kscarbel2 Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 Cobey Bartels, Trade Trucks AU / July 11, 2019 When you think of Invercargill in New Zealand, you think of Burt Munro, the world’s fastest Indian. But, there’s another icon that hails from the bottom of the world, and it’s Bill Richardson. The late Bill Richardson is the man responsible for building arguably the largest private machinery collection of its type, now known as Transport World. Bill is famous throughout the South of New Zealand, known for his transport businesses, encyclopaedic knowledge of all things trucks, and of course, his epic collection of iconic rigs. The 15,000m2 automotive haven was born out of Bill’s passion for all things transport and a dream to share that passion with the world. Bill was quoted as saying, "one day I hope someone loves it enough to carry it on", which is exactly what his daughter Joc O’Donnell has done with his collection. Joc now heads up the museum, as well as the popular Dig This and Motorcycle Mecca also featured on Mighty Machines, and she was kind enough to show us around Transport World for the day. But first, Joc gave us a bit of background on Bill’s extraordinary collection, comprised of hundreds of trucks, tractors, cars and motorcycles. "He started collecting trucks in 1967. He got a hankering to get hold of his grandfather’s truck, which he purchased not far from here for about ten quid…and that was sort of the start of the collection," Joc explained. "I think there’s probably about 250 trucks, 60 cars, and of course the motorcycle collection down the road." Since taking over the museum, Joc has carried things on with the same level of passion her father was known for, transforming the already impressive collection into an immersive experience for the public. "As the years went by we decided we would open it to the public, and we thought if we were going to do that then we needed to try and widen that audience reach by having a bit of diversification in the collection," she told us. Video - https://www.tradetrucks.com.au/industry-news/1907/truckin-heaven-a-day-at-transport-world . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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