Another underdog van . Bedford Cf tales

[twosmoke300]

I've really enjoyed readings peoples tales about sherpas and thought I would see if there is any CF love / stories on here .

Back when I was a kid dad bought a brand new Mk2 beaver tail Cf ( not a CF2 - a mk2) it had a 2.3na Opel diesel and dad opted not to have a 5 speed box the tightwad .

So many good memories of school holidays traveling all over the country to van auctions sometimes taking two Dodge Spacevans back with us . A frame or dolly behind - must have been painful progress s but I can't remember it being that bad .

 

FJC841Y it was - long gone now I assume .

 

I'd love to have a mk2 van now and fit the 2.2dti running gear from an omega

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

1975 - went up to see some family friends in Arbirlot (Arbroath) and from there, we went to the Highland Games in Pitlochry.......in a CF Camper with the most painfully low final drive known to man. I was 7 at the time but even I knew it was slow.

[mercrocker]

I had a Mk2 Ambulance with Ferguson 4wd.    That had a painfully low final drive ratio, too.   Absolutely knocked its conkers out at 50, God knows how you would have got anyone to hospital on time in it.    

 

We bought it of a Dutch fella who was living in it and used it as a camper for a couple of years, eventually one of the front wheel bearings collapsed and destroyed the hub.   

 

I really liked it as a camper - it was built by Hanlon from GRP laminated with marine ply.   Very warm and dry inside, had those great big full height sliding front doors and a Bostrum driver's seat.   Mechanically it never missed a beat nor used any coolant or oil but was a noisy bugger.    Apparently it was used by Somerset Ambulance for hill rescues etc and I did once find a photo of it still in service.    

   

The longest run we did in it was up to Rutland Water - with Mrs Rocker sat in the back most of the way home owing to the din.  

 

I wish I had spent a bit of money on it and kept it as a holiday home parked up on the Isle of Wight or somewhere.   When I got my Cowley from a local  breaker there was our Ambulance, covered in moss but looking like work was still happening to it - a very heartwarming sight as I actually sold  it to another breaker nearby.

[Cavcraft]

In my first job after leaving school, they had two CFs I think. Because I was the YTS lad I was lucky* enough to have to sit in the back with all the wheelbarrows, spades, forks etc. One of the lads was a bit 'enthusiastic' when driving, and I've probably still got scars from being twatted about by various garden implements.

 

About 15 years or so ago now I bought a petrol 'pop top' CF, and we had what I still think was one of our best family holidays in it. Paid £200 for it and got it welded up for an MOT. Had it Crypton tuned the day before we left by some mobile mechanic prophet of doom who told me it was knackered and wouldn't make it more than a few miles. Wasn't going to tell the miss that, so we just carried on regardless. All I was arsed about was getting there as I was in the RAC if broke down when we there. Anyhow it stalled somewhere along the way and I was shitting it, but it got us there fine. Coming back it only used half the fuel it did going, so must have needed a good run out.

 

Anyhow, we hadn't been on a camp site before, but it was just brilliant. Small place just outside Cromer, we never used the camper to get round as we were a bit worried about it breaking down, so just walked and got buses etc. My son slept in one of the hammocks, my daughter on the floor. About 3.30am on the third night there was a bloody big 'thud' and it transpired my son had fallen off the hammock on top of his sister! The missus wasn't over keen on the camper because you had to keep putting things away at night then setting up again the next morning, or whatever.  I'd do it all again in a heartbeat, proper family holiday all lumped in together having a laugh.  

[anonymous user]

Back in 1983 we had one as a work van, I think it was seven or eight years old, with about 30k miles on it. Unfortunately all that mileage had been done around town. The rear doors had a hasp and clip to hold them shut as the rear body used to twist a bit so they would come unlatched. I think it was a bit overloaded as on the few occasions it did get up to speed on the dual carriageway you had a job to slow it down, the brakes generally faded out. Also doing a J turn with it snapped the exhaust at the manifold. It was a great van, funnily enough its replacement was a Sherpa.

[panhard65]

Back in the early 70's my uncle bought a disused chapel in Wales (he lived near Heathrow and worked at the airport) He decided he wanted to do all the work himself and even wanted to build the truck to do it. I never saw it but was told he bought a knock down kit from Bedford and built the CF in his back garden before taking it to Wales to work on the house. The sad thing was he finished the house but died a few months before retiring and moving in. My Aunt did eventually move down there but the CF got sold off. My only personal experience of CF's was working for a horticultural company in Saffron Walden, they used to supply mower parts to a council depot in north London. Most of the time we could have the brand new Transit (around 1990), but occasionally we had to use the CF pick up. It was a twin wheel diesel and painful to drive the 40 or so miles up the M11. We used to draw straws to see who got lucky when that run came up. I did also own an ex ice cream van for a few weeks and will add a picture if I ever find it again.

[Timewaster]

1990 I worked in a Vauxhall parts dept,

 

It was my ambition to win the lottery, buy every CF I could find, park them all in a field and bomb the bastards.

 

Nothing I got for them was right, everything was a choice of 6, no one had a clue what axles / carbs / distributors / brake cylinders their CF had and the bit still wouldn't be right if they did.

Only Bedford KBs were worse. god knows what they were made from.

 

To be fair, after I went to work at a motor factor I had a similar opinion of Transits.

 

I quite like a van these days.

[Asimo]

.....on an industrial estate in Kidderminster in 1977, watching a Perkins engined CF dropside burn to a crisp and wondering why no one was trying to put it out.

[holbeck]

I've mentioned this on here before, but back in the day I helped top 70's pop band 'Liquid Gold' bump start their CF at a petrol station.

 

Wow! The Rock and roll dream right there.

[drum]

 

Mentioned this before.

Was the old school minibus when I bought it for £300. Cut some mdf into interior furniture and put a wee gas stove in it.

The girlfriend (now wife) and I had a few wild camping holidays in it like Loch Tay, Spey Bay and a road trip up the north west of the country. The last one ended with a 4 hour tow home after the timing belt snapped.

[Timewaster]

Dam you Holbeck.

 

I've got "Dance yourself dizzy" stuck in my head now.

[Richard]

Dam you Holbeck.

 

I've got "Dance yourself dizzy" stuck in my head now.

 

It would have to be that, I bet you can't name another of their songs. I know I can't.

[eddyramrod]

Welcome to CF Lurve Central!  The green thing above was mine in 1983, bought as an emergency replacement for my Marina Coupe.  I nicknamed it Thunderbird 2 for obvious reasons, and it did literally carry everything.  1600 petrol with a 4-speed meant it was never going to set any speed records over distance; I know this because for a few weeks in the summer I was going to Fleetwood in it once a week.  But around town, and especially with no load, it was brilliant.

 

If there's anything I want more than a Sherpa, it's a petrol-engined mk1 CF.  Please.

[holbeck]

 

It wasn't just Liquid Gold who liked a CF, the KLF had shite credentials too

[EssDeeWon]

Back in the 80's my dad used to deliver some bread for a local bakery, I think he was between jobs or something... Anyway the bakery had two vans, a red mk3 Escort van and a yellow Bedford CF, I think it was a MK2 and it was yellow, Poss ex BT?  

 

Sometimes I went with him, I used to prefer the escort van because the Bedford didn't have a passenger seat, instead I had to sit on this big plastic bread rack/tray thing and it was blooming uncomfortable. A right heap back then (about 1986 'ish) and I seem to remember it belonged to the bakery for a few years after but probably scrapped around 1990.

[eddyramrod]

 my dad used to deliver some bread for a local bakery, I think he was between jobs or something...

Oi!  That's my Chosen Career there!  Between jobs my arse.

[155V6]

I had a late CF for a bit in my 1st driving job.It was a C reg LWB single rear wheel petrol.It certainly went OK,but I thought it was really uncomfortable & noisy compared to the B reg Transit we had at the same time.

[EssDeeWon]

Oi!  That's my Chosen Career there!  Between jobs my arse.

 

Ha sorry, no offence intended. This was only a couple of drops early morning before dropping me off at school to help out.  There was another guy there called Joe who used to do the bulk of it, he used to use the red escort van for years.

[panhard65]

I still can't find the CF I had but have a couple of pics anyway. The first one was at a fairly posh hotel in Sailsbury and the ice cream van was at the Banksy exhibition in Weston super Mare a couple of years ago.

[155V6]

I had a late CF for a bit in my 1st driving job.It was a C reg LWB single rear wheel petrol.It certainly went OK,but I thought it was really uncomfortable & noisy compared to the B reg Transit we had at the same time.

And it had no radio or anywhere to put one.

[dollywobbler]

This thread definitely needs more pics. Let's start with the one I owned, then sold to Moog.

 

It was a 2.3 slant four, with overdrive, and it was bloody ace to drive. Lots of grunt, and very relaxing at speed. Ok, so perhaps I was comparing it with the H van it replaced, but I enjoyed every drive in that thing. Only once actually tried to sleep in it, and ended up driving home anyway as the roof leaked all over our bed. Let some Norwegians sleep in it at an event, then sold it.

 

I actually prefer the cheeky charm of the pre-facelift models really, especially in ice-cream van flavour (as per the blackened one above). Dread to think how many got chopped for customs though. I remember loving them as a kid. Not so sure now...

[Bag'O'Spanners]

No pics sadly. I used to work for a garage that had a contract to maintain The Royal London Hospitals vehicles in the early '90s in the transport garage on Mile End Road. We had a few regular CFs, 2.3 Automatics with sliding doors and ambulance bodies. Glacial, but lovely and smooth. If I remember rightly, they were just patient transport vehicles or St.John's by then. Can't remember too much about them, as only started my apprenticeship in 1990, just fond memories bombing around London on test drives with open doors. I do remember lots of oil leaks!

 

As an asides, we also had a few Freight Rover V8s and a Tranny Mk2 with an Essex V6 in patient transport spec.... Yum Yum..

 

Poor Paramedics had started using Sprinters by then and despised them compared to the V8 'Sherpas'.

[Bren]

My late uncle had a mobile shop for a short time in the early 1980's. He had a T reg long wheel base example.

[garbaldy]

My claim to fame was the first vehicle I ever drove was a lutton cf at 13,

My dad had three cfs and two transits and the cfs never gave much bother some could say the drivers of the tranny's where useless but once he changed them to cfs the garage bills shrunk,

I bet nobody would dream of buying petrol lutton vans these days but I remember them in 1st screeming for mercy hauling 2.5 tons up Weldon bank, those must have been pre vosa or whatever they are called days.

[AMC Rebel]

I've unashamedly lifted this from my contribution to the Sherpa thread.

 

In between skool and university I worked for the Ordnance Survey.  It was a great job - decent pay and perks (even as a temp) and hardly taxing - drive the van around, hold up a target a few times a day, read the paper (all day if wet).

 

When I arrived we had two Bedford CFs, one was a 3 speed in which first was a dogleg and reverse was where you'd normally find 1st on a 4/5/6 speed "H".  It was fun* rolling up to traffic lights trying to remember which van you were in and since there was no restrictor and no markings on the gearknob (or anywhere) try to make sure you didn't slot it into reverse and zoom off backwards.

 

IIRC the 3 speed was 1.8 pez, the other one was a 2.3 pez with a conventional 4 speed box.  Both were refined enough to drive if a bit noisy - I remember the steering was particularly good - from memory they were about the only van at the time with rack and pinion steering.  Most other vans seemed to have some Heath-Robinson setup with a million bits of links and crappy steering boxes at the time.

[Rocket88]

I had a 2.3 auto camper..............................nice to drive, but used to grind to a halt every 15 miles...............which I solved by losing the petrol cap. Have a theory that it had a non vented one fitted, which caused fuel starvation.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

MrsN's parents had a bright yellow hi-top CF that they sold burgers and sandwiches out of, they went round factories and industrial estates in Milton Keynes from about 1979 to 19888. When they needed an aditional van due to MK expanding they bought a Sherpa. I should like them ,just because of this, they're still twats though.

 

A mate had a yellow H reg van with a flashing light on the roof, when we were 18/19. Many disgusting things happened in that CF. Most memorable was blagging our way into a David Bowie gig at MK Bowl, he ( my mate not Bowie) turned on the flashing light, pulled up at the gate to the perimeter road and shouted at the bloke there to hurry up he had a van full of stewards! 6 of us got in ,then as a bonus we picked up 8 girls from Nottingham and went back with them to a party*

 

Almost bought High Roller in 1985, it was a bright red and yellow custom van that had been in Custom Car and Street Machine only a few years before- it was fucked, wob falling off in big lumps and completely rotten underneath.

[Formula Autos]

The ice cream place near me still has two CFs doing sterling service - one each of pre and post facelift flavour. The owners are so tight they don't even have a chime on them, and just sound the horn a few times before they pull up at the kerbside. All the kids round here know what a CF horn sounds like.

 

The only direct experience I've had of a CF was Autoshite Gold. A school friend of mine was moving house, so his Dad asked if his teenage mates would help out (payment was a bacon butty to start the day, plenty of pop and sweets, and dinner and tea time meal from the Wimpy for all of us). We were up for a laugh, so we said alright. They were moving out of a flat in the attic of an old peoples' home that they'd just sold, into a rented house. Prior to running the old folks home my mate's Dad had a milk round, with a slidey door CF to do it in. He just kept it in the grounds of the old folks home for about ten years when they moved in there, and only used it occasionally. By the time of the move it was hanging - so bad that one of the back doors fell off before the end of the day of the move. It also had a slow puncture, so one of my duties was to constantly re-inflate it with a single barrelled foot pump.

 

My mate's Dad wasn't one for rules and regulations and, as the CF was untaxed, not MOT'd and probably unsafe he wrote out cardboard number plates that matched those of his Sierra, on the basis of "well that's insured". We would then load the van up, pile into the Sierra, and unload at the new house over and over again. Me with said foot pump on my lap, ready to re-inflate the tyre for the journey back. They kept the Sierra (with my mate's Mother driving) and CF a suitable distance away from each other on the road (the Sierra following a distance behind, in case of a breakdown), so as not to have the same number plate visible on two vehicles in someone's eyeline. the Sierra was a C plater, so it's conceivable that it could have been the right reg for a CF - though it was a pre-facelift one, so maybe not, eh?

 

That CF smoked and squeaked all day, but never broke down. Not bad considering he reckoned he hadn't moved it for about three years prior to that.

 

I also remember the stereo being a work of genius too - an old ghetto blaster fixed to the dash with shelf brackets, with some lethal looking wiring taking power from a cigarette lighter socket to what had been the battery compartment. He kept up with a test match all day with that thing, so one of my abiding memories of that move is hearing Geoffrey Boycott constantly mentioning Michael Atherton in less than glowing terms.

 

My mate's Dad also passed a few cop cars that day, but never got pulled. This was in about '93, in a rural area, so things were a bit more relaxed.

[AMC Rebel]

CFs appear to have been sold in Germany as the "Bedford Blitz Kastenwagen" - clearly the term/name Blitz didn't have the same negative connotations as it had here.  Looks like they had an Opel badge too despite being called a Bedford.

[Formula Autos]

Is Blitz not German for lightning (as in the symbol on an Opel badge)?

 

I might have this wrong, mind. It comes from a vague memory of watching a war film one rainy Saturday afternoon, and someone (possibly Kenneth More or James Robertson-Justice) explaining that Blitzkreig was "Jerry for lightning strike".