Differences between Bedford OYC and OYD

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Matt,
If you have not got it, this is a 'must have' book for a Bedford enthusiast. A wealth of very good information in it and good photos.
http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0723228752/

cheers Richard

[lynx42]

Welcome to MLU Matt. The Bedford was mine, I obtained it from a farmer just up the road from me and passed it on to Tony L. who sold it to Richmond G. The farmer used it for a general farm truck until there was a malfunction of some sort and then they towed it around the paddocks with a tractor for carting hay. The tray which was on it was not the original but was on it when they first acquired it.

Tony L. cut a lot of rust out of the chassis, hopefully not where the chassis no. should be, but I can't remember. The Cabin also required a lot of repairs but Tony was right up his street with that.

As you know, I still have the engine here and if you haven't picked it up before July, I may be able to bring it to Adelaide. That depends on my health which is not the best at the moment.

OY Bedford engine 001.jpg

Had a look at the engine number today it is:- OY73076

Regards Rick.

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Hi Matt,
If you have not got it, this is a 'must have' book for a Bedford enthusiast. A wealth of very good information in it and good photos.
http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0723228752/

cheers Richard

Thanks Richard, thought I knew most of the books Bart wrote/edited but this one has escaped me, yes a copy is on my list. I wonder if there is a Bedford OY register.

[mlombard]

Hi Rick

Yes I hope to be over to collect the engine, will keep in touch. Mike did some digging for me and identified that there was a Bedford OY at Sale RAAF base in the 1940's which was listed as a tanker. I also found a list in the Victorian Police Register of motor vehicles for Bedford OY, which is interesting, but no more detail than that. Yet all the other books I have looked at such a REPCO replacement parts catalogues do not list the OY, only the K, M, and O series (this being OB and OL) and sometimes the QL. Further digging seems to indicate that several vehicles came into Freemantle and possibly Sydney on the MV empire Star as well as other refugee ships from Singapore,, some of who had vehicles loaded in the UK for RAF units sent to Malaya. And finally to the best of my (and Mike's of course) knowledge no Bedford OY's were issued to Australian forces in Australia, only in Malaya, Middle East and UK. So the mystery deepens.

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Matt,
It is quite possible your OY came in after the war. The weapons testing in SA brought a number of British Army vehicles to Australia and some still appear over there, both 40's and 50's types. The OY remained in British army service right up until late 50's and possibly longer as I recollect in the mid 70's in the army workshops I worked in we had a batch of OY engines to rebuild.

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Matt,

I think we got our wires crossed a little: I remember letting you know that I have record of OYs in RAAF service in Australia during WW2, which is consistent with your comment that some may have been landed as refugee cargo from the 'Empire Star'. Many of the 'Refugee cargo' vehicles were absorbed by the services, and an orphan like the OY would most likely have gone to the RAAF or RAN, given their small numbers, and given that the RAAF already had a small fleet of Bedfords, that service would seem to be the logical recipient.

Mike

[Lynn Eades]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Hi Matt,

that service would seem to be the logical recipient.

Mike

Mike, Thoughts loaded with scepticism flow freely in my head

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Mike, Thoughts loaded with scepticism flow freely in my head

Hi Lynn your right, there is apparently some archival material in Canberra on the refugee cargo that Australian authorities initially impounded then disposed of, via a committee set up to deal with wartime shipping. It would seem that in the days and weeks following the fall of Singapore, ships were turning up all over Australia, but mainly Fremantle not only with human cargo, but their holds still full of war materials, which needed to be offloaded, and I assume replaced with food stuffs, before being sent back to, mainly the UK. So given the situation the authorities found themselves in and the desperate need for war materials in Australia, they requisitioned them and then passed them out to the various services such as the RAN and RAAF. It is known that the MV Empire Star arrived at Singapore with RAF ground units but was unable to unload fully, and by this stage Singapore was the only Allied position with reports that it's streets were awash with vehicles used in the retreat from Malaya, so possibly the priority would have been other cargo, food and ammo unloaded first. There is a photo on the net of the MV Empire Star sailing to Batavia or Australia still with trucks as deck cargo. Yes I agree that there is a degree of threading the story together, but it is pretty certain this Bedford OY is a mid 1941 production as it lacks certain features of the later OY's such as roof hatch etc, but has other features which indicate it is not early production either such as hubs for split rims on the front and the handbrake mechanism is not the early one. It all interesting stuff this.

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Hi Matt,

I think we got our wires crossed a little: I remember letting you know that I have record of OYs in RAAF service in Australia during WW2, which is consistent with your comment that some may have been landed as refugee cargo from the 'Empire Star'. Many of the 'Refugee cargo' vehicles were absorbed by the services, and an orphan like the OY would most likely have gone to the RAAF or RAN, given their small numbers, and given that the RAAF already had a small fleet of Bedfords, that service would seem to be the logical recipient.

Mike

Agreed, and there is an indication that the one(s) at Sale may have been tankers, so OYC not OYD possibly, unless the vehicles were converted locally to tankers from GS trucks, which could have been possible.

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by mlombard

Agreed, and there is an indication that the one(s) at Sale may have been tankers, so OYC not OYD possibly, unless the vehicles were converted locally to tankers from GS trucks, which could have been possible.

Sorry my mistake, you did not say Sale, but there is a possibility that, give that the truck came from the Gippsland area, that it had served at Sale with the RAAF