Matchbox 29a; Bedford Milk Float

This is a Bedford CA van with the sides cut out and converted into a milk float, it was produced by Lesney from 1956 to 1961 when Bedford owned the mid size van market. The Ford Transit was still years in the future and Ford's 400E Thames was a poor contender, the Standard Atlas cannot have been a fireball with a 998cc engine. What else was there? The Morris J2?, Commer had not come up with a decent half ton / 15cwt van as yet. Most of the competition was pretty much out of date. However once the Transit came along in the mid 1960s, everything changed. All the others faded away and Bedford's answer to the Transit, the Bedford CF, while not a bad van, was really hard to maintain and the engine was not that good. My father had a CF - funnily enough to use on the milk round - and I remember the mechanic had to use a mirror to set the points, maintenance access was so bad. It was basically a Vauxhall Victor with a box body with no proper access to the works.

At the time of writing (September 2024) I own a successor to the Bedford CA. GM sold the Bedford brand when it sold the military TK so now the van is a Vauxhall, a Vauxhall Vivaro and very good it is too. Since it was built though GM has sold their European division (Opel & Vauxhall) to Peugeot Citroen and the latest Vivaro is a rebadged Peugeot. Mine was a joint development between GM, Nissan and Renault, although built in Britain none-the-less.

The only variation on this one is the wheels - the Matchbox that is - they can be metal or grey plastic. The grey plastic wheels are large or small, small grey plastic wheels get a premium, allegedly.