Cars Named For Dogs, Part One: Cold Start

Considering how much so many of us love dogs, it’s a bit surprising more of our cars aren’t named for them. I’ve got a little three-legged part-chihuahua, part um, gremlin right next to me, and a half-husky, half-Australian shepherd at my feet as I type this, in fact. Dogs are a big deal in the lives of so many of us, so you’d think cars like a Ford Dalmatian or a Honda Bloodhound or a Kia Spaniel would be all over the place, but they’re just not. Still, there are a small set of those that are, so every now and then, if I remember, I’ll talk about one in a Cold Start. Sound good? Let’s start with the pleasingly alliterative Bedford Beagle!

Bedford was a subsidiary of Vauxhall, which was in turn GM’s British subsidiary. The marque was focused on building commercial vehicles, which is something that makes the Beagle a bit unusual for Bedford, which you’d normally see in livery like the red getup of the Royal Mail.

These were pretty stylish mail trucks:

The Beagle was a modified version of Bedford’s HA van, which was the vanified version of the Vauxhall Viva car. Man, this thing is all about recursions! Subsidiaries of subsidiaries, conversions of conversion! The Beagle’s third level of conversion (Viva to Bedford HA, then HA to Beagle, you see) was done by Dormobile, who often made little campers. This time, their instructions were to convert the HA van into a usable and cheap little family station wagon.

While I’ve never had the chance to drive a Beagle, what I’ve been told/eavesdropped is that these were still very much vans, just with windows and a back seat, and still drove like a delivery van. That means noisy, harsh suspension, pretty austere. They were certainly cheap to use and maintain, and I think they seem pretty charming, but it seems that station wagon-buying – sorry, estate-buying Brits wanted something a bit more refined, so not that many Beagles were sold.

Since you made it this far, here’s a lovely, calm portrait of my two girl dogs, Abby and Juno, projecting their auras of peaceful harmony. I hope this soothing influence helps to make your day one of soothing ease.