(first posted 8/15/2018) Nifticus spotted this truck at a classic car dealership in Lynden, WA and posted it at the Cohort along with the question as to what it is. It’s a vintage Bedford truck with coach built body in the traditional style of Pakistan. Is there a market for these here?
Of course! It would make the ultimate hippie bus. When it shows up in Eugene, I’ll get more shots.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: Bedford TJ – Advanced Past Its Prime
My daughter travelled in India and Nepal and really enjoyed their trucks and buses, so I did a little search to see if this was close to where she lives in case she wanted to check it out. Found a little background here, can’t vouch for its accuracy: http://hankstruckforum.com/htforum/index.php?topic=52576.0
Riverside Museum in Glasgow has this little Daihatsu Hijet decorated in the traditional style by the local Pakistani community for a festival. If Eugene has a Pakistani community maybe they’re missing a trick.
Man I love the Riverside! That little Hijet is one of my favourite exhibits, along with the “jam sandwich”, and the fact that my sister-in-law’s first car is up on one of the shelves.
This is just a few miles from where I live. It’s a Ford dealership that went out of business a few years ago. There was a TV show (Car Spotters?) that made it only two episodes or so from here. The guys who run the shop are into finding vintage stuff.
Looks like the ultimate circus wagon.
If it doesn’t make to Eugene, Bellingham (Eugene Jr.) is only a few miles away.
Back in the day it was a Ford car, truck and tractor dealership being in the farming community of Lynden.
So familiar, and yet so exotic
Oh, it’ll end up in Bellingham AKA (the Tijuana of Canada) lots of old hippies there
Remember when Fairhaven was full of old buses painted with house paint?
And houses in Fairhaven (and most of Whatcom County) were cheap.
That would be Lynden WA, not Lyndon.
Good grief! Reminds me of the jitneys in Thailand!
A gorgeous work of art, nevertheless, and appears to be in very good condition.
The dealership where I spotted this is called Imports & Classics (https://importsandclassics.com). It even briefly had it’s own reality show on Discovery Channel called “Carspotting”.
As well as selling cars, the dealership also restores classics and builds custom vehicles.
It’s a nice place with an interesting inventory.
Lots of hours invested in this woodwork. Interior looks great as well. Better to look at it then try to drive it very fast or far.
Years ago in Australia I had an EL Falcon with crispy clear coat on the bonnet. I knew a guy who knew an Aboriginal artist but in the end my now wife banned me from commissioning a Noongar hood.
Recently I’ve had my eye on vinyl-roofed Grand Marquis, and was toying with (cultural appropriation alert) doing my own Australian style “artwork” on the hood.
This Bedford has me thinking of doing a whole Mercury Grand Pakistan, but then I doubt I’d have the balls to drive around in it. It’s bad enough when everyone looks at you funny because of your accent.
BTW am I right in thinking the Bedford driver has virtually no lateral vision? Having driven in Asia I realize it’s a possibility that observing other traffic isn’t a big part of the game in Pakistan.
No side mirrors, almost no side windows: how does the driver reverse with this thing?
Over bodies? In Vietnam many trucks (bigger than this) are double manned.
There’s a driver, and a guy who jumps out to wave a stick and shout at people. So maybe there’s a permanent driver’s mate/banksman.
Mirrors same as any truck. It has wing mirrors on the front guards
It seems to have tiny wing mirrors. I have good eyesight but I don’t fancy that Bryce.
OEM werent much better, though mounted on the doors they were easier to adjust, the one I did my test in had a Palfinger hiab mounted behind the cab so the tiny mirrors were all you had for backing up.
Throw it in reverse and hit the gas. Things are very different in parts of the world where life (at least lower-caste life) is cheap and there’s nothing such as a safety regulation.
What an odd choice to import.
TJ6 Bedford, very familiar truck, I got my first grade of heavy truck licence in a 1976 diesel drop sider TJ Bedford, they were very common in government fleets in New Zealand back in the day, good trucks slow and steady lots of food distribution companies had van body TJs they were just the go to brand here,
An orchardist in Shepparton Vic I worked for had one with the 300 cube petrol 6 motor with a 500 Holley carb and headers it would sit at 60mph with a full load(14 bins 7 tonnes) of pears aboard heading for SPC cannery nowhere near as ornate as that version though.
My small-town hardware store was still using one of those Bedfords to deliver gas bottles until about five years back.
It looks like a classic conventional cattle truck gone berserk.
The Bedford TJ was another of those trucks like the Ford C and Mack R that remained in production for decades.
1989, I went to the Neville Charrold bodybuilders in Mansfield, England.
They had at least 50 brand new J-Types / TJ, for a United Nations Food Contract for Africa (possibly the 2nd Ethiopian Famine).
Bedford Lorries, was closed down by GM in 1986. So they would have been built by AWD or Marshall’s of Cambridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_TJ
Reminds me of the show with the Ice Road Truckers in India, from memory.
Has anybody noticed he has a mural of a… DB Class 184 electric locomotive on the box?
I did! And I can’t help but wonder why.
Original owner having nostalgic memories from a stay in Germany? Actually, Pakistan Railways do have electric locomotive but those are all UK made and not in service because the overhead lines were stolen (I’m not making this up).
I thought it was a 103, but I guess with something like this there doesn’t need to be much logical reason beyond “I like it so that’s what I’m painting”!
It need the jingles, chain ha ging from the bed that rattle when your driving.
Looks like a gypsy wagon minus the draft horse.
Surely though they dont actually work a truck like that over there. No side windows and one tiny round fender mirror?? Not to mention you’d suffocate in the desert heat with no roll down windows.
Its gotta be like the silly stretched frame Peterbilts on air ride, just built for show, not work.
If you like this truck I highly recommend Googling “Indian Truck Art”. It is very common to give trucks elaborate paint jobs in India, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries. Most don’t have the elaborate coachwork like this one, though.
Weird & wonderful ;
I’m amazed such an old truck survived .
When I lived in Guatemala, C.A. the local buses were *very* old & beat up Bedford forward control Diesels, noisy, slow and smelly, they got the job done .
-Nate