Home brew sleeper cabs

richard_j · 30 December 2016 11:14

Anyone remember those cab extentions which we used to bribe the workshop crews to build on the cab of your Bedford TK’s/KM’s/Ford Cargo’s/Leylands/etc, in lieu of a proper sleeper cab?

There were some very strange looking concoctions bolted on the cab backs…any photos of them would be appreciated.

Richard

billybob · 30 December 2016 16:39

Hi
found this advert for a sleeper conversion in a 1982 Bedford Operator magazine that might be of interest

richard_j · 30 December 2016 17:56

That’s spot on, BillyBob…and very upmarket too! Most of the ones I remember seeing were very much a home brewed thing, but looks very posh.

Many thanks for that…

Richard

rastone · 30 December 2016 19:05

Richard J:
That’s spot on, BillyBob…and very upmarket too! Most of the ones I remember seeing were very much a home brewed thing, but looks very posh.

Many thanks for that…

Richard

A couple of Fords whith a Whitacres conversions

E & A West.jpg

buzzer · 30 December 2016 20:17

Hi this is a model done by Unity Conversions of Little Lever Street Bolton, they sent me this picture of a Hipwood & Grundy motor to show me what the finished article would look like, any ways I had my 110 Scania done but when I took it up there in an old mill it were I nearly had second thoughts but carried on and was well pleased with the results. cant remember how much it cost but it sure was better than kipping across the seats.
In my early days I got two fella’s from a car repair shop to put a hutch on the back of a Mammoth Minor AEC, that was scary once they nibbled the back of the cab Saterday and I needed the truck to go to work on the Monday but they did it with a sheet of mild steel and 1 inch angle but that was back in the day.

ste46 · 30 December 2016 20:30

They all look a darned site better than the Jennings nesr boxes they stuck on the back of Walton-le-Dale’s finest!

Steve

richard_j · 30 December 2016 20:59

Some nice images there guys, thanks ever so much. I remember back in the day that some would knock the side windows out of the TK cabs and have a metal box welded across the resulting hole, at least could you get yourself across the parcel shelf behind the seats.
The upmarket version was made by cutting the back of the cab right off, and welding in an extension plate, then welding the back of the cab back on. An old piece of carpet, a pile of blankets (or if you were lucky, a narrow mattress) a set of old curtains, and away you went with your smart sleeper cab.

How things have changed…

Richard