Stroker Ace

The two-stroke Detroit diesel engine was a huge success in America, but it failed in the UK when Bedford offered it in their new TM, with heavy fuel consumption one of the main criticisms. But what were they really like?

- Richard Stanier

The 1970s was a decade of great change in the trucking world, with higher powered, faster, vehicles regularly undertaking international haulage operations, and the domestic manufacturers coming under increasing pressure from European importers who could offer high specification trucks with relatively short lead times.

Some British manufacturers were initially complacent about the new challenges, and the decade ended with a hugely rationalised product range which could no longer find room for some of the nation’s once revered marques. It wasn’t just the traditional British custom builders and the Leyland empire which felt the pinch though; the American owned mass producers also recognised the need to offer premium quality vehicles, and to compete in the higher weight categories, echoing the changes they had forced on traditional builders of middle weight vehicles such as Guy and Seddon in the previous generation.

By the early ‘70s Chrysler were offering UK operators their Dodge K3820P tractor which was sourced from their Spanish Barreiros subsidiary and proved to be a speedy performer with a modest following amongst some UK fleets and own account operators.

Ford’s Transcontinental followed the familiar AngloAmerican approach to heavy truck building by using a well-proven bought -in driveline, and was squarely aimed at the prestige heavy weight end of the market, and General Motors chose to develop an entirely new range of vehicles in the shape of the Bedford TM.