Derelict Bedford QL Truck in France

More holiday photos

Driving through an Alsace wine village and my trained eye spotted this rather splendid relic tucked away between some trees and an old garage, resulting in an immediate and dramatic application of the brakes.....







I'm not a great expert on these things, but I reckon it's a not-too-bad example of a British Bedford QL 3-ton 4x4 truck, mainstay of the British armed forces during WWII......

 

OMG! You are not on vacation.....you are on a treasure hunt. Excellent find. any chance of speaking with the owners and finding out the history?

 

No - there was no-one around ( it was lunchtime - France goes to sleep at lunchtime ! ) and my very basic French wouldn't have been good enough anyhow.....the truck was in pretty good shape and if it were in the UK would be of great interest to military vehicle restorers......

 

come on, come on, what's the flamin' map reference?!
Nice find Martin!
It's like the other day when I drove past the local scrapyard; there were two derelict Saracen armoured cars just sitting there, but unfortunately not for sale. When I can figure out how to transfer the pics from my mobile onto here, I'll let you see them.

 

Yes please!
I love Saracens. (quite rare on the restored circuit too).

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Here you go, VP. Apologies for hijacking the thread, Martin.
You should have seen the pitying looks I got from the females in the office when I asked if the cars were for sale.

 

Cheers Gordon!, the 'mobile quality' really adds to the atmosphere there.
Recently bought a user manual for the Saracen series, (I just like the shape :bucky one was parked up in a similar state locally for a long while, curiosity got the better and I finally went over to ask 'How much?'... and it'd gone.
Seem to see a fair few in this condition but not many at all fully tarted up.

 

Well these two had absolutely no interiors...literally. I think a mortgage might be in order....
I wonder if the grey one might be ex-RUC? They had a habit of painting their Humber Pigs Admiralty Grey, so....?

 

If I don't tel my wife and if I get to Landau and if it's open I might ask the owner about the Bedford, but those are a lot of "ifs" and I also want to visit the Turckheim museum dedicated to the Colmar pocket.

 

Did you ever get to talk to this guy about the truck Skipper? Or anyone else, that thing is in pretty nice shape!!