1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
TL could have survived with a different outlook
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE NOSTALGIC feature about Bedford (CM 23 June) prompts the observation that the TL range might well have survived longer under the AWD banner if the new owner David J Brown, who bought the operation from General Motors, had taken a more enlightened view of the commercial vehicle business.
His background as a successful manufacturer of the DJB range of rugged off-road dumptrucks, had installed in him a view that trucks were sold purely on their functional merits, with minimal regard to driver comfort and no regard at all to the stylishness which, for good or ill, by the late 1980s was influencing buyers.
There was, he insisted at the time, no need to replace or update the TL cab. The vehicle did its job and was reliable — that was all that counted in Mr Brown's book. If he had looked at what the continental competition was offering at the time and had invested to meet similar standards of refinement, he might never have needed to sell out ignominiously to Marshall SPV — whose interest was only in Bedford's global parts and service aftermarket.
By the way, the Bedford truck production line was at Dunstable, not Luton. And the HA van was never known as the Viva van. Alan Bunting via email