab moved forward for better weight distribution over the front axle,
engine sat further in the cab and had a short bonnet, easily identified by the slots in the bonnet sides being short slot, long slot, then short slot as apposed to the others having 3 long slots. duel rear wheels and boosted brakes.
Do a google image search, easy to see the difference. mine is an aussie cabbed MSZ

to confuse the issue, i converted mine to a falcon rear axle, hence the lack of duels on the rear