Bedford Mw history, help!

[rippo]

Hello again!!

sorry to mither you gentlemen again. I'm trying to trace the history of my MW. I've tried the RLC and had no luck. Is there any other sources, or ways of tracing the history?

 

When i bought the mw with it having all its plates and contract number i thought i would be quite easy!!

 

 

 

I have found a reference to the contract number in the Bart Vanderveen bedford bible. There were 3500 gs and tankers built under this contract, they were allocated the WD numbers Z4173216-6715. There is a picture of one of this batch reversing into a landing craft in the book fitted with twin machine guns.

 

I thought i was very rare to see and mw with all but one of the data plates, also it has no reconditioning plate on the chassis, and the engine has a bedford vauxhall reconditioning plate dated 1947. Suggesting the engine was changed after the war and it hasn't been through the workshops since. Maybe why its still got its data plates. But why would that happen? I thought they were all done before they were released.

From what i can tell most of the wood on the body and body panels are original ones. The rear body has all the correct early fittings. It has one of the early alloy fuel caps. With the early mws the seat cushions were bolted through with the seat, It has the remains of the canvass under the bolts. The cab floor is wood, some were steel, this is original as the bolts are still in situ for the rifle mounts although the mounts have been removed. Four of the wheels are dated 1940 and one of the rear springs is stamped may 1940. So i don't think its had a hard life wherever its been. I've been shot blasting the chassis and there isn't loads of paint, the primer black then olive green, red oxcide and the present colour. the only other colour i've found is a light blue in a few places on the body, the last restorer did a pretty through job on the body and cab, although the chassis was not stripped just tickled and painted over. As i'm finding out!!!

 

Any sugestions? i know there's a weath of knowledge and experiance on here hopefully i can suss a bit more.

 

thanks.

Edited October 7, 2008 by rippo

[79x100]

Tracing wartime useage is almost impossible and your Bedford doesn't seem to have a post-war rebuild plate giving a new military registration which would let you, via the Key Card perhaps discover where it went post-war. As an early model, it may have been disposed of without any post-war service.

 

This page on the WD Norton site gives some idea of why so little information exists.

 

http://www.wdnorton.nl/Individual_motorcycle_history.htm

[Richard Farrant]

Tracing the civilian history of your Bedford, might help. My own Bedford will not show up on Key Cards, because it was never transfered to the post war numbering system. It was passed on to the Danish Army after the war, along with many other vehicles. Other countries recieved vehicles, also. Some makes of vehicles had chassis numbers and WD census numbers in order, so once you find a couple of examples, it is easy to cross reference and obtain your wartime serial / census number. BSA M20 is one type in particular, unfortunately, Bedford numbers are a mess, no order whatsoever. This can be seen by selecting a few pages of Key Cards.

 

There are times when a vehicles wartime history can be found, but as they moved around, this could only be a snapshot of its history. I have seen armoured vehicles, which have never been restored and unit / div signs have been found.