The Bedford Bar? Where else but New Zealand!

There are several great bastions around the world that you can visit relatively easily and see old trucks still working away in large numbers. Malta immediately springs to mind and, perhaps less known, Turkey's not too bad either (I still regret not being quick enough with the camera when we drove passed a Mack B61...and not having a long enough lens to shoot the long row of LAD-cabbed Leylands parked about 500 metres off the road...then there's the little 1940s Chev tankers and...). To some extent you'd have to include Australia as a place to see old bangers "in the wild" as they pull more than their weight (literally!) in the various rural industries.

However, if you want to go somewhere that seems to have a greater proportion of old gear still working and feel like mixing it with some great scenery, New Zealand would have to be the place to go. After all, the country is home to the greatest private vintage truck collection in the world - The Bill Richardson collection in Invercargill.

In particular, New Zealand has fairly recently become known as a bit of a Bedford haven with many of the post-war models still getting about. It makes sense, then, that you'd have a restaurant dedicated to the marque. Howard Pettigrew sent in these pics of The Bedford Bar in Hope right up the top of the South Island. Besides being a tribute to the Bedford marque and its contribution to the local communities, there is a K-type parked out the front, another in the beer garden and the owners have revealed a delightful sense of humour by modifying the Bedford Griffin logo to include "feeding tools" and maintained the theme by being clever with the names of dishes on the menu (click on the photo to see a bigger version).

Now, if you're feeling a bit parched and need a feed, could you not think of a better place to park yourself than an old truck-themed establishment?