THE BEDFORD 12 cwt VAN

The Bedford 12cwt Van (25a), known in the USA as a panel truck, was only ever painted in dark blue. The ‘Dunlop’ decal was the first non-Matchbox advertisement, Lesney having sought and obtained permission from the tyre company for thids, and Dunlop was the first company to pay for its advertising space on a Matchbox vehicle. The fact that this model completed its life in one guise, with only changes to the wheels from metal to grey plastic and with the decals from orange-yellow to yellow indicates that as long as Dunlop paid for the advertisement Lesney was happy to continue with the model unaltered as long as sales were maintained. In any case, during the 1950s and for most of the 1960s, Lesney could never make enough models because export demand alone always outstripped supply. --Model Collector