General Motors had been importing Chevrolet commercial vehicles into the UK before setting up an assembly plant in Hendon in the late 1920s.

Rationalising its manufacturing arrangements, GM moved Chevrolet production to its Vauxhall car plant at Luton, from whence a redesigned range of ‘Bedford’ branded commercials emerged in 1931.

Competitively priced and reliable, this new six-cylinder ‘W’ series was an immediate success with the road haulage industry and in its various forms remained in production until 1939.

In that year Bedford introduced the ‘K’ series which, in common with passenger cars of the time, was more curvaceously styled and featured a rounded radiator grille.

The K series catered for 30-40cwt payloads, while further up the scale Bedford offered the ‘M’ and ‘O’ series for loads of up to 3 tons and 5 tons respectively.

During WW2 Bedford was a major supplier of vehicles to the Armed Services and at the war’s end resumed civilian production of its late-1930s range.

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