rippo

Yes thats right the light in my picture is the same as the lamps, bellow the 4, on the MW pictured. Thats the rear of Maurice Donkers MW and he's a bit of a expert on the early bedfords, if as you say they only came into use later in the war why would he have them on his? What i know of the rubbolites, they were fitted to the frame of the tool box, not above the tow bar, would you agree with this? Looking at maurices he as no spare holes on the toolbox frame, most of the mw's as far as i can remember, have spare holes on the frame. Some of the wood on the body of my mw is original, and the piece where the rear lights on maurices are mounted, as far as i can tell is an original piece on mine, and i have two blind holes in a very similar place to where maurice has his mounted. I've sent him an email asking his opinion i'll let you know the reply.

so would you say these are the same lights on the back of the mw picture?

There is nothing stamped on the bracket. It has twin conectors an a twin filament bulb. The picture above is on maurice's mw. Until a saw his i thought rubolite no 5 were always used on the mw's, bolted to the tool box, again one brake light and one tail light. I have two holes in my body in a similar place to where maurices are. How early did the change take place?

yeah the lights under the number 4. I wish i'd take a better picture now. i guess they were used before the rubbolite ones were, as thats maurices bedford in the pic, and i have two holes in the same place on mine. But again i'm guessing, one would be the stop light and the other the tail light. So they might be lights from a tractor what era is it from?

hello I bought these thinking they were early british rear lights as shown in the picture of the mw. But when i opened them up there's a double small stop and tail bulb any idea's?

hello tomas, It is a 1943 chassis number. It is your early bush bar and more so the early type vokes air filter you have that made me think it was earlier but again i learn something new. Have you seen any more of these air filters on your travels? A MWG would have been an anti aircraft carrage the first of two orders were placed mid 1942, S1969 WD No's Z4893958-981, and V2738 WD no's Z5194299-498. I guess yours would have come from the second batch. Is the Z number on your truck original? or is it a made up one. if the pictures i have the mud guards look the same on the mwg and mwd, i can't see why the mwg would have thicker ones. Its Strange my MW was produced in 1940 on contract number V3733, yet these mwg's are produced on V2748 years after, i would have thought the numbers would go up.

hello tomas, Whats the chassis number of your mw? Looking at your pictures t looks earlier than 1944.:tup::

Was your the one up for sale at beltring? I have the paint recipe for the olive drab used in the bedford factory if you want it? I found an original patch on mine and had it matched.

Another very early one,

Hello, I'm trying to get in contact with mick as he owns an early bedford like mine. I know he's traced the history of his with the rlc and from a picture on my other thread his is from the same batch as mine, i might be able to work my census number out if i can get his chassis number. I do know mick but haven't any contact details for him. I guess i'd see him again at a show but i'm trying to get the bedford done for normandy and that'll be it's first outing. Can anyone help me out? :tup::

Hello all, Came across this when i was searching the net, bit of an oddball, nicely done thoe, Are there any others?

Have now refitted the rear springs to the mw, is there a torque setting for the u-clamps? The manual I have doesn't give one.

hello, i've posted this picture on here before, but as i was doing so last time i noticed the tyres didn't look quite right. They look more like 750's than 900's. The picture is taken in berlin in the late fifties. I know the gentleman on the left, i've asked him but he can't remember, what size they were. He still see's his mate on the right and is going to see if he can shed any light on it. He did say the steering was lighter that a restored one he drove to a show. the oy's had the 750's on but on 20" wheels but i think the front brake drums were differernt. Any idea's?

A real shame the bodies gone the rest looks pretty good. I went to look at a K2 in falaise, the cab was totally rotten but the rear body was pretty sound and original. http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/falaise_museum.htm The owner was also the owner of the museum in falaise, i've lost his details but it's worth giving him a ring. Do you think the owner of your K2 would know where abouts of these any of these filters? There vokes air filters used on early bedfords and some other vehicles to. Goanna said there was an adundance of the filters in oz, he has four but won't let me have one. If you don't mind could you ask the seller of tyhe K2 if he's come across any?:tup::

Thanks hanno,:tup:: thats a great picture, i've got that one in one of my books but that picture is much bigger and clearer. If barts book is right they only made one anti aircraft mw on the early chassis, more were made, but on the later cabbed version. I can nearly see the number on the bonnet, is it Z416? Note the smaller side lights on it and the shape of the back of the wing. Is that a plate on the steering colum support? mine has one there but i wasn't to sure about it, looking at that it might well be right. the mirrors in a strange place, it would be in the way of the door. Judging by the fella pushing his bike past in the back ground it isn't in action. If that was a prototype would it have gone into service or just into test?

There are two versioms of the body the early hinged type and the later solid type. The hinged bodies were designed for the motley gun set up. Now looking at the picture in post nine i cant see any hinges and the body dose look lower. I think thats the later type solid body, and has been altered to give it the clearance the hinges would have done, the top plank has been removed,or maybr it was a bad week for wood and they only had larger boards. The pictures is 52 53 show 3 boards above the wheel arch, the third board is where the hinge point is. The only thing i know for sure is nothing was standard.

hello, Memmingways is a old army dealers over here, they have a number of vintage vehicles stored around there yard. Here's a link to some pictures of it http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562232747IWGUHX I don't think i'm far out with the 70's it could be even later. My dad had the ruddington cataloges from the 60's till the end and i think he looked it up in there when he did his mw. I remember a matador came out in the late 80s, and two yellow ql's came out about the same time they weren't in bad shape, i think they had been on an airfield somewhere. We got a QL training chassis from our local T/A base in the early 90s, so it wouldn't suprise me if they still had some in store some where. There was a story doing the rounds once, probably in the early 90s, that the army had found some QL's and were going to loan them to mvt members, but we never heard anything more than that. It was about the time my dad was looking for his QL, so we weren't sure if someone was pulling his leg!! But then there were tails of steam trains, push bikes, and hand carts at castle donnington and this came from outside the military clubs.

I think it was probably more like the early 70s. I think memmingways had, and still has, one of the last mw's to be released, and from memory the 1970's rings a bell.

hello mate, That looks like a standard body to me. As far is i know it was only the sides and maybe the headboard of the body that were raised one plank, i don't think the tailboard was bigger. Also if you count the planks, there are six, mine has six also, so i don't think it has. I think the angle of the picture makes the sides look bigger.

a couple more i've found. Look at the ladies all over the mw!! Now that must have been cold! That must of hurt. I guess the vacuum chamber would have been an early air bag!! is that an explorer lurcking in the shed behind? This is a friend of mine, back in the 50's serving in berlin, they also had a aeroscreen water bowser. I've just notice the front tyres look small, or maybe its just the camera angle. The one in goanna post bogged down in north africa has had a few mods, looks like an oy tow bar on it and the spare wheel and tool box added to the rear.

degsy, Thanks i'd appreciate that, the fella that had it, when we saw it, lived just down the road from the zoo itself, i think he'd got it from there but like i say it's probably 20 years ago now so my memorys a bit sketchy, but i'm certain it was used at the zoo. :tup::

Thanks richard i appreciate your reply's. I chased a number of danish qls but never got to them soon enough. Is there any chance the rlc would let me spend the day looking through there records? i've got the original engine number too so might be able to get closer if i could. I know mike from leeds got all the history for his from there and i think his is from the same batch as mine. I've narrowed it down to 3500 numbers!!!! I suppose the best way would to be find it under the paint somewhere. The last person to restore mine took most of the old paint off with a orbtal sander so i don't think i'll find much. Also the strange thing is i haven't come across many civilian colours where there has been patches of original paint. From the metal up i've got red oxide or black primer, olive drab, a sandy colour and light blue and then from the last restoration red oxide and the bronze green its finished in now. There was an early mw used at the welsh mountain zoo. We went to see it about 20 years and i seem to remember that being light blue, maybe i should put a post up see if anyone remembers it.

yeah your bang on mate, i realise this but its the only way i can see to get somewhere around the correct number. The only other options would be to make a number up, or leave it without one all together.

Hello, Was searching around the internet and i came across this bedford mw, And it was a owners blog on here, so the owner of this one is a member of the forum. From the number on the bonnet it is from the same batch as mine, so if i can get in contact with the owner i might be able to work my number from his. I was just on my way out and thought i'd be able to find the link again, but alass i've searched the same terms again but i can't find it. Can any one point me in the right direction, the onwer also had a gmc.

I've got 3 new ones ..I grabbed them for the Morris' .. stuff like this was around 20 years ago, but you don't see it anymore these days . The original felt filter material tends to break up after 50 years.. when we had the WOT2 on the road, we used a modern round filter element from a air compressor or something, it fitted inside the round Vokes cannister perfectly. Mike Three new ones!! :shocked: .. I'd be made up with a rusty one. Would you like a new best friend :-D