Bedford QL mystery

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by David_Hayward
Richard the Contract number is V.4914, so much later than the Census Number might suggest: V.3949 was the 1941? batch and the first series production.


I have pored over hi-res blow-ups of the two photos. On the left side there are padlocks in place on boxes. The wheels look as though they have been painted black and the tyres look good. There appears to be no spare wheel which presumably would be at the rear on this body? Also no sling flanges on the hubs. In the cab on the back there is some form of printed notice.

David,

Take a look at the Chilwell census number list and you will find that although contract V3949 is for the first batch, their numbers start L550001. From my rough estimations using the census list, this QL is of chassis no. 9688 give or take a few. Production of QL for 1941 was 7,229 and end of play for 1942 was 18,161, so this puts the truck at around early 1942. (figures from Bart's Bedford book).

Sling plates on hubs were not fitted till around late 43 from chassis no. 26372. Regarding no spare wheel, I have a photo of a QLD Cargo as left the factory, with a spare wheel rim less tyre, in fact not the first photo of this sort of thing. My guess the factory was short of tyres and did not want to disrupt production. This Trooper may have been in the same situation, rim on its own would not be secure in the cradle. As for the notice in the cab, from what can be seen on here, it looks like the sliding window in the back of the cab is open, showing the tilt.

Incidentally, there is no hip ring, these were fitted from 29117 on, which is the end of 1943.

While checking the census list I noticed that the two pre-production QLD cargos, known as QL-2 and QL-3 (QL-1 kept by Vauxhalls), were issued much later census numbers, L4182772-73, although the contact number was earlier, V3804.

This has probably not helped you get any further!