A chassis for every load - Bedford commercial vehicles advert, 1950
Another very bold advert from the 1950 British Commercial Vehicle annual this for Bedford trucks and commercial vehicles, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors at Luton in Bedfordshire. The marque had come into use in 1931 when Bedford, owned since 1925 by the American General Motors, dropped the use of their Chevrolet marque on commercial vehicles constructed at Luton. Bedford, assisted by American know how one suspects, gained a fine reputation in the UK and associated oversees markets and as the advert shows they produced a wide range of chassis from vans, through trucks to tractor units and single deck bus/coaches. Many Bedford chassis were used as the base for specialist vehicle construction such as ambulances, 'municipal vehicles' such as refuse trucks and the company also worked with Scammell Motors to produce semi-trailers. The Dunstable plant closed in the 1980s when the Bedford range was much reduced and seemingly 'old fashoned' and the heavy range was 'sold off'. The marque was retired in 1991 although some vestige of the works continues with GMM vehicle plant at Luton still producing vans that would have flet very much at home under the Bedford badge.
A chassis for every load - Bedford commercial vehicles advert, 1950
Another very bold advert from the 1950 British Commercial Vehicle annual this for Bedford trucks and commercial vehicles, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors at Luton in Bedfordshire. The marque had come into use in 1931 when Bedford, owned since 1925 by the American General Motors, dropped the use of their Chevrolet marque on commercial vehicles constructed at Luton. Bedford, assisted by American know how one suspects, gained a fine reputation in the UK and associated oversees markets and as the advert shows they produced a wide range of chassis from vans, through trucks to tractor units and single deck bus/coaches. Many Bedford chassis were used as the base for specialist vehicle construction such as ambulances, 'municipal vehicles' such as refuse trucks and the company also worked with Scammell Motors to produce semi-trailers. The Dunstable plant closed in the 1980s when the Bedford range was much reduced and seemingly 'old fashoned' and the heavy range was 'sold off'. The marque was retired in 1991 although some vestige of the works continues with GMM vehicle plant at Luton still producing vans that would have flet very much at home under the Bedford badge.