Bedford Vehicles · 1953–1958
Bedford TA
The Bedford TA (also called Bedford A) is a medium-duty truck produced by Bedford Vehicles from 1953 to 1958, as a replacement for the older Bedford K/M/O series. In total around 200,000 TA trucks were built, until it was eventually modernised as the newer TJ. The truck was an all new vehicle compared to its predecessors, and competed with similar vehicles from other manufacturers although the TA and TD were more popular than most competitors due to their larger engines, which were a development of the Stovebolt units. Apart from the main Chevrolet-derived 6-cylinder engines, various 4- and 6-cylinder Perkins diesel engines were also available.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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Development
With the end of the Second World War, the Bedford factories had been converted into suitable only for military production for the war effort and were in a precarious state, so the revert process back to civilian production was not an easy one, resulting in the company being forced to limp on with the outdated Bedford K/M/O trucks. In order remain profitable, Bedford decided to prioritize their production mostly for export, something that happened with almost all British vehicle companies in a new fashion called "Export or Die" that was also responsible for the development of the Land Rover that became a legend. During that time General Motors, the parent of Vauxhall Motors that controlled Bedford, was thriving in the United States with new models on the commercial truck market with the Chevrolet and GMC Advance Design range, which were the most popular truck in the USA at the market during that time around. To cut costs it was decided to import a Chevrolet Advance Design truck in the Luton factory, to create a new model based on the tooling of the American truck instead of entirely developing a new one. During the launch of the TA series, many motoring presses noted the similarities between the Advance Design and the TA, and suggested that some panels were even interchangeable, but Bedford proclaimed that apart from a similarity in design (that was also applied to the re-designed 1950s Opel Blitz) there was no mechanical commonality between these trucks, since if the company was going to "copy" the design of the American truck there were going to be production problems in order to adjust the American tooling and dies to the then British machines due to the Bedford truck being somewhat larger and heavier in almost all dimensions, while the Advance Design was ready to be
Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.
Specifications
- name
- Bedford TA
- Manufacturer
- Bedford
- aka
- Bedford A
- Production
- 1953-1958 (continued production as the TJ)
- Class
- Medium-Duty truck
- Related
- Bedford TJ
- Body style
- 2-door truck
- Predecessor
- Bedford K/M/O series
- Successor
- Bedford TJ
- Wheelbase
- 2946-4198 mm
- Length
- 5093-6560 mm
- Width
- 80-90 in
- Height
- 107-112 in
- Kerb weight
- 2003 -
- Layout
- FR layout
Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Check the linked sources for citations.
More photos
Sources
- Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q100501786CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_TACC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1282350235 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NB-92-02_Bedford_TA.jpgCC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo: Wouter Duijndam from Area 070, The Netherlands · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.