Bedford

Bedford was a originally a part of Vauxhall providing commercial vehicles. Vauxhall itself was founded in 1857 at the Vauxhall Iron Works founded by Alexander Wilson in Wandsworth Rd, Vauxhall, London. In the 1900′s Wilson had left the business and the board directors became interested in the “horseless carriage”. In 1903 a 5 hp, single cylinder, motor car was constructed and priced at 130 guineas. In order to expand the company, it was necessary to leave London, so the company moved to Luton, Bedfordshire in 1905.

Car production continued and in 1925 Vauxhall was bought by General Motors. Chevrolet trucks had been on sale in Britain since 1923, but were very expensive due to import tax. GM decided to build a complete British truck using the under used capacity at Vauxhall’s Luton plant. This was a very popular idea with the British public, as there was an economic downturn at the time.

1931 – The first true Bedford Van

In 1931 the last Chevrolet and GMC trucks and vans were completed and the first true Bedford was launched. The “W” series featured 30 cwt trucks and a 2 ton version. There was also a “bus” with 14 or 20. By 1937 Bedford’s sales had reached 30,000 cars!

Civilian production suspended during the war

During the war production of civilian vehicles was suspended. The Army had lost many of its tanks, and Vauxhall was given the task of building the Churchill tank.

Production restarted after WW2 using the tried and trusted K, M and O types introduced in 1939, and these gave way in 1951 to the new S type and later it’s 4×4 relative the R type. This was used by the Army as its standard truck for years, finally being replaced by the MK and MJ types. Another milestone in 1955 was the opening of the Dunstable truck plant, all large commercial vehciles being assembled there with some van building continuing at Luton.

The 50′s – The birth of the “A type”

The “A type” appeared in 1953 and was followed by the “D” and “J” types. These were still being sold well into the seventies. The “CA” van was replaced by the “CF”. A subsidiary company IBC Vehicles was formed and operates to the present day.

Recession in the eighties

Recession during the eighties, and foreign imports took their toll and GM announced the closure of Bedford! The Dunstable plant was sold to AWD, who continued the “MJ” and “TL” ranges for a while, mainly for exports. When a large defence contract went to Leyland, AWD itself was forced to close. The “TL” range was adopted by Marshall of Cambridge before they introduced their own “SPV” design.

This article was written on Monday, June 14th, 2010
It's filed under: "Car guides"

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