“Ideal for family use, schools, hospitals and as a personnel carrier” - The Bedford CA Utilabrake

Because of my age (born the year the BBC first aired Monty Python’s Flying Circus), I really missed the heyday of the Bedford CA. They were certainly seen in fair numbers on the mean streets of the Solent region during the 1970s.  I have vague memories of CA drivers of that era looking as though they were en route to a Vince Taylor & The Playboys revival concert.  As I once wrote in Classics Monthly, the CA:

conjures images of Espresso Bars, Hancock’s Half Hour on the BBC Home Service and Alma Cogan records. At one point, the Bedford was virtually part of the fabric of everyday life, be it a delivery van for The London Evening News or the ambulance at the beginning of Carry On Nurse.

The CA becoming virtual ‘street furniture’ is understandable when you consider that on its launch in March 1952, it marked a major change in British light commercials. The 1.5-litre OHV engine from the recently launched E-Series Vauxhall Wyvern, along with its three-speed steering column gear change and independent front suspension, made it as easy to drive as the average passenger car.  

The CA remained in production until 1969, and before the launch of the Ford Transit in 1965, it was arguably the UK’s premier light commercial vehicle. This 1960 Utlilabrake is a reminder of the CA’s many charms.

Here are ten reasons why it is such a popular classic commercial: 

1) The semi-forward control layout maximised interior space, although the front ‘bonnet’ gave access only to the fan belt and radiator. The majority of servicing was via a detachable panel below the fascia.

2) Operators were promised operators “Larger Loads…Longer Life…Lower Costs”.  

3) The coachbuilder Martin Walter of Folkestone had a long association with Vauxhall and Bedford. In 1955, their Utilabrake conversion of the CA had three seats in the front, three seats in the middle, and two three-seater inward-facing benches in the rear compartment. 

4) The Utilabrake cost £545 compared with £1,058 17s for the Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus in ‘Standard Form’. Autocar reported that as the Bedford’s seats were detachable, the Utilabrake did not attract Purchase Tax. 

5) The following year, Martin Walter advertised that the UTILABRAKE provides comfortable seating for up to twelve persons”. 

6) In addition, the Utilabrake  was “Ideal for family use, schools, hospitals and as a personnel carrier”.

7) In 1958, Commercial Motor reported: “In the past few years more than 30,000 conversions of the Bedford 10-12-cwt. 90-in.-wheelbase van have come off the production lines of Martin Walter Ltd.”. That year, the CA gained a single-piece windscreen. 

8) In 1959 Commercial Motor wrote, “Petrol engines are found to have a life of 80,000 miles and are decarbonised every 20,000 miles. Clutches and steering mechanism require replacing after 70,000 miles, brake facings after 30,000 miles, and road springs after 60,000 miles”. 

9) Martin Walter boasted: “No struggling to get in and out of the spacious UTILABRAKEFor schools, hospitals, hotels, works, sports clubs, airlines, theatre and seaside trips-in fact, any " small party " transport fob, the Bedford UTILABRAKE has always proved a most economical vehicle.” 

10) To quote the advertising slogan – “you see them everywhere!”.