The Bedford TK was a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

manufactured by

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

. Launched in 1960 to replace the

Bedford S type The Bedford S is a heavy lorry produced in Great Britain between 1950 and 1959. Launched at the Commercial Vehicle Show in 1950, it was the largest Bedford lorry available at the time. Originally available only with a petrol engine, a diesel was ...

, the TK was scheduled to be replaced by the Bedford TL in 1981, but manufacturing of the TK continued as a cheaper alternative. A military 4x4 version, the Bedford MK (later MJ), was also produced. After Bedford's Dunstable factory was sold in 1987 to AWD, the TK restarted production for military only use until 1992 when AWD was placed in receivership.

History and use

The TK range replaced the

in 1960, and served as the basis for a variety of derivatives, including

fire engine A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, horse carriers, tippers,

flatbed truck A flatbed truck (or flatbed lorry in British English) is a type of truck the bodywork of which is just an entirely flat, level 'bed' with no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy loading of goods, and consequently they are used to trans ...

s, and other specialist utilities. A

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

(later

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

) version used for installing

telegraph pole A utility pole, commonly referred to as a transmission pole, telephone pole, telecommunication pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post, is a column or post used to support overhead power lines and various other public util ...

s was known as the Pole King. Available with

inline four A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

or inline six cylinder

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

and

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s from Bedford, Leyland and

Perkins Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid- and southern England. Another derivation com ...

, the TK was the quintessential light truck in the United Kingdom through most of the 1960s and 1970s, competing with the similar

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

D series. It was available in rigid form, and also as a light

tractor unit A tractor unit, also known as a truck unit, lorry unit, power unit, prime mover, ten-wheeler, semi-tractor, semi-truck, semi-lorry, tractor cab, truck cab, lorry cab, big rig tractor, big rig truck or big rig lorry or simply a tractor, truck, ...

normally using the

Scammell Scammell Lorries Limited was a British manufacturer of trucks, particularly specialist and military off-road vehicles, between 1921 and 1988. From 1955 Scammell was part of Leyland Motors. History Scammell started as a late- Victorian period w ...

coupling form of

semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer (vehicle), trailer without a front axle. The combination of a semi-trailer and a tractor truck is called a ''semi-trailer truck'' (also known simply as a "semi-trailer", "tractor trailer", or "semi" in the United Sta ...

attachment. In 1981, Bedford introduced turbocharging to the "Red Series" 3.6-litre and 5.4-litre diesel engines, now producing 72 bhp and 102 bhp respectively. TKs were assembled for many years by

General Motors New Zealand General Motors New Zealand Limited, formerly Holden New Zealand Limited, is a subsidiary of General Motors that distributes GM' motor vehicles, engines, components and parts in New Zealand. This company was incorporated on 4 January 1926 to bu ...

(GMNZ) at its

Petone Petone (Māori language, Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in Januar ...

truck plant. The model was very popular and competed with the like of the also locally assembled Ford D series. It was succeeded by the TM series and GMNZ later switched source to launch a range of Bedford-by-

Isuzu , commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...

models assembled locally from kits shipped from Japan. Over 500,000 were produced. They were also assembled by

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

in Australia.

MK/MJ

The Bedford MK/MJ was a 4x4 variant of the TK used in large numbers by the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

and others. The Bedford MK was introduced in 1970 to replace the

Bedford RL The Bedford RL was the British military's main medium lorry, built by Bedford from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. The lorry was based on the civilian Bedford S type, first introduced in 1950. They superseded the Bedford QL, and were in t ...

. It was very successful with over 50,000 produced. The MK/MJ was produced in many variants. From April 1981, Bedford changed the designation of the MK to MJ as the K multi-fuel engine was superseded by the J diesel engine. It was confirmed in March 2014 that, with the exception of a handful of light recovery vehicles, all British Army Bedford MK/MJ trucks had been disposed of, replaced by RMMV HX60 4x4 trucks. After Bedford's Dunstable factory was sold in 1987 to AWD, the MK restarted production for military only useAWD wins MoD order
''Commercial Motor'' 31 March 1988 page 13 until 1992 when AWD was placed in receivership.

References

External links

* * {{Bedford vehicles, state=autocollapse TK Vehicles introduced in 1960 Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s