Spotted: 1989 AWD TL 8-14 – An Interesting Horsebox

I’ve previously noted on CC that if you want to see a Leyland truck, you have to go a classic vehicle show of some sort; to buy one, you go to the well known internet auction trading sites. The same goes for many other brands – well, actually, all the famous British names – Commer, Foden, ERF, Scammell, Albion, AEC, Guy, Bedford and AWD. AWD? Who, what, when was an AWD?

AWD, an abbreviation of All Wheel Drive, was the successor to the GM owned Bedford Vehicles. Bedford, run as an offshoot of Vauxhall, had built a substantial business in light commercials, from car based vans upwards, and in commercial trucks and coach chassis from the factories in Luton and neighbouring Dunstable.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, Bedford was one of the major light and medium, truck builders, alongside Ford, BMC, Rootes’ Commer and the lighter end of the Leyland range. Major markets were the UK, some in Europe, sometimes under the Opel badge, and the British Commonwealth with CKD assembly in places like Southern Africa and Australasia. Core products in 1960s and 1970s were the TK and KM trucks, dating from 1961 and 1967 respectively.

In 1980, Bedford significantly updated the TK to create the TL, which whilst perfectly serviceable, was now an old design and falling behind major competitors, notably the new Ford Cargo.  After failing to buy Land Rover (a long story in its own right) in 1985, GM took the decision to cease truck building in the UK, retaining the Bedford name for car based vans.

The Bedford business and factory was slated for closure but was bought by AWD,  a business building specialist trucks for the construction and military markets.

The big appeal for AWD was not the road use trucks but the military business and the spares support for many older vehicles across the world, and some low volume production of the Bedford TJ, above. AWD was owned and run by David John Bowers Brown, who was not the David Brown of Aston Martin fame.

The AWD TL was therefore a lightly retouched Bedford TL. Engines were now from Perkins rather than GM, and sales were limited mostly to military and construction associated industries.

The familiar chassis was convenient for some uses and adaptations. One such use that imposes relatively low stress and usually a gentle life on a truck is a horsebox for the local show and events, as in this case.

This example, one of fewer than 40 AWD vehicles still on the UK’s roads, is a TL8-14. so, a six litre Perkins engine, turbocharged, 145 bhp, 8 ton gross weight and an ability to outlast GM and AWD itself.