More Bedford Coupe Utilities turn up in Oz!
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Lately I've heard from more owners of these Bedford utilities, and here are some photos:
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1. Garry's ute restoration project.
Garry got in touch, after stumbling across this site while looking around for info on older Bedfords. He too has a Bedford ute, and sent me these photographs showing it in its current condition ..
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"Saw the web posting of the 4 Bedford utes that you have sourced in NSW. Just curious if they are still available? I am looking for parts or a complete car to replace some items on mine. The attached photo is where I 'found' mine .......... next to the hay barn on my brother in-laws' farm!! Once I started to remove the surface rust, it is surprisingly solid underneath"
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"The drive train is being updated and the front suspension modified as it will be a regularly driven by my wife. Also all the wooden frames are being replaced with metal. Externally it will be original ... I would be more than happy for you to post some pictures. The body number is 203 and I am having trouble giving it a birth date as the current rego number puts it mid 50s. Looking for any help I can get with dating it ... it is called Rex after my late Father in-law who was the last to drive it when he parked it next to the hay shed"
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Thanks to Garry for sending the pics over, I've put him in touch with the guy that owns the 4 utes on the other page. I actually think rather than it being a PC ute, Garry's could be a slightly earlier JC. A look at the chassis plate should confirm this one way or another. The JC vans and pickups run on 6 volt electrics, and have a floor gearchange. The PC however uses 12 volt and has a column gearshift. The ute in Garry's pictures has a floor change, which means that either it is a 1940s JC, or else a PC that has been converted to floorchange at some point - this is entirely feasible as the earlier running gear should bolt straight in, and is also shared with the LIX series Vauxhall Wyvern saloons I believe. Whichever it is, it is more likely to be late 1940s, or early 1950s, than a mid 1950s vehicle. The bonnet slats also vary slightly between the PC and JC, the bonnet on this ute looks more PC to me.
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Here are the other photos that Garry sent over. The Holden badge reflects the fact that the bodywork on the Australian-bodied utes, from the scuttle back, was locally produced by Holden, with only the chassis, running gear, and front end tinwork being shared with British-built PC vans (no pickups were offered in the UK).
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2. Bernie's PC Bedford ute.
Bernie also dropped me a note from Australia, after finding pics of my utes on the site. He sent this pic over of his very sound Coupe Utility. If any other owners find these pages, please get in touch as it'd be great to feature some more JC and PC 10/12cwt light commercials on here.
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3. Another two utes found in a field.
Ross dropped me a note about a pair of utes he has discovered, enclosing a photograph of one of them, shown here. He hopes to restore them once he has found some of the parts he is missing.
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4. Greg's Bedford ute restoration project.
News of another ute surfaced in 2009, this time with Greg: "Strangely enough my passions for Bedfords started in London 1976/77 whilst
doing the typical Aussie thing & sowing the wild oats in the northern hemisphere for 2.5 years. The first was a CF with sliding doors that I
rigged out for touring whilst working for the London display dept. of Wedgewood. Another CF with a Holden motor & hinged doors was my work vehicle
for quite a few years after returning to Australia. The old PC was purchased from the side of the road 30 years ago & due to the family & all other
commitments coming along, its still in the unrestored state that it arrived in". Thanks for sending the photo in Greg, look forward to seeing how you get on with it.
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5. Tony's "barn find" ute.
The following ute photos arrived in April 2010, Tony recently discovered this hidden gem in a barn where it had sat since 1967. From the photos his ute looks to be in really great condition. There are so many photos of it that I've reduced them to clickable thumbnails. Being a very original example, these photos may well come in useful for anyone restoring one of these Bedfords. The interior looks just as it was when the ute was new, even the headlining seems to have survived quite well.
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