It’s not unheard of for a manufacturer to exaggerate its products’ achievements or qualities in a bid to drive sales but, where Bedford is concerned, there was no overstatement in its simple but memorable slogan ‘You see them everywhere.’ For much of the 20th century, the marque was celebrated the world over for the quality and variety of its commercial vehicles, but its rise to the forefront of the industry was very sudden. While the likes of AEC, Dennis and Leyland were all well established by the 1920s, the first Bedfords did not appear until 1931.
Despite coming onto the scene as the Great Depression was tightening its grip, Bedford’s arrival was pretty risk-free because its parent company was General Motors, which was just commencing its 77-year reign as the largest car-maker in the world. It also happened that more and more businesses were taking it upon themselves to transport goods themselves rather than using the railways as a middleman, so it was launched into an expanding market. Besides which, the first Bedfords were not all-new vehicles but slightly updated evolutions of the Chevrolet commercials which had been built in Britain since 1923.
The first use of the Bedford name by General Motors actually
