Corgi 1:50 Bedford O Series Pantechnicon: Pickfords

Diecast metal with plastic parts

Bedford Vehicles, usually shortened to just Bedford, was a brand of vehicle manufactured by Vauxhall Motors, which was ultimately owned by General Motors (GM). Established in April 1931 and constructing commercial vehicles, Bedford Vehicles was a leading international lorry brand, with substantial export sales of light, medium, and heavy lorries throughout the world. It was General Motors Europe's most profitable venture for several years.

 Bedford's core heavy trucks business was divested by GM as AWD Trucks in 1987, whilst the Bedford brand continued to be used on light commercial vehicles and car-derived vans based on Vauxhall/Opel, Isuzu and Suzuki designs. The brand was retired in 1991; subsequent GM Europe light commercials were branded as either Vauxhall or Opel, depending on the market.

A pantechnicon van, currently usually shortened to pantec, was originally a furniture removal van drawn by horses and used by the British company "The Pantechnicon" for delivering and collecting furniture which its customers wished to store. The name is a word largely of British English usage.

The word "Pantechnicon" is an invented one, formed from the Greek pan ("all") and techne ("art"). It was originally the name of a large establishment in Motcomb Street, Belgravia, London, opened around 1830. It combined a picture gallery, a furniture shop, and the sale of carriages, while its southern half was a sizable warehouse for storing furniture and other items. Seth Smith, whose family were originally from Wiltshire, was a builder in the early 19th century, and constructed much of the new housing in Belgravia, then a country area. Their clients required storage facilities and this was built on an awkward left-over triangular site with a Greek style Doric column façade, and called Pantechnicon, pseudo-Greek for "pertaining to all the arts or crafts".

Subsequently, special wagons were designed with sloping ramps to more easily load furniture, with the building name on the side. The very large, distinctive, and noticeable horse-drawn vans that were used to collect and deliver the customers' furniture came to be known as "Pantechnicon vans." From around 1900, the name was shortened to simply Pantechnicon. The Pantechnicon Ltd, a furniture storage and removal company, continued to trade until the 1970s.

The building was largely destroyed by fire in 1874, but the facade still exists and the usefulness of the vans was by then well established and they had been adopted by other firms. As of 2015 the façade and the building behind it has been leased by its owner, Grosvenor Estates, to Cubitt House, a company specializing in pubs and restaurants in the Belgravia area, and is to be redeveloped into a "food and retail emporium" over six floors, including a basement and a roof-terrace

Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of Pickfords Move Management Ltd.

The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies, although the similar Shore Porters Society was founded earlier. The earliest record is of a William Pickford, a carrier who worked south of Manchester in 1630. In 1646, a north-country yeoman by the name of Thomas Pickford had his lands confiscated by Parliament for gun-running and supporting the Cavaliers during the English Civil War.

Today, Pickfords has branches throughout the UK and Ireland. The company provides a complete portfolio of services to consumers and businesses including moving within the UK, moving to Europe and further overseas, business moving, transition and project management, employee moving services, small moves and packing materials.

Pickfords Removals (South Africa) operates independently from Pickfords UK with branches located in the cities of Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. Additional sales offices are based throughout the country. Both Pickfords UK and Pickfords South Africa form part of the Allied International Moving Network

The Pickfords family of Adlington, south of Manchester, and later of nearby Poynton, first entered the wagon trade in the 17th century. At first, they were engaged in supplying quarry stone by packhorse for the construction of turnpike roads; instead of the packhorses returning with empty loads, they carried goods for third parties.

In 1756, the company relocated to London and in 1776 it invented the fly wagon which could travel from London to Manchester in the then fast speed of four and a half days. A year later, it bought the carrier business of William Bass, a Staffordshire haulier who carried ale for a local brewer. With the funds he went on to form Bass Brewery which still exists today. In 1779, it entered the canal industry as well (from which it withdrew in 1850). In the 19th century, it operated wagons on other companies' railways, but this was contentious, and eventually this service was eliminated.

In 1816, the company was close to bankruptcy after many years of decline. The Pickford family sold out to a number of businessmen led by Joseph Baxendale, whose family become instrumental in running the company for over a century. For being late in delivering a miller's iron shaft, Pickford's was involved in the famous English contract law case, Hadley v. Baxendale (1848), where the court held the company was not liable for unforeseeable losses resulting from Pickford's lateness.

In the 20th century, the company switched to road haulage. During this time it formed a rivalry with fellow hauliers Carter Paterson, with whom (amongst others) they merged in 1912, although both kept their separate names.