Bedford S Type

 

The Bedford S was produced by General Motors in Great Britain between 1950 and 1959. Known as the "Big Bedford", it was the largest Bedford lorry available at the time, with a gross vehicle weight of 7 long tons (7,100 kg). The Bedford S was used extensively by haulers and general trades through the 1950s and 1960s. The chassis was also widely used for fire engines, notably the AFS/military Green Goddesses familiar from news footage of fireman's strikes during the 1970s and 1980s, actually being held in reserve by the UK Home Office for use in emergencies until 2004. Later on Corgi Classics made good use of the Big Bedford in a wide variety of bodies shown here, Bedford S, elsewhere in the little Wheels Museum.

1101 Carrimore Car Transporter

This is the first Corgi Major Toy and a brilliant piece of play-centred thinking. We loved our Corgis and wanted to use them further in play. A car transporter is ideal and this is a good one. The Big Bedford S Type tractor unit remained in the range a good many years, pulling this transporter, a tanker and a couple of low loader trailers, eventually being superseded by the Bedford TK which inherited all the trailers.

You will see this with blue cab/yellow trailer; yellow cab/yellow trailer; metallic rose (cerise) cab/blue transporter; and red with a blue trailer. All colours are fairly highly priced. but look out for the ones with the metallic rose cab or the yellow/yellow. Production ran from 1957 to 1962.

GS1 Gift Set

This was the very first Corgi Gift Set, released just in time for Christmas 1957. Very popular it was too. The transporter, the Jaguar and the MG were all from the 1957 releases. The Austin Healey and the Austin were from the previous year. It stayed in the range with this line-up of cars for two years. In 1959 it was re-released with a load made up of American cars, specifically for the US market. The UK version continued until 1962 with a few changes to the cars on board. You may see a Triumph TR2 in place of the Austin Healey for instance, or a load made up of the Ford Consul, Austin Cambridge, Rover 90 and Riley Pathfinder - although that one is not in the Great Book of Corgi Pocket Book.

1100 Carrimore Low Loader

A new Corgi Major and a new use for the Bedford S type cab unit or 'Big Bedford' this is the Low Loader as opposed to the Machinery Carrier which had detachable rear wheels on the trailer and a flat load-bed. Both were later re-released with the TK cab unit. The rear ramp folds down in two pieces to allow your heavy machinery to be loaded, not sure which Corgis were supposed to be carried on this truck, but not that many will fit.

The Carrimore Low-Loader was added to the range in April 1958 and stayed in production until 1963 when the tractor unit was replaced with the new Bedford TK unit under model no.1132 and the winch was removed from the trailer. The cab can be yellow or red, the trailer is always blue, colour does not seem to affect value.

1104 Machinery Carrier

Why is this low loader a 'Machinery Carrier' and the other low loader called 'Low Loader'. They are both low loaders. I think I prefer this one. The rear wheels unclip and the ramps drop down making an easy slope to load tracked vehicles like the Priestman Cub which was to come along a few years later. This is an early flowering of Corgi's engineering excellence. The articulated coupling with its spring clip, the removable and very realistic rear wheels and the very nice winch with its worm drive all promise more goodies to come in the future.

The Machinery Carrier was launched in September 1958 and remained in production until 1963 when the cab was changed to the new Bedford TK, the winch was dropped at this time and it got the number 1131, it was finally deleted in 1966. Trailers with no winch are from the later model. You will see this with red or blue cabs, both are valued at around the same. One of the guides mentions it with a yellow cab, but this has probably been swapped from the Low Loader

1110 Mobilgas Tanker

The skirted tanker has a nice transatlantic feel, consistent with the Mobilgas branding. The Big Bedford Tanker was added t the range in April 1959 and remained in the range until 1964 when it was replaced by a Bedford TK unit.

GS1a Carrimore Car Transporter (US Cars)

GS1a (some sources refer to it as GS1b) was put together for the US market using American cars. You have to put the Thunderbirds on the bottom because the Plymouth and the Chevy are just too wide to fit the bottom deck, there's also an issue with the length of the cars, if you don't arrange them right, they don't fit.

1129 Milk Tanker

In May 1962 a little capsule range of Corgis was released extolling the virtues of milk. There was this tanker, a Karrier fridge van and an ERF lorry & trailer loaded with churns. There must have been a campaign going on somewhere. A bit spooky though that all of those marques have now gone, and no-one's promoting milk as a health drink any more. The Bedford Milk Tanker with the S Type Big Bedford cab was released in 1962 and replaced in the range with the Bedford TK version pulling the same trailer in 1965. Not that many of these were sold so it is a hard to find item nowadays and values are high. There are no listed variations.

1134 Military Fuel Tanker

Some 7 years after the Big Bedford went out of production Corgi Toys brings out a new version in US Military finish. This was part of a nine piece range of US Army vehicles (although six were British trucks and one German) released in January 1965 and deleted the following year, sales were modest so they are now scarce and pricey.

         
Corgi Toys 1101; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter; Red Cab, Blue Transporter Corgi Toys 1101; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter; Blue Cab, Yellow Transporter Corgi Toys GS1; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter Gift Set With 4 Cars, Austin Healey, MGA, Jaguar & Austin Cambridge Corgi Toys 1100; Bedford S Type Carrimore Low Loader; Red Cab, Blue Loader With Winch Corgi Toys; Bedford S Type Carrimore Low Loader; Yellow Cab, Blue Trailer
Corgi Toys 1101; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter; Red Cab, Blue Transporter

Corgi Toys 1101; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter; Blue Cab, Yellow Transporter

Corgi Toys GS1; Bedford S Type Carrimore Car Transporter Gift Set With 4 Cars, Austin Healey, MGA, Jaguar & Austin Cambridge Corgi Toys 1100; Bedford S Type Carrimore Low Loader; Red Cab, Blue Loader With Winch Corgi Toys; Bedford S Type Carrimore Low Loader; Yellow Cab, Blue Trailer
Corgi Toys 1104; Bedford S Type Machinery Carrier; Red Cab, Silver Grey Trailer Corgi Toys 1110; Bedford S Type Mobilgas Tanker; Red, Spun Hubs Corgi Toys GS1a; Carrimore Car Transporter (US Cars) Corgi Toys GS1c; Carrimore Car Transporter Gift Set Corgi Toys 1129; Bedford S Type Milk Tanker; Blue, White
Corgi Toys 1104; Bedford S Type Machinery Carrier; Red Cab, Silver Grey Trailer Corgi Toys 1110; Bedford S Type Mobilgas Tanker; Red, Spun Hubs Corgi Toys GS1a; Carrimore Car Transporter (US Cars) Corgi Toys GS1c; Carrimore Car Transporter Gift Set Corgi Toys 1129; Bedford S Type Milk Tanker; Blue, White
Corgi Toys 1134; Bedford S Type Artic Military Fuel Tanker        
Corgi Toys 1134; Bedford S Type Artic Military Fuel Tanker        

 


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Last Edit: 12/06/2024 Page Added 20/05/2022