Junkyard Save! Vintage Off-Road Army Style 4x4 Fire Truck - Will it Run? 

The water funnel looks like your 1st year Apprentice assessment project. Love it.

Mate what an absolute score! How that could be classed as scrap is so sad and perfect for a property! Can’t wait to see the next videos of getting her up to scratch👍

I grew up on those old Bedfords in the 1970's as unpaid labour for my father. They were staples of the home delivery soft drink truck trade in those days along with the J series. You don't see them much anymore so good on you for saving one. They're a reliable old beastie!

Unbelievable that it would be at the scrapyard. Ok, not so good for the modern bush fire brigade but 4x4 and all kitted out for fire fighting it’s perfect for a property owner. Even the tyres look good. Well done saving it. Cheers, Stuart.

Great Bedford MK ,backbone of the British Army for years ,I took my test in one in 1980

Nice job guys. I love the old Bedford's grew up around them in the 70s. As kids my father would take us from Bondi to the old fruit and veg markets in Haymarket in a TK and also a TJ Load them to the hilt and back again. Thanks for saving this beauty

Thank you for saving it.

I once worked for a local council. And our job was. Making fire breaks And bush trails. The truck we had was a old international Fwd V8 with large water tank on the back. We would drive it down through the bush. Never let us down. They eventually sold it for scrap it was same size as the Bedford truck you’re showing us.

Fabulous to see the old Bedford up and running , memories from my childhood

I love that there are people like you who give second chances to old vehicles

Great Vehicle and Save! Thank You.

Those old Bedfords are great trucks,brilliant workhorses

I'm 59 years old and can remember these trucks on the roads in the UK in the mid 70's, they were utilized as everything from pop delivery trucks to auxiliary fire trucks like in this vid. These old Bedfords will probably go on forever if properly maintained and the one in this video is a good-looking project with great possibilities for rejuvenation.

What an old survivor , the cabs mint I'm up in Queensland and haven't seen a Bedford that tidy since the early 80s. Good score 👍

Great old truck. Well done for saving it.

Love it Great Job Bruce and Crew

Bloody great save mate, love the old cab over beddys, I ended up sticking a Holden 253 v8 in mine, but she never let me down once, great old truck

Beautiful old trucks. I have a lot of respect for them. Drove them in the military.

Fair play Bruce for saving this truck from the scrap yard...use to have them in the Irish Army ! 👍☘

As a mechanic in New Zealand for many years, TKs were on the list. My uncle and I spent a lot of time in I reckon the coolest TK ever. Converted to 6x6 with a 510 Perkins V8, a 6 speed overdrive gearbox and a Mercedes transfer box. Manual independent hand brakes were fitted to rear for use on the sides of hills. This was a purpose built truck for paddock topdressing on the very steep slopes around the Waikato in New Zealand. I think it was named the Mountain Goat, but Uncle and I called her No3. Great memories. I had my own mechanical business in Australia and on of my customers had the exact same MK you have there Bruce. Was ex Vic CFA and had only done 18000km. Still a pain in the bum like every TK, crawling in under the cab. Okay for a skinny mechanic 😂. Thanks for your channel, regards Steve.

I have an ex military truck a Ford D911 Cargo with a slant six diesel. It's a very reliable truck and cheap to run with a 5 tonne carrying capacity. I'm glad you saved that truck. It will work longer than the modern fully electronic ones. 👍

Sure glad you rescued it bro it sounds a sweet running engine. Safe travels. Ken.

I can't believe they'd scrap that lovely old truck, would have been criminal. Glad you rescued it, now it's time to give it some TLC that it really needs

Thanks for the interesting video's Bruce , cheers from Holland👋

5:38 That's very clever; I never thought of that before.

The Bedford truck is very popular in our Pakistan as the Bedford Rocket t became j90 and till date their market is very good because old is gold 👌👌❤️❤️❤️ لو یو فرام پاکستان ♥️ ♥️

Dear Mr. Bruce 👍👌👏 2) How can anyone give someone like this to a scrapyard! 😱 Congratulations 🎉 for purchasing this all wheel drive truck. I'm eagerly looking forward to watch the next video about the Bedford. Thanks a lot for making explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health in particular.

Passed my HGV test in the RL, with the same petrol engine, and a 3 speed gear box, no syncro in 1st😂 happy days. Good luck & well done for rescuing😎

Was happy to subscribe and comment. Will also share it as well. Love being able to here an Aussie talking, I was beginning to think I was Turning American LOL. Thanks Bruce can’t wait to follow along

Those old Bedford 4x4s are slow as hell but tough as nails and will go anywhere!!! Great find !!!

Great video bruce absolutely Awesome ❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉

An old 300 cu in six. Australia also got the 214 cu in six. Not fuel efficient or particularly powerful, but relatively reliable. Common back in the day in local school busses, council trucks, delivery vans and so on. Some of the very last TK Bedfords here did get the Mexican and Canadian built 292 Chev engines, but yours is definitely the 300 Bedford engine.

Wow she is in good condition.

I don’t even understand how it ended up at the scrappers !

Well done mate , fantastic job

Brings back memoirs of the old days when bush fire trucks where brought by the member of a bush fire brigade before the Government took over and recalled it the RFS in NSW most of the trucks were gotten rid of because of the petrol engines after the 5 bush fire fighters where killed in a truck like this one near Sydney as the engines got vapors lock in the fuel lines making the truck non movable . The MR Bedford trucks where bad for the diff problem in the bush being gear too high but where the best next thing to a Ford and chev Blitz's trucks after WW2 as fire trucks.

Bruce, the most Australian name ever!

Great to see you got the old girl running with minimal effort. A good example of our throw-away society. Most likely reached it's "depreciated value" life-span - the level at which the bean counters decide it's going to cost more to maintain as opposed to spend up big on a new unit they can then depreciate over another 10 years. Creative accounting. How much usable equipment ends up like that? Lots.

Good onya, gotta save the old stuff, great old truck, even the tyres look great personally I got a detroit 2 stroke fetish :)

Drove one set up as a workshop when an Apprentice in the 70s ,sucked in by the old stagers when they found out I had a fresh printed truck license. There was a AV-Gas 44 gallon drum slung horizontal under the tray as the fuel tank !Off road the steering wheel kick back was savage if a wheel hit a rock while turning , the heat in the cab was no joke in summer,the noise was the start of my industrial deafness claim .Great Days

Well, this takes me back. I used to drive a Bedford TK horsebox that was a de-rated 10 ton fire truck chassis. I think it was a 1976. After it was plated for 7.5 tons the horse 'container' was added on. In our case this looked like an old railway goods wagon. It was certainly over 10 tonnes, but by then it was plated so I never got stopped and it didn't have to be inspected again. Just MoTs, and we had a friend who did that for all the local horse boxes. We had a living room and kitchen in the front and space for four horses in the back. It would sleep four or five people. I always slept in the single bed above the cab. I had the 3.3 liter diesel which was almost completely shot and utterly gutless. Someone asked me the 0-60 and I said about 20 minutes, that was the time it took to get to a good downhill on the M1 down towards Luton. The fastest I ever had it was 67 mph on the M11 going down a steep hill behind a container truck. It had five speeds, but all the springs in the shift were shot, so going from 5th to 4th in motion was very difficult, as was 4th to 3rd. If I missed a down shift on a climb I'd have to pull over and start again in 1st, then continue over the hill in 2nd. Up shifts were much easier, double declutching didn't help a lot, the speed fell too fast. Getting reverse required leaning on the door to get leverage. I drove the box to most of the big shows in the south of England and Wales, including The Royal Show, Essex, Three Counties, Windsor, and many others.

Instant SUB . Sydney dweller , Retired Truckie . What a Great old Truck . Chev equivalent Engine to Fords Canadian Six . 5 litre class .

Amazing what people throw away. I don't know anything about old Bedfords but they are neat looking trucks. Glad you saved this one, hi from Canada. Take a picture of the VIN, some do know how to trace the history from that.

LOVE THE CONTENT ❤ Songs good in the exhaust pipe and sounds very strong

I love it. I took my Heavy Goods test in one of these in 1976. Basic, but great fun to drive. Great to see these vehicles saved 👍👍😀😀

I learnt to drive in Bedford TK .great video.

Bruce ol mate ! Good score the old girl Should dress up ok ! The motor is a 300 ci Bedford ! As long as you Keep clean oil, filters and Water in her and don't expect 80 mph she'll give you 70 hrs a day and 500 days a year just plugging around the farm ! The first truck I had was a 68 TK EFN series ! With a 308 Holden V8 Rolling on 16 inch 6 stud hubs ! Originally She was a MYERS store Truck with a 214 six cylinder.

What an absolute beaut

love the old bedfords spent a lot of time under the side covers of them

Good to see it saved from the scrapyard

Good save there Bruce fancy chucking that beauty down the scrap yard 👍👍

She sounds Bonza !!! Cheers from across the pond . Nice little film . Please make more 👍👍👍👍👍

I worked for UPS., the inline 292 Mexico built was the last inline gas engines they used in delivery vehicles. With continued hard use they would warp manifolds but for your use should be fine.

Great stuff what a save !!, I couldnt see much rust either, love the old Bedfords.........

Love your channel Bruce, way back when had TK Bedford's and Thames Traders etc for fuel tankers and some of them were articulated, regards from N.Z

A soft spot for the 4x4 Bedfords. Subscribed.

Bedford M1120. I have one, ex Cootamundra Bush Fire Brigade.

Nice save! Love these vintage trucks. Especially a 4x4!

A friend of mine had an ex army one converted to a motorhome.. many adventures were had :)

Good save and great job getting the old girl running again ! The engine sounds really good ! This truck should give you many years of good service with a little TLC ! Good job !

Love seeing old bits of kit being given another chance! Good old 'bush' mechanics!. Nice one!. Nuff said!. 🙂

Gotta love the MK. Thirsty on fuel but a great bit of kit.

hi greetings from england, first watch out for rust on the cab wings and generaly check the whole cab,if the engine is a 4927cc petrol engine its the same that went in the RL i have the manuals for this engine, when running correctly this is a quiet engine, timing is 5 degrees BTDC, with marks on the flywheel, good luck

Hi Bruce awesome video got to love a bedford. As a 26 year old i grew up when those where sadly rare. be awseome to see a Foden truck those are rare awesome save on the lovely Bedford.

Used to drive the Bedford MK in the British Army occasionally, solid, dependable old truck, the military derv engines were capable of literally running on Jet Fuel for a short while if needed :D

I am confident after looking at both the videos on this truck that it used to belong to our fire brigade and was sold in 2004 to a person in Maryborough Qld. Used to belong to Bluewater Estates rural fire brigade north of Townsville in North Queensland.

Hi Bruce,. I passed my class 2 heavy good’s license in a 4x4 Bedford way back in the 90s when they were still the go to truck in the British army I always remember them as four toners I think because of the weight limit they carried still have a soft spot for them though they looked like they could go anywhere and in a lot of occasions they did!

I scrap for a crust (Ipswich area no doll just hard work) the stuff i see daily breaks my heart

Lovely stuff! If that old Bedford had been in the UK it would've rotted away long ago. Surprised the electrics worked ok too.

Drove a few them horrible bloody thing best forgotten but you got use go for it CHEERS

Great video nice to see you bringing the beauty back to life !

They were Army trucks in the UK. I remember seeing them as a kid in the 70s/80s. Like many vehicles back then they would rot very quickly in our damp climate. You do still see them around as Horsebox conversions (non 4x4) and I think there are plenty of parts available. Bedford was part of Vauxhall which was the British GM subsidiary, so maybe Holden parts would work?

Well worth saving

Should consider converting it into an over lander and travel the outback or just have fun trips with it. What an awesome old machine

Love your work mate 👍

Awesome love your passion definitely worth restoring!

Around the corner from me my neighbor has a landscape business. Out in front of his house, parked on the street is a big ass old Ford what looks like it may have been a power co truck decades ago.Its a 1960 vintage BUT it has a cherry picker arm attached to it. I suspect he uses it to trim tree branches. It mostly sits but on a rare occasion I will drive by & it will be missing OR I will find it parked someplace new, so it does move now and again. !

I haven't seen a Bedford in a long time. I would love for you to find a Mercedes 1114 or a Chevi Coe. I love those 2 trucks.

nice one!

The heart of a fire truck is the pump. Can you show us what pump was fitted to this old girl?

When these trucks got sold off here in the uk alot of them were reserve stock, meaning they had next to no hours or milage.

Bruce needs to camp out at the scrapper's. His wife would probably raise a fuss about that, I know mine would. This one even has an excellent winch on the front he can use to haul more stuff home to his paddock.

Worked on these Bedfords from 1969 to 1987 at a UK Main Dealer......sad day when GM closed it all down , we had to return all parts , special tools and manuals back to Luton to be destroyed !

Because of this rare version of the Bedford, I‘m hooked up to your channel! I subscribed to see what you‘re up to do with it! Will be good content for your channel as well! Very nice save!

british army and raf had loads of these but they had diesels engines in them

That style of truck was used by the overland travel companies that sold tickets to ride in the back of one of these for the three months it took to travel from London to Cape Town. Canvas top and sides, bench seats in the back. Luggage stored all over, tents and bedding, kitchen. By the time it got to Cape town it was only worth being sold off. The driver and a mechanic conducted the tour and then flew back to London to do it all again. It may explain why there are so many in South Africa? A workmate who had been on the trip said they had to organise a meal at the roadside just before entering Pakistan as they had been tipped off that Customs were hot on booze entering the country that day...(Religion) so they set up the table with a very large draped-to-the ground tablecloth over a road drain grate and surreptitiously tipped out all their booze and dumped the bottles. They were rigorously inspected at the border...everything tipped out....no alcohol found. Welcome to our religious booze free country you heathens. A kilometer down the road in Pakistan were liquor shops set up on both sides of the road....buy your booze in our country. Another commenter mentioned vapour lock...the suction line from tank to fuel pump is long and small in diameter...and having suction on it in hot weather will vapour lock. Apparently wet rags can make a difference but probably a cheap "Facet" clickety click low pressure fuel pump on the tank and pushing fuel under pressure to the original pump means a more heat and vapour lock resistant fuel system. There was a story that the Army Camp in Waiouru in the middle of the North Island of NZ had a 4wd Bedford Truck with the same engine in a rapid response vehicle (ambulance/rescue) which their workshop fitted with 3 twin choke Weber carbs and a hot cam and extractors....worked well up to 75 mph apparently.

If only we had more Bruce's 2:01

Soon as I saw the Engine I knew it was a Chev 292. Toyota 2F are Similar. The 292 is a Common Truck Engine In Bedfords & Chev/GMC Trucks

I used to drive one of them the garage said about these with a Mexican motor they might be hard to get parts for but I have seen these with a 253 or 308 engine in them

motor sounds a lot like the old landcruiser fj55 im sure they some came out with chev inline 6 .a bloke I worked had one and used some holden parts on his , not sure if he said it was 272 or 292 , in case you need to sources parts , I gather theyde be same block different bore n stroke maybe but still parts would fit👍

Great video mate! I much prefer the older vehicles. Currently setting up a 82 model Mack r series for heavy diesel repair work.

I worked at park Engineers and they had one the same. The one they had had a Holden motor in it air hand brake it was next to the seat had high/low on the stick it had high and med range most uncomfortable thing I’d driven

Bruce, That is a 300 ci Bedford,

nice

It's 2023 that 1978 truck will outlast the junk on the roads today

Very nice save , maybe convert it into a camper ?

That things too nice on a visual to have been in a salvage yard.... Don't see any rust on it... Nice save there.

Thats awesome, Bruce 👍 did you get it for scrap price? 😁😁 It would make a great overland camping rig.

Maybe get the microphone a little closer? Lovely old truck mate.

Wow never knew a heavier Bedford with those 10 stud split rims would have a petrol six. I expected a 466 or 500 dIesel. Would you consider fitting a Ford Barra turbo to it? I do like that large Chevy engine in it though.