Rare Bedford CF at "Cars on the Lawn" | Luton, UK

This one-of-a-kind "General Motors Truck & Bus Operations UK" Bedford CF showed up at the Cars on the Lawn exhibition in Luton.


Sources: 

www.facebook.com/groups/174221162373030/

www.facebook.com/PracticalClassics

GM Truck & Bus Operations UK Bedford CF at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring 2022

It's nice to see that this one of a kind factory CF is still out there appearing at car shows, in this case, the Enfield Pageant of Motoring 2022.
It seems that this CF was a special commissioned van to transport workers at the Luton Factory but it's not your typical CF2. This CF has a lot of modifications that appear to be similar to a couple of concept/prototype CF's that were built back in the day by the "General Motors Truck & Bus Operations UK". I believe that these updates were probably planned for a revised version of the CF2 in 1987/88 if GM hadn't decided to kill off the CF.


Source: www.flickr.com/photos/64507381@N07/52121193094/

VBOA National Rally - Billing UK 2015

The VBOA (Vauxhall Bedford Opel Association) National Rally 2015 took place at Billing on July 11-12. According to these photos, there were at least 7 CF's in attendance and a good variety - campers, stock panel, customs and that very rare CF2 I posted a while back. There was even a couple of newlyweds on honeymoon in a CF350 camper!

Mitchell Sadler and his new bride Cameron enjoying their honeymoon suite - their 1983 Bedford CF campervan.

Sources:
www.vodc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24976
www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/reflections-from-the-vboa-national-rally-billing-2015
www.flickr.com/photos/thek3do/19699507391
http://alwinharrison.jalbum.net/101D7000Billing%202015/

Ebay: 1986 Bedford CF3? (GM Truck & Bus Operations UK)

You may remember a couple of months ago I posted some photos of a very rare CF2. Well I just spotted it for sale on ebay! The seller ads some interesting information about this van. He claims that this van was commissioned by Vauxhall to transport factory workers. That may or may not be true, I don't believe that they would build this exclusive model just for simply transporting factory workers. This van is registered as 1986, the last year the CF2 was built but there are no CF2 badges on the exterior.
I still think that this van had to have been a restyling prototype. The "GM Truck & Bus Operations" stickers are a sign that this was official. With the Isuzu joint venture in 1986 it was clear that the CF production was coming to an end and these versions never went into production.
It was stored away in 1991 (when Bedford shut down) and was bought last year by the current owner. That explains the low mileage and the excellent shape its in.
The extra photos helps to show some of the details that make this van special.

The license plate was moved from under the bumper to the door. The bumper is 1-piece instead of split bumpers and check out the modern Bedford lettering.

Carpeted floors and engine cover and modern door cards with a big arm rest, all in grey color.

The battery seems to have been relocated to the passenger door step.

21,777 original miles? That Bedford badge in the panel is also something new.

7 seat passenger van

Here is a nice detail, the side door is extended down and it has a step for the passengers. That would be the original location of the battery. It also has a courtesy light in the step that turns on when the door is open.

The rear has a fixed shelf parcel and its all fully carpeted in that grey color. Another light switch by the pillar for more courtesy lighting.

"Hello and welcome to this auction of our beloved Bedford cf 2 worker bus.
We have owned the van for just over a year now and have had nothing but fun with it but due to as growing collection of other classics it has come that time to sell.
The van was originally owned and commissioned by Vauxhall to collect workers from the surrounding areas of Luton to bring them to and from work.
As you can see from the photos there is still the Vauxhall logo on the side of the van and we think it is very fitting to the van.
The interior to the van is like brand new due to there always have been seat covers fitted and when we removed them we found basically brand new seats underneath.
The van has been garaged all its life and was stored in 1991 and had stood until last year when we "rescued" the van and got it back to its former glory.
It only required new rear wheel cylinders and new petrol tank and a mot.
Inside the van it was fitted from factory the opel upright 2l petrol engine.
No welding on this van has ever been carried out and from inspection it has never had any before either (thanks to the Vauxhall extensive underseal)
Any more information please feel free to contact us and we will try to reply as soon as we can. The van is also advertised elsewhere and we reserve the right to remove the listing at any time. To the winning bidder please contact within 24hrs of winning cash on collection."

Reg. Date: 01/01/1986
Previous Owners: 3
Mileage: 21,000 
Engine Size: 1,979

Starting bid: £3,000.00 (Reserve not met)

Item location: Stanbridge, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Ebay item number: 271829699431

General Motors Truck & Bus Operations UK

A few years ago I found a couple of photos online of what looked to be some sort of Bedford CF2 concept or facelift prototypes. They both had a 2-tone paint job and modernized aspects but one was setup like a dayvan and the other like a passenger van. The photos (below) looked like press photos and were labeled "Copyright Vauxhall Archive" but I had no other information on those two CF's... and I still don't.

I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted these new photos, taken January 1st 2015, at the Vintage Stony Stratford Vehicle Show! This CF (C517 FTM) is neither of the ones shown above. It seems to be the passenger version but has the color scheme and front bumper/grille of the other van.
Thanks to high quality photos we are able to zoom in and see the small lettering on the side: "General Motors Truck & Bus Operations UK".
If anyone has some information on these vans, leave a comment below.

Sources:
www.flickr.com/photos/31032203@N05/16170779671
www.flickr.com/photos/58198319@N08/15985716608
www.flickr.com/photos/trackside/15544544584