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"At last a driver's lorry," said the estimable John F
Page 53
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Moon of Commercial Motor after testing the TK at its 1960 debut. "There is no doubt," Moon continued with uncanny prescience, "the Bedford TK series will prove to be one of the most popular ranges ever.., in this country" In fact it became the most popular: 552,000 were sold before production ceased in 1984.
To understand the extent of the TK's importance you need some historical context. Its antecedents lay in UK carmaker Vauxhall, taken over by GM in 1925. Anxious to get access to home, and crucially Empire, markets, the parent company began importing Chevrolet light commercials. By 1931 these were being assembled in Luton and badged as Bedfords to emphasise their British build.
Whereas many chassis of the time rolled singly off the line prior to the addition of a wood-framed, coachbuilt cab, Bedfords were unashamedly mass produced with pressed steel cabs using productionline methods pioneered by Ford. Consequently they were competitively priced, durable and very quickly became popular at the lighter end of the market.
The introduction of the TK was a revolution. By setting the cab forward, and the longitudinally mounted engine further back, there was no 'dog kennel' incursion. Wide steps gave easy access and the flat floor afforded cross-cab mobility and room for up to three people. For drivers this was a revelation no clambering up the front wheel to get in and an easy-to-use synchromesh gearbox once thereluxury in comparison with its peers. The TK's controls were light and car-like, and the capacious rear shelf ideal for driver's kit (although sadly a tad too short to sleep on). however; anyone taller than 5ft 8in soon got a crick in their neck from looking through the low windscreen. A keen eye on production costs inevitably led to compromises and the original idea of a tilt-cab was abandoned in favour of gull-wing engine access, (although one company advertised a tilt conversion in Truck magazine during the 1970s).
Larger versions in a range that embraced tractor units boasted Leyland engines and Eaton two-speed rear axles. Converters such as Primrose produced three and even four-axle rigid versions.
Most importantly of all, an entire generation of vocational licence holders passed their HGV tests in TKs, even before power steering was commonplace.
My first driving job was in a KC model Luton TK belonging to Freeborns of Deards Corner, North London. With a payload of four tons and an unladen weight of two tons, 19 and a bit hundredweight, it scraped in under tax and HGV limits but with a six-cylinder engine happily ran long distances, using the front seats as a bed.
This might seem heresy to those who worship at the altar of Atkinson or Albion, but the Bedford TK was truly democratic: a lorry chassis for the people. Simple to drive, even in inexperienced hands, cheap to run and repair, it sold widely, as GM intended, in Europe and the Commonwealth.
Fast forward 30 years from the launch, a heavily laden TK tipper in the autumn of its years, still in the original East London operator's livery, grinds up a hill in Castries, St Lucia in 1990... proof positive of the TK's part in social history as the most important truck ever produced.
• Dave Young has editedTruck & Driver magazine since 1993. A former car transporter and general haulage driver, he's contributed to Radio 4, the Daily Telegraph and continental magazines. He lives in London with his wife and son. Inevitably, the family car is a van.