About

From a very young age I was surrounded by a variety of motor vehicles, mainly due to my parents roadsweeper business and my Dad’s hobby of vintage motorcycles. We visited a wide range of shows including agricultural, steam and vintage rallies where there were all manner of vehicles to see.

I started to focus my love of vehicles onto commercials and to this day I still like the larger size motors.

At the age of 17 I bought my first vehicle which was an ex-army series 3 Land Rover. I stripped every nut and bolt from the car and totally rebuilt it to as new condition. After this I purchased another Land Rover, this time a 110 county and gave that the same treatment. Although I enjoyed working on the Land Rovers I had an underlying desire to get my hands on something bigger. In 2001, flicking through the pages of a military vehicle magazine I saw an advert for an A.E.C Matador Gun Tractor for restoration, and after a phone call and arranging a visit to view it, a deal was done and it came home to Bradford. The truck then under went a full rebuild and is still regularly rallied.

Since then I have also owned and restored several other mainly World War 2 vehicles of all sizes and I also have a serious interest in WW2 artillery. I’m also a re-enactor and a member of a couple of artillery re-enactment groups.

In 2014 I took part in the 70th anniversary commemorations of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, this involved me taking over my two A.E.C Matadors and 5.5” medium guns, both with full gun crews and period support vehicles.

– Melvyn Bean – MB Restorations