Ford Trucks in India

[greenhorn]

I recalled seeing a Truck with a ford badge when I was in school. Thought it was some enthusiastic driver who put a scrap ford badge on his old truck. But my Dad told me that Ford really did make trucks once upon a time. And their trucks were so good that the rest of the big players played a bit dirty, and crushed them in a sort of oligopolistic way. I thought that this was one of dad's stories, but I heard pretty much the same from another friend of mine whose family owned a ford truck. He swore by it, and said that it was a pity that it had to be shut down by unfair competition.

Can someone give some background on this ?

[ajmat]

Simpson's, part of the TAFE group did assemble ford trucks in the early 1980's. These came from Austrailia. These were the earlier version of the Ashok Leyland IVECO cargo. (That was a ford design which was given to IVECO when ford and Fiat merged their truck operations and spun it off and that entitiy bought into Ashok Leyland).

These trucks were stunning by Indian standards - a proper cabin, nice seats. Seat were so nice that a friend of mine who bought one deemed it too good for his driver and took it out and put into his standard 20 van. The standard metal + plastic wicker seat went in.

The trucks did not sell well since the axles could not take overloading. One could see many o nthe highway with sheared axles.

[SirAlec]

any images of the said trucks.? this is news to me.

[WDM007]

These are the some pics of old FORD Trucks:

[SirAlec]

The last one is a chevrolet and not a ford.

Is the first image is from India, as i have never seen these.

[rjstyles69]

I regularly see a ford truck near my place. Does the chores of ferrying rice/wheat flour to the supermarket and other small time shops. Lemme see if I can get a picture of that old junkie sometime soon. Meanwhile here is one from this thread. Posted by trammway.

[greenhorn]

The one i saw was newer.

looked more like the one posted by mandalaybay here (The Classic Commercial Vehicles (Bus, Trucks etc) Thread.)

[Sankar]

Greenie, i used to see a BEDFORD truck plying in Trivandrum till a few years back. It looks similar to the photo Riju posted above. I'm not sure but i think Bedford had some association with HM.

[directinjection]

The Ford trucks sold in India by Simpsons in early 1980s came with the same cab as visible in the picture in post no. 7.

These Indian Ford trucks were designated as 1210, Tata style, but simply couldn't replicate the success of Tata or AL. The trucks were fitted with Perkins P6 engine that Simpsons built in India. A friend of mine had the Indian Ford truck at his farm. He had told me that the truck cab was fully tiltable and was made of fibre-reinforced-plastic. IIRC, the cabs came in red colour.

Originally Posted by ajmat

These came from Austrailia.

The cabs probably did. The engine was Perkins P6 licence-built in India by Simpsons.

Originally Posted by ajmat

These were the earlier version of the Ashok Leyland IVECO cargo. (That was a ford design which was given to IVECO when ford and Fiat merged their truck operations and spun it off and that entitiy bought into Ashok Leyland).

But the cab of the IVECO truck that AL made resembled earlier-gen FIAT trucks more, compared to the cab seen on Ford trucks in India.

Originally Posted by ajmat

The trucks did not sell well since the axles could not take overloading. One could see many o nthe highway with sheared axles.

That's where AL and Tata have always excelled. Even the earlier Dodge and Bedford licence-built by PAL and HM met the same fate.

Originally Posted by Sankar

I'm not sure but i think Bedford had some association with HM.

Yes, they had. After the expiry of the collaboration, Bedford trucks were sold by HM under the HINDUSTAN trade mark.

[SirAlec]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

I regularly see a ford truck near my place. Does the chores of ferrying rice/wheat flour to the supermarket and other small time shops. Lemme see if I can get a picture of that old junkie sometime soon. Meanwhile here is one from this thread. Posted by trammway.

Attachment 359790

Thats not a ford but a Bedford. Bedford has a completely different history, and was actually owned by Ford's competitor GM.

[greenhorn]

I've been spotting dodge/bedford/fargo trucks from kintergarden It's the ford truck that piqued my curiosity. Thanks ajmat & directinjection

[beejay]

This one still doing rounds in Coonoor. Sorry about the pictures. Best I could get.

[roy_libran]

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures, but there were I think, at last count, 3 such trucks, pressed into Mortuary Service at Kanpur. If anyone is around from Kanpur, they might be able to click a few pics, in front of LLR hospital, where they are usually parked.