A Family affair

Exactly two years ago, in our September 2018 issue, we featured Alvar and Garry Fitch’s newly restored 1958 Bedford D. In that feature, we mentioned that the D was “one of three Bedford restorations nearing completion.” Now, though, number two has been completed. It’s a 1936 WT three-tonner, like the D, it’s absolutely stunning, and we were therefore delighted when the invitation came to take a look.

Also like the D, the WT is a lorry type which the family intended to use operationally, but never did. To explain this, we need to start with a brief look at the family’s background in lorries and road haulage. This started in the 1920s, when Garry’s Grandfather H B Fitch established a coal and coke merchants business in Cheshire with, as was usual then, a horse and cart. From this he graduated to a Model T Ford and then, in 1932 the Fitch’s first Bedford, a 1932 two tonner. Then, in 1938, he ordered a new Bedford three-tonner from Salthouses, the Bedford dealership in Ashton under Lyne. However it took until 1939 for the order to be processed, by which time war was looking increasingly likely, so