Jowett Bradford van in vintage motor show. Photo: Harlequin9 - stock.adobe.com
YOU NEVER FORGET THE FIRST ONES A STORY OF A BRADDY AND A HUDDY WORDS DAVID MCCARTHY
I could hardly credit the coincidence. I was leafing through a favourite UK classic car magazine and found, side by side, features on two unlikely partners, a Bradford van and a Hudson 112. My first two cars! Now years later the memories flooded back from days every keen motorist remembers, the struggle to get on the automotive ladder, and the gambles taken to achieve it. The Bradford, rather quaintly considering its limitations, has retained a certain lustre, probably beyond its deserved place in our motoring world, and examples are often shown by dedicated enthusiasts at classic car shows. As for the Huddy, a development of the Terraplane on a more modest scale, there are still nice ones around, though they are oddities.
14 Beaded Wheels
The Bradford was a utilitarian van designed and built to get British tradesmen mobile in the post war era. I inherited mine from my older brother Tom for £40 ($80) when he was working on an Ashburton farm, as he had gone upmarket to a Volkswagen. Older brothers featured for many of us in that era of hand-me-downs, including cars. At that time I was teaching in Lower Hutt, and to reach the overnight ferry at Lyttelton in the pre-tunnel days meant
