About Bedford Garage

About Bedford Garage

Bedford Garage in Smilde belongs to Rolf Stellingwerf. After graduating for car engineering and mechanical engineering, Rolf started in the nineties with repairing and restoring Bedford vans. His first acquaintance with Bedford was seeing the popular television series ‘The A-team’. His passion for Bedford grew enormously and he applied to the Dutch Bedford Club.

Rolf Stellingwerf

The one and only Bedford garage

Originally Rolf started his Bedford Garage at his parental farm. On account of further professionalism and more assignments he decided to look for a larger place for his activities. In 2009 Bedford Garage was established in the industrial area of Smilde (in the north of Holland). Thanks to the construction of a large hall Bedford Garage owns a spacious garage equipped with modern tools and an extensive warehouse with new and used Bedford parts. The switch-over to the industrial area of Smilde resulted into an increase of sales of Bedford vehicles and parts. Bedford Garage is the one and only garage in the Netherlands. In Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and France Bedford Garage has long been known for top quality and reliability.

The Bedford brand

The history of Bedford goes back to 1857. With his company ‘Alexander Wilson & Co.’ the Scottish engineer Wilson built steaming-engines for ships. At the end of the 19th Century Wilson left his company and the name was changed into ‘Vauxhall Iron Works Company ltd’. This company experimented with petrol engines and in 1903 the first car appeared with the name ‘Vauxhall’. In 1925 the American company ‘General Motors (GM)’ took over the company. GM imported Chevrolet trucks to England but the high import taxes forced GM to produce them in England. Then, due to the worldwide recession in the thirties, GM decided to develop an English truck: Bedford. In 1937 GM sold 30.000 trucks and mini-busses. During World War II Bedford produced a substantial amount of trucks for the British Army. After the war, trucks were converted into emergency busses for public transport. The production of several types of Bedford restarted as well as the production of new types. Due to a new recession in the late seventies and the growing import from the East, GM decided to close down the factories. The new factory in Dunstable was sold to AWD, who then delivered them to the British Ministry of Defense. After the Ministry’s decision to change to another supplier, AWD was forced to close down – after 55 years – the last Bedford factory in 1986.

Own transport

Bedford Garage owns an Iveco-car transporter, suitable for national and international transport. Should you want to sell your Bedford or have it either restored or repaired, it can be picked up and brought back. Thanks to the nine metre deep-loader trailer we are able to transport up to 4000 kilos. Bedford Garage assures you of a safe and reliable transport of your Bedford, camper or old timer.

 

Cost  indication: € 1,- per kilometre (VAT included).

Please contact us for more information.