No Subject

["R. Cummings" <cumm@flash.net>]

On Jan 22nd David wrote:
Was most intrigued to see as the last item on a Lister's list of vehicles on
his sig file that he had a Bedford TX.

'That's very unusual,' I mused.

'- To encounter a British *commercial* vehicle enthusiast, seemingly
American, on this List. And a Bedford *TX* must be a very rare truck
indeed - Bedford TK's I've heard of, but not a TX. Wonder how it ended up in
America....'

(Bedford is the venerable but now almost extinct trade name for all General
Motors trucks and vans in the UK.)

Then the penny dropped.........caught again.......just like
'Minivans'.............


Yours naively,

David,

I suppose I am not surprised that being from Great Britain you have not
heard the famous story of GM's development of Bedford Trux. I was with GM
from 1961 to 1984 occasionally involved in development of trux.
GM, as was the usual practice, maintained very tight security over any new
venture. So when they decided they wanted to build trux in England, they
established a development center (centre, if you prefer) away from the
hoards of spies in the Detroit, Michigan area.

They selected a superb site on the banks of the Trinity river in the state
of Texas called Bedford, which had excellant transportation facilities and
began the tedious process of developing their Trux for Great Britain.

All went well and the division became known as Bedford Trux or abbreviated
to Bedford, TX. GM exported the equipment to England through a small port in
Massachusetts which because of the growth generated by this business decided
also to adopt the name, Bedford.

I'm also told that there is a town in England that takes its name from our
fair community here in Texas. It is a small world isn't it?

Bob Cummings 1987 Coupe GT, Bedford, TX