Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[MartinC]

I've bought a Bedford OY and have only driven it a short distance.

The brake master & slave cylinders have been rebuilt by the previous owner.

The brakes felt very unusual to me (never driven an old commercial before). They initially seemed to not work at all, very scary!
Then they seemed to work with merely a dab on the pedal and appeared to remain on. I thought they must be binding but seems to roll properly after being moved again.

The handbrake is also useless.

After speaking to a friend he tells me old lorries had a sort of air servo system that had a tendency to work in odd ways.
I've looked underneath and seen that the master cylinder is mounted to an enormous cast iron blob of unknown intentions.
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1937 Standard Flying Twelve
1942 Bedford OYD
1947 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special
1954 Hillman Minx
1956 Austin A30
1957 Vauxhall Victor Super
1960 Car Cruiser Carousel caravan
1962 Car Cruiser Carissima caravan

[47Jag]

AH!! The old Bedford OY. I learned to drive in one of these (that and an Austin K1? ambulance). I was an apprentice auto electrician in a place that rebuilt them for the Ministry of Supply.

The brakes are conventional hydraulic with vacuum servo. I would suspect the 'rebuilt' master cylinder. I would think that there is a one-way valve there that has been fitted wrongly. Please don't press me for details as we are talking about 1956 memories

Try a post here:-
http://wargroup.info/articles/vehicles/british-army-vehicles/

Art