Maybe the TK was the lone survivor but lets say from 1958 to 1964 era which of the three was the most successful ! Cheers Bewick.
Well BEWICK way before my time,in 1964 i was still on the high seas sampling the delights of the GEISHA IN KOBE,YOKOHAMA , however in 1965,i used to help out in a concrete garage making factory in FENNY COMPTON,a owner driver had a TK bedford and i used to go with him early sunday mornings both stinking of booze ,once on the M6 AT CANNOCK he would let me drive up to knutsford service station while he had a kip on the window/bed type thing and that is how i got in to driving it was a ARTIC…
.HE used to reckon it,one spot light…better than the themes trader with the pedals coming up at you ,then i drove a B.M.C. CATTLE TRUCK in 1966 the rest is history,im sure some of the MEN OF STATISTICS will let you know after they have researched the pros and cons all i knew was they used diesel and cold ,pdb.
Pass! Not much between any of them really, they all had their plus and minus points. I’m guessing that they were all in a similar price range, I worked on all three (BMC’s mostly though) and it also depends what weight range you are comparing them? I think all were available from three to seven tons, although the BMC FHK range were available as eight tonners as well, and the Trader and TK cabs were the same throughout whereas the lighter BMC’s up to six tons used either the FG ‘angle door’ cab or the bonnetted WEK one and the Italian designed FFK and FHK cab on the heavier models. Ford and Bedford seemed more popular for tipper work, I’m told that the BMC 5.7 engine was the best ‘puller’ of the three and quite reliable until the FJ range appeared in 1964. BMC still used a constant mesh four speed gearbox that was decent enough, (I can’t ever remember replacing one) the synchro Bedford four speed box wore the synchromesh out on third gear and we replaced them a lot. All down to personal choice/price/dealer availability in the end I guess?
Pete.
peggydeckboy:
Well BEWICK way before my time,in 1964 i was still on the high seas sampling the delights of the GEISHA IN KOBE,YOKOHAMA , however in 1965,i used to help out in a concrete garage making factory in FENNY COMPTON,a owner driver had a TK bedford and i used to go with him early sunday mornings both stinking of booze ,once on the M6 AT CANNOCK he would let me drive up to knutsford service station while he had a kip on the window/bed type thing and that is how i got in to driving it was a ARTIC….HE used to reckon it,one spot light…better than the themes trader with the pedals coming up at you ,then i drove a B.M.C. CATTLE TRUCK in 1966 the rest is history,im sure some of the MEN OF STATISTICS will let you know after they have researched the pros and cons all i knew was they used diesel and cold ,pdb.
I lean towards the Trader as the better of the three and Robsons of Carlisle ran many many Traders both as 4 wheelers and tractor units although I believe the Boss man at County Garage ( Main Ford Dealers) in Carlisle was a good pal of Stan Robson but the Traders did a great job at the lighter end of Robsons operation i.e. Metal Box Co. Cheers Bewick.
My first driving job was for BWH of Newark with a BMC Laird tractor unit and 4 in line trailer running at 18t gross,around 10.5t payload on 33ftdeck.
After a while I was promoted to a Leyland Mastiff (V8 engine?)running at 24t gross.
Never driven a Trader and didn’t care for the TK.