Bedford Question

[Torsten2001]

Does anyone know when the name Bedford was finally dropped?

I saw some Arabic war footage on French telly last week which seemed only a little dated featuring some fellas with bazookas bouncing about in what looked to be Bedford badged Isuzus.

I was in Portugal in the mid 1990's and they seemed to be selling new Isuzus badged as Bedfords then so can anyone shed any light?

[trigger]

Well Brammy photographed this Midi which is badged as a Bedford from 1989, It must be one of the last as I thought they was Vauxhall Midi's by then.

 

[Pillock]

In Great Britain, it was 1989... locally we've got an F-plate Astramax with a Bedford grille, and a G-plate one with a Vauxhall badge.

 

On a related note, who or what were AWD? My local VX dealer was flying "Vauxhall Opel GM AWD" flags outside with the red/yellow/blue colourscheme, and I remember seeing AWD trucks but then they vanished as soon as they appeared.

[Rod/b]

Mine was on a J plate and that was Vauxhall badged, so that narrows it down!

[trigger]

Here's a G plate

 

 

and G plate Astra

 

 

and a G plate Rascal! (1989 does seem to be the newest that i can find)

 

[Pillock]

OK, so combined with my G-plate Vauxhall Astramax gives it as late-1990 (assuming no grille swappery has gone off!)

[trigger]

WINNA!

 

[brammy777]

I completely forgot about that little Rascal! I reckon that is the newest Bedford Ive ever seen although there is probably one or two Bedford badged Bravas on a H plate, surely.

[trigger]

I completely forgot about that little Rascal! I reckon that is the newest Bedford Ive ever seen although there is probably one or two Bedford badged Bravas on a H plate, surely.

Just found another one of yours!

 

[Pillock]

Were Rascals ever badged as Vauxhall or did they just let them die as Bedfords?

[trigger]

On a completely different matter, I've just stumbled across this old Bedford!

 

[Timewaster]

On a related note, who or what were AWD? My local VX dealer was flying "Vauxhall Opel GM AWD" flags outside with the red/yellow/blue colourscheme, and I remember seeing AWD trucks but then they vanished as soon as they appeared.

AWD was a private company that bought the Bedford truck division in the mid '80's without realising that if GM couldn't make a go of it, then they had no chance!

[warren t claim]

 

On a related note, who or what were AWD? My local VX dealer was flying "Vauxhall Opel GM AWD" flags outside with the red/yellow/blue colourscheme, and I remember seeing AWD trucks but then they vanished as soon as they appeared.

AWD was a private company that bought the Bedford truck division in the mid '80's without realising that if GM couldn't make a go of it, then they had no chance!

An opportunity missed.

 

The reason you see loads of Iveco trucks is due to the Ford halo. The same with loyal Leyland buyers. They just moved onto DAFs.

 

Bedford had a good reputation in the HGV world. Shame the badge died.

[Cavcraft]

Badge engineering defo moved to trucks too. Didn't those tosspots Iveco buy out Seddon Atkinson and then Daf seemed to be knocking out CFs badged as Fodens?

 

AWD trucks seemed to be decent and well engineered things, met plenty of people who swore by them.

[brammy777]

Correct on both counts there Cavette, although I think the company which owned both DAF and Foden decided to stop selling the latter. Bloody confusing, I think they are called Paccer.

It always suprised me why Bedford disappeared, they made a good range of products and had a loyal customer base. Coaches, buses, lorries, fire engines, vans, ambulances.... etc etc. What the hell happened?!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I imagine it simply fell foul of piss poor managers who managed it into oblivion.

[Torsten2001]

The thing is I think Bedford had a great reputation in the Middle East and the name carried on past 1991 overseas, the one I saw on telly looked to be late 1990's at least!

[dollywobbler]

To answer an earlier question, Vauxhall badges were applied to Rascals and Midis. Sadly, Vauxhall Heritage have sold their Rascal - yes, they did have one!

[Inspector Morose]

Tontops was right. Bedfords were in the main, a lightweight and cheap truck/bus that was ideal for small operators as they were cheap to buy and run and (as far as buses were concerned) looked exactly like more expensive heavyweight products to the travelling public. The problem was that they didn't last as well as the heavier and sturdier opposition.

 

The problem was, the world moved on as operators got richer and then bought the longer lasting, and more refined, heavyweight product (Leyland, Volvo, Scania, ad infinitum..) and so the market at the lighter end of the market shrunk rapidly.

 

Bedford, and its competitor, Ford tried to move with the market too late with products like the Bedford TM, Venturer coach and the much lamented Ford Transcontinental, and failed. Ford then pulled out of the coach market in about '85 then moved its truck range into bed with the Iveco combine.

 

Bedford, however, pulled the entire range completely around '86 and sold the rights to the name to AWD along with what was left of the product range (the TL truck and the TJ bonneted truck that was still being sold well to developing countries due to its rugged, simple nature)

 

AWD replaced the Bedford built engines to Perkins Phaser units and the products sold well at first in a small scale kind of way. Then people stopped buying and it cane to an end.

 

The Bedford range was then sold again to Cambridge based Marshall SPV who built a few TJs for export then closed down production completely. After that, the trail goes a little cold as Marshall went into receivership a few years back and was picked up by an Egyptian firm and renamed MCV.

 

Hope that helps.

[Torsten2001]

Good work Metrobi! Did the Egyptian firm rename Isuzu products Bedford then for the local market?

[Inspector Morose]

Dunno, I seem to have lost track of the name after Marshall. If it was involved in the Egyptian deal it could be a possibility!

[wuvvum]

Bedfords were in the main, a lightweight and cheap truck/bus that was ideal for small operators as they were cheap to buy and run and (as far as buses were concerned) looked exactly like more expensive heavyweight products to the travelling public. The problem was that they didn't last as well as the heavier and sturdier opposition.

They were also slower. The company which has the contract to run bus services in north Norfolk used to have a Van Hool-bodied Bedford coach - looked exactly like the DAF etc. versions but was "powered" by a Bedford 500 engine. The result was that the driver had to change down a gear whenever there was a headwind - it wouldn't pull sixth gear into anything more than a light breeze.

[Formula Autos]

Does anyone know when the name Bedford was finally dropped?

I saw some Arabic war footage on French telly last week which seemed only a little dated featuring some fellas with bazookas bouncing about in what looked to be Bedford badged Isuzus.

I was in Portugal in the mid 1990's and they seemed to be selling new Isuzus badged as Bedfords then so can anyone shed any light?

The local Vauxhall dealers to me (Dobies) used to have a sign up at the dealership with four distinct brands on it (Vauxhall, Opel, GM and Bedford). This also appeared on the '80s GM rally cars, such as Mantas and Astras. IIRC the sign disappeared from the front of the dealership in 1990, and was replaced by a large Vauxhall only sign.

 

I don't know if this helps in your quest for determining dates re. Bedford - it may just have been a sprucing up of the signage at this dealer. I always thought it funny that they dropped the other brands though, so it MAY have had something to do with Bedford's demise and/or sale.

 

IIRC the last Opel sold in the UK (officially) was the Manta. Didn't this cease production in '88? If so, was this the start of GM's re-organisation of their UK operation?

[Timewaster]

Tontops was right.

Yay!

 

The Bedford range was then sold again to Cambridge based Marshall SPV who built a few TJs for export then closed down production completely. After that, the trail goes a little cold as Marshall went into receivership a few years back and was picked up by an Egyptian firm and renamed MCV.

 

I can help you there. MCV had an operation at Sutton nr Ely refurbishing used buses and fitting out new ones.

Recent events have seen the refurbishing business close and the new bus division work pulled out of the uk market due to some euro emissions bollocks. I believe all work is now done in Egypt.