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BACK TO THE FUTURE
Page 64
Page 65
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Its not every day CM has the chance
to get behind the wheel of a 1931 Bedford. But this outing revives memories for Colin Barnett, who samples what might have been — it seems he had a narrow escape...
Hard as it might be to believe, a whole generation has grown up without seeing a new Bedford truck on sale in the UK. We say UK specifically because the bonneted J2,onc of which your writer narrowly avoided having to drive for a living, was still being produced in Nigeria until recently.The spirit of the Bedford was effectively given an extra lease of life under the AWD banner in the 1980s, but General Motors' representation in the world of largerthan-ear CVs remained virtually dormant until the arrival of the Movano in 1998.
We were recently invited to the Vauxhall Heritage Centre in Luton to try out the light CV star of its collection, a 1931 Bedford WHO 2-ton dropside.
The W-Series was the first true Bedford, as General Motors production moved during 1930-31 from assembly of Chevrolet and GMC products. It was built as 30cwt and 2-ton trucks, as well as in 14 and 20-seat passenger variants.The early history of this particular example remains unknown: it was rebuilt at Luton from a pair of near-scrap 1931 WHGs.The paintwork, Grass Green and black cellulose, is an original factory colour.
Driving
Sliding into the cab was easy, thanks to the fiat and shiny upholstered bench seat. However, one recurring issue when driving trucks from between the wars is that drivers were a leaner breed in those days! Maybe it was all that handballing exercise, hut it always seems a challenge to fit in behind the wheel. Of course, with no powered assistance,steering wheels were generally much bigger.
Pre-start checks were limited to making sure the choke was out and the windscreen was opened,if required for ventilation and visibility.Although a windscreen wiper is fitted, there's a fair chance you would see more with the window open.The window winders on the doors are a surprisingly modern feature.
Starting involves turning the key and pressing the foot-operated solenoid button (next to the foot-operated dip-switch). if you remember to turn the key far enough the straight-six starts instantly.Although a knob marked -spark" is incl uded, we decided not to complicate matters by messing with the advance and retard.
The rest of the dashboard comprises a speedometer, rather optimistically scaled to 65mph, and smaller dials for petrol, amps and oil pressure. A hand throttle matches tb choke and spark knobs.
Shifting between the four forward gears is handled by a familiar-looking, floor-mounte lever with a conventional H-pattern gate, bu with an unfamiliar lack of synchromesh.Wh becoming acquainted with any crash box the first few miles are accompanied by much wailing and gnashing of teeth.but the correc timing is soon mastered.
The clutch pedal is more like a switch, hut the ultra-low first gear with the clutch fully engaged eases low-speed manoeuvres. In an case, you need a bit of ground speed to help twirl the rather heavy steering.
Acceleration is remarkably sprightly, so even today the Bedford doesn't hold up the traffic.The first three gears are dispensed with quickly, then there's a monumental jump to fourth — definitely a cruising gear. Fortunately the engine is impressively flexible, allowing more use of fourth than we had expected.
The biggest problem when integrating the Bedford into the 21st-century is definitely its lack of indicators Hand signals are all well and good, but how many of today's drivers know the meaning of an arm flailing around from the driver's window? You just have to create a lot more space around yourself than normal— a process that is hardly helped by the mirrors.They might have been state of the art 75 years ago. but now they seem barely big enough fora moped.
Needless to say, the safety gear doesn't include air bags or even seat-belts.That doesn't matter, though, as the spiked switch at the rear of the wiper motor, positioned just a few inches from the driver's forehead, is an clear incentive to avoid an accident. In any case, the four rodoperated drum brakes pull up strongly and squarely whenever needed.
Indeed, the only area in which the Bedford lags seriously behind today's light commercials is suspensionlhe combination of the massive unsprung weight of those 6x2Oin wheels and tyres and rock-hard leaf springs on indifferently surfaced country lanes pres( a major challenge to back and bladder ali Maybe all new van drivers today should t their tests in this Bedford — then they'd ha better understanding of how spoiled they