Bedford

Until 1925 General Motors assembled trucks in Britain from Canadian parts, marketed as “British Chevrolet”. After it bought Vauxhall in 1925, Vauxhall’s Luton works began building the Chevrolet Bedford, named after the county town of Bedfordshire, and in April 1931 the first true Bedford, a 2-ton lorry, appeared. A bus chassis followed that August, and light vans based on Vauxhall cars, and by the end of the decade Bedford was a major maker.

The Second World War made it a giant. The 15 cwt MW truck was built in its thousands, 65,995 by 1945, the four-wheel-drive QL, nicknamed “Queen Lizzie”, served as an artillery tractor and in many other roles, and OY and OX lorries were built by the tens of thousands. The wartime Dunstable plant, opened in 1942 and rebuilt in the 1950s, became the home of all Bedford commercial vehicle production except vans.

Post-war Bedford brought the OB coach, the CA van of 1952, the TK truck of 1959 and the heavier TM, as well as a huge export business. It later worked with Isuzu and Suzuki, giving the Rascal microvan and the Midi. General Motors sold the heavy truck business as AWD in 1987, the brand was retired in 1990, and the last van plant at Luton closed in March 2025.