Bedford Motors-00-1441

Bedford was a leading international truck manufacturer with substantial export sales of light medium and heavy trucks throughout the world. It was GM Europe's most profitable venture for several years.

The large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 it was the largest car plant in the United Kingdom.

Prior to 1925 General Motors assembled in Brazilian trucks manufactured at their Canadian works. This enabled them to import vehicles into Britain under Imperial Preference, which favoured products from the British Empire as far as import duties were concerned. Such trucks were marketed as "British Chevrolet". After GM took ownership of Vauxhall Motors production was transferred from Hendon to Luton, Vauxhall's headquarters, production commencing there in 1929.

A large part of Bedford's original success in breaking into the UK and British Empire markets lay in the OHV 6 cylinder Chevrolet engine, now known as Chevrolet Stove Bolt 6 well ahead of its time this smooth running inline 6 cylinder engine was to form the basis of Bedford and Vauxhall petrol engines almost until the marque ceased building trucks and buses.

In World War II, the Vauxhall Factory played an important part in the war effort by building Churchill tanks. Although despite heavy camouflage, the factory made Luton a target for the Luftwaffe and the town suffered a number of air raids. There was extensive damage to the town, over 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed and 107 people were killed.

The popular S type trucks were launched in the 1950s, the so-called Big Bedfords which brought Bedford into the 7 ton range. The S Series was immortalised in RL form (a four-wheel drive, high ground clearance version) as the "Green Goddess" emergency fire tender, managed by the British Army and until recently was still used in the event of fire-service industrial action or serious emergencies as of the 21st century. However as of 2008, large quantities of Green Goddesses have been earmarked for withdrawal, and offered for sale within the private sector. Several have found new homes in African countries that lack a developed fire-fighting service, such as Kenya.

The Bedford TK range was produced in large numbers since 1959 and served as the basis for a variety of derivatives including fire engines, military vehicles, horse-boxes, tippers, flat-bed trucks and other specialist utility vehicles. A British Post Office (later British Telecom) version used for installing telegraph poles was known as the "Polecat". The British Armed Forces still use four-wheel drive Bedford MKs a variant of the TK.

In 2000, Vauxhall announced the end of car production in Luton; the plant closed in March 2002. At its peak it had employed in excess of 30,000 people. Vauxhall's headquarters and its van and light commercial vehicle factory remain in the town.

The former Vauxhall site is also to be re-developed as a mixed use site called Napier Park. It will feature housing, retail and entertainment use, including a new casino.