Bedford TA
The Bedford TA (also called Bedford A) is a medium-duty truck produced by Bedford Vehicles from 1953 to 1958, as a replacement for the older Bedford M-Series, which started getting produced in 1939 and was eventually discontinued in 1952. In total around 200,000 TA trucks were built, until it was eventually modernized as the newer TJ series of medium-duty trucks. The truck was an all new vehicle compared to its predecessor, and competed with vehicles such as the Commer Superpoise and Leyland Comet trucks, although the TA trucks were more popular, due to their larger  engines, which were a development of the Stovebolt units. Development. With the end of the Second World War, the Bedford factories had been converted into suitable only for military production, for the war effort, and were in a precarious state, so the revert process back to civilian production was not an easy one, so the company limped with the outdated Bedford M-Series and O-Series models, so, to remain profitable decided to prioritize their production mostly for export, something that happened with almost all British vehicle companies, in a new fashion called "Export or Die" that was also responsible  for the development of the Land Rover that became a legend. During that time General Motors, the parent of Vauxhall Motors, that controlled Bedford, was thriving in the United States with new models such as the Chevrolet Bel Air and the Chevrolet Advance Design trucks, which were the most popular truck at the market, during that time around. To cut costs it was decided to import a Chevrolet Advance Design truck in the Luton factory, to create a new model based on the tooling of the American truck instead of entirely developing a new one. During the launch of the  TA series, many motoring presses noted the similarities between the Advance Design and the TA, and suggested that some panels were even interchangeable, but Bedford suggested that apart from a similarity in design (that was also applied to the re-designed Opel Blitz) there was no mechanical commonality between these trucks, since if the company was going to "copy" the design of the American truck, there were going to be production problems, since the Bedford truck was heavier, and the Advance Design was ready to be discontinued, although the styling was considered fresh in the United Kingdom, a key feature  that made the truck very successful. When the truck was released, it was presented to dealers and large fleet operators, that gave the truck positive reviews, and initial sales were much higher than the production capacity at the Bedford factories, so there were shortages and delays in production. During the 1954 model year, some changes included a new bonnet pressing with a raised T-shaped ridge that strengthened the vehicle's overall front end. The TA series was produced in many versions, including box trucks, chassis cabs, dropside trucks and a police variant was also made for export to Hong  Kong. In 1957 the series was modernized as the "TD" series and received a slightly different front end. Some time later the vehicle received a different axle ratio. Production ended in 1958, with 37,758 being produced at that year due to large competition. It was planned to replace the vehicle with an all new truck, but due to the styling still remaining popular, and Bedford focusing more on the Bedford TK and Bedford RL trucks, it was decided to facelift the model and rename it to the TJ series, that continued production for over 40 more years, although it had  been withdrawn from the British market in 1975, with production focusing only on the export market.