The sun came out in England last weekend, and of course—and quite rightly—this was followed by the ice cream vans. Excellent, on so many levels!
This 1966 Bedford CA is typical of the ice cream vans used in Britain since the 1950s.
The CA was first launched in 1952 and was in production until 1969. It was powered by a 1.5 or 1.6 litre four cylinder petrol engine or a 1.7 litre Perkins diesel as seen here, mounted longitudinally under the snub bonnet and stretching backwards between the driver and the passenger. The gearbox was either 3 or 4 speed with column change. Wheelbase was 90 or 102 inches (this is the longer wheelbase version). Front suspension, interestingly for 1952, was independent with wishbones, something not offered in the Ford Transit until the 1980s. Rear suspension was the usual leaf springs. Braking was by drums all round.
The original 1952 was significantly revised in 1964, gaining larger a windscreen and door windows, a more modern front grille, and various mechanical improvements.
The ice cream cabin (the really cool part of this van of course) is a product of one of several specialist coach builders and features all the usual characteristics you’d expect. More than likely, this van left Bedford’s production line in Luton as a chassis-cowl, and everything aft of the bonnet is from the coach builder. The engine in this example is actually a 3.4 litre diesel; I’m not sure whether this was original or a later change. Bear in mind that in this application, the engine spends as much time as a generator as anything else, so usage may well be measured in hours, not miles.
The CA and the later CF always played a supporting role to the Ford Transit and the BMC/BLMC vans, and didn’t achieve huge international success. Some made their way into traditional British export markets, however.
The motor museum in the background is the Cotswold Motor Museum, in the village of Bourton-on-the-Water, in Gloucestershire–worth a visit for some good quality British nostalgia.
Me? Mint chocolate chip please!
Related Ford Econoline BMC J4 Mercedes-Benz 207D
Thanks for another memory of my childhood Roger
Certainly, good memories.
But our Ice Cream Man didn’t show up in a Van, he rode something like this, more than 40 years ago.
What music does an English ice cream truck play???
Greensleeves was a favourite with ice cream vendors when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s
I’ll take that over “It’s A Small World” anytime! Now I have that stuck in my head… The other side of the pond got the best looking Ice Cream Trucks without a doubt.
No way.
CA Bedfords used the powertrain from the Vauxhall Wyvern the later the Vauxhall Victor they also used the front suspension from the Vauxhall sedan range, ALL were 3speed tree shift none had a 4 speed trans, The first update was in about 58 with the change to the Victor 1507 cc engine the newer chromed grille was fitted but it retained the 15inch Velox wheels when the engine was enlarged to 1600cc 13 inch wheels were fitted, the windscreen was made one piece in about 58 then enlarged in 62 with the advent of the bigger engine. The van was replaced in 68/69 by the bigger CF Bedford which used OHC Vauxhall Victor engines with a 4 speed. I havent seen one in decades and they were reasonably common in New Zealand my Dads firm ran 2 as ruabouts and one fitted out as a Massey Ferguson mobile farm service workshop. I drove a well worn 59 for about 8 months until a rollover sent it for scrap.
Yes, I remember them scooting around Auckland delivering everything from bread and milk to bricks and newspapers. I didn’t know they had the early Victor 1508cc engine (that was a tappetty little brute of a ‘tank’ engine that was hard to destroy) but the OHC engines that arrived with the first ‘coke-bottle’ Victors were a very advanced design for their day that even Lotus latched onto and further improved… my first exposure to the OHC engine was my St Kent’s latin teacher’s brand new french blue ’68 1.6 Victor. We ALL thought that was SUCH a cool looking family car for 1968!!
A few years later I experimented with a ’69 Victor 2000 by taking out the 1975cc slant four engine and seeing if the CF Bedford 2279cc slant four long block would bolt straight in there…
well, it required a bit of starter motor modification, but by additionally switching the inlet manifolds over for bonnet clearance it all worked! ie: by retaining the ‘smaller’ side-draught Stromberg CD175 constant depression carb and manifold from the original Victor engine the performance of the 2.3 was noticeably improved over the tiny 28mm throated downdraft Zenith arrangement used by the CF.. a Mini Cooper ‘straight thru’ muffler ..and off we went ..with a now genuine ‘ton-up’ vehicle that could happily break traction at the lights on the 175/13 radials of the day.. good ‘sleeper’ fun for a kid!
My first car was a very rusty 71 Victor FD 1600.
…a pleasantly visually appealing car 🙂
The best FDs had the 3.3 Cresta powertrain but those cars were NZ assembly only Brits had to buy a Ventora to get the 6.
I remember sitting in a brand new 3.3 Vauxhall Ventora in Schofield’s showroom on Beach Road Parnell back in 1970 .. it was white with an all red interior and ‘four on the floor’ ..twin exhausts at the rear ..140hp!
What a machine in the day that was!! 🙂 I begged the old man to buy it… however he just wasn’t a GM man ..and went the Mopar way instead because he wanted a station wagon ..up to then he had had Falcon wagons, an XM 170 manual for just one year in 1964, and then an XP 200 3 speed auto from 1965 to 1970 ..he loved that XP and it had to be prised off him…
..i did that by destroying it one night ..it got rebuilt by the insurance company ..but he wanted to get rid of it then
along came the 318 Safari …what a machine !
Is a the 2279cc the engine from the Victor FE2300?
Roger, it is the 3.3 litre 140hp straight six from the Vauxhall Velox/Cresta range..
In NZ, we never got the FD with the 2.3 slant four engine.. (although I did make one up for myself, for fun) ..nor did we get any of the FE’s here..
Around 1970 the 3.3 litre straight six engined FD Victor (also named here locally as the ‘Ventora’) did quite well at local saloon racing ..and was beating the big V8 Valiants at that time (who were the previous kings of the track) ..
It was so nice that you could drive a regular CA with the sliding door open ( held by a little “leather” strap). True air-conditioning on a sunny summers’ day in London.
The CA was really popular before the Transit was introduced , but the Transit had more space I think.
Yeah sliding doors no seatbelts and the turning circle of a London Cab they were much better vans than BMC J2s and the Ford Thames 800, Transit and then the CF were much bigger.
The face of that thing is unique and, at first blush,pretty ugly. I want one. That looks and sounds the perfect size to rv and probably simple enough to run forever. I think it would be preferable to the full size step van.
There was the Bedford Dormobile camper which was very popular,one of them would suit you.They never had the following of the VW and are no where near as common today
A truly ideal vehicle for its intended purpose. There is something so endearing about it; I would love to see one someday.
They’re all very nice, but look at this beauty, in use to this day!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46811593@N06/5646178475/
Another nice article on a another vehicle with nice curves. Thanks Roger.
Vans, perhaps Bedfords, selling wafers, nougat wafers, cones, “99’s” , sprinkles, floats, etc
There were some good things abouts Glasgow in the ’60’s. Not many, buts some. Funny thing is I was a keen car spotter at that time but I can’t for the life of me recall the type of ice cream van that came around.
Alistair
There was a nasty ice cream war between gangsters in the80s
Wasn’t there a Bill Forsyth movie about that?
Comfort and joy,haven’t seen it myself
Just watched it – turns out that Mr Bunny had a boxy Commer – not a roundy Bedford.
NZ Mr Whippy’s Austin ice cream vans played Greensleeves too. Apparently it’s their 50th Birthday later this month. Free icecreams!
There was also Frosty Boy with the logo of a Dennis-the-Menace type cartoon kid with the vaguely kinky slogan “Often licked – never beaten.”
I loved my trip to Southern England back in ’09. We were on a tour, so there weren’t many opportunities to break away, but I would have loved to have visited some car museums!
It’s too bad I hate flying so much…
What a cool van!
I’ve always loved the looks of these, and when I ran into one in the US that was a delightful little motorhome conversion, I really fell for it. Cute….
Friends on mine drove a CA Dormobile all over Australia the lady still has that van but it needs an unobtainable windscreen so was parked up last time I saw it
I guess I’d better tell you all this in Aussie GMH produced these vans but they also produced Vauxhall Velox/ Wyvern Utes and convertables called Vagabond using the CA Bedford chassis and the sedan front sheet metal and one piece rear quarter panels they used the FJ Holden roof pressing and finished them off with the FJ ute tailgate, the Vagabond used the Velox/Wyvern sedan centre section sans roof and the ute quarter panels with sedan boot in the middle quite a clever mix n match, They sold up market from the Holden ute and sedan range midway to the range topping local Chevrolet sedan and utes. Just a little trivia to round out the post.