General Motor Corporation, GMC, the giant American conglomerate, had taken over Vauxhall/Bedford and was looking to expand its range as it had been marketing its own Chevrolet products, which is why it is not unusual to hear of Chevrolet light trucks and buses being used by operators in the UK in the twenties and thirties after their arrival on the domestic UK market from 1923. They were ‘allowed’ into Britain under the auspices of an ‘Imperial Preference’ diktat which gave vehicles built in Canada preferential treatment to be imported into the UK market.
It is suggested that it was the bureaucratic snail-like actions of traffic law regarding the weight regulations in Britain which led to the slow introduction of quality load-carrying lorries as all over 50 cwt, unladen vehicles were restricted to 20mph, a situation that we seem to be moving back to, with the present 20mph ‘safety’ campaign!
After 1933, certain changes took place and Bedford were quick to offer lorries to every client who wanted one. Fire engines, council dustcarts and ambulances started to appear in the Bedford catalogues as off the-peg options. The Public Service sector wasn’t forgotten as PSVs were introduced, highlighted by the famous
