newmercman:
Wow! I wasn’t expecting that! Over to you anorak…Evening all,
That is the beauty of this thread, everyone has a great deal of knowledge…of lorries, …of manufacturers…of operators…of countries…of drivers…it goes on and on, and together proves to be very interesting indeed.
No doubt Anorak, Tip Top, Macadam Woman, Robert 1952, michel, Froggie 55, Dirty Dan…or anyone of a myriad more will give us chapter and verse on that Kasshborer outfit from the 1950s…or on any other odd balls that we may discuss…and is that not enjoyable? Personally I find it greatly enjoyable.
Now then NMM, to those “Frenchies”…
Im sure that I wrote a little about Georges Dutriez, from Rue du Lille Estaires, and his eclectic fleet, (Willeme, with AEC power, those iconic L76 bonneted Scanias, and his immaculate 110s…and the times that I spent with his drivers in Paris…
Did I answer the queriy about Lacroix, from Lons le Saunier in the Jura? Big Berliet and Saviem fleet…do any of you like those little “Baby Bel” cheeses?..if you do then they had passed through the hands of Lacroix. Fromages Bel, were a major client of Lacroix, and many of their fleet bore the livery of the brand, “La Vache qui Rit”…a very clean outfit indeed…and well run, with well maintained, and immaculate kit.
Time moves on, and Lacroix were absorbed by the UK operation of Hays Freight…(along with a myriad of other medium sized French operators, Coda, Sylog, Liffa, …all part of Group Fril)… Then in the `90s Transports T Jarlaud from Rue de Romelet, Copain. I wonder if this is why Mark found himself delivering Nestlé chocolate down to their Dijon, ( Copain) operation. Richard Ferrandmo liked his Scanias back in the 70s…but my colleagues got him onto the Renault lorries…but to get the extra pallettes…they had day cabs…and those, Pavillion/Duplex sleeper pods on top!
Another thought for another time…Why, did so many UK Groups buy into the French Haulage market…Excell, TDG, Hays , plus so many smaller outfits…and make a general “■■■■” of the job?..Perhaps a lack of comprehension of the culture?..anyone have any thoughts on it?
Soc Coing, Rue Didier Pre-le Fontanil Cornilon Saint Egrove…(an address once learned…never forgotten)! In my favourite province Rhone Alpes…the view from André Quince
s yard was breath taking with the snow covered peaks behind......but he liked his Scanias, and some of those blower tanks were works of art, and his mundane Savoyards were beauties as well. The business started way back in the 1950s, lovely clean fleet, and very courteous people to do business with. They were great Magirus users in the 60s and 70s, having gone for the lighter weight over their previous bonnetted Berliet 10 litre TLM10s. Magirus V8s, as well as the naturally aspirated V10s, in both cab over, and bonneted forms. Then "we" got back with the R serie, and by the start of the 80s Coings fleet was in excess of 300 units, and growing.Then the battle for market supremecy in France swept over Coing, and they became part of the empire of Patrick Aubry, …along with the rump of the Tank operations of the collapsed ONATRA, (now bear with me, as this period of French transport history becomes complicated to say the least…and if I ever write a detailed account of my favourite company ONATRA, then Patrick Aubrys name will appear often)!
Then following further mergers/consolidations the famille Maylem…(You will all know their operation SAMAT), acquired Coing along with the re-formed ONATRA subsidiaries, Translacq, Transchem, Onalor…as well as L Girauds chemical tank operations, and the Belgium Calor Gas subsidiary Transports Coulier…
But that little Giraud tanker…what it grew to become…and how Frances largest Road Haulier, fought a battle with l`Enfant Terrible, my friend Norbert Dentressangle…and lost out…
But we in the UK remember Giraud for their L110 maroon wine tanks…unlike anything that we had seen over here. But the business has begun in the 1930s with wine merchant Léon Giraud from Athis -Mons, who for his own business ran a modest number of Saurer 8 BUDTs. The real hire and reward business began in the late 1950s, with a fleet of Somuas, then came the Saviems, with the similar Cottard Boule cabin. Then came the L 76s, followed by the L, and LB 110s…Then my battle was lost, and another Englishman, John Baker, convinced Alan Fauqueur, and Alain et Michel that DAF was their future…and did`nt they buy some DAFs over the years!..By the late 80s L Giraud were operating, within the various Giraud Groupe operations over 2000 units alone…big old outfit…and its where I first gained my love of the Bollinger…and that has never left me!..and of course …eventually, “we” got back with all sorts of Renaults in their operations…but believe me to get business with Giraud, you worked very hard for it!
If I were to contrast the difference between the two major protagonists in this major war for market share in French Haulage between Alain, Michel Giraud, with their brother in law Alain Fauqueur Groupe Giraud…and Norbert Dentressangle…Norbert was “lighter on his feet”, more interested in the “unconventional”, (by that I mean innovativeapproach to a conventional challenge), rather than the more traditional approach of Giraud. By that simplistic analysis I mean no slur on either party, both of whom I personally hold in the highest of regard, and admire both their business ethic, and moral stance. Just two different ways of tackling the same challenges. Perhaps a subject for a more analytical, and balanced discourse on another night, (if it would not be too boring)?
Then we see the TRs of my great friends at the once mighty ONATRA…and what an operator that company really was…
Popular myth, (and totally untrue…stated that ONATRA was a company owned by the Onassis family)…Yet it had simple beginnings, with Ambrose Arcostanzo , a wine merchant of Marseille in the 1930s. The need to transport Algerian Wine, both in bulk, and contracts with Ricard, and Martini Rosso, in bottles led to a transport operation in both the wine trade, and construction, (ONEATER). Using in the main the brutal, but reliable products of Nanterre based Willeme…followed by Berliet…Magirus…Saviem…DAF, (in the era of Pakhoed Dutch ownership), then back to Renault, as in NMMs pictures.
I think that I may have written about ONATRA before, (not least their Tancerville operations love, and ■■■■ for the Rolls Royce engined, Fuller gearbox transmission, SM Saviem, that they ran for 6 months)…In total it is a complex, torteous, and rather sad story, of a fantastic team of people…you were an “ONATRA” not a driver…and many are still in touch…and I have the privilage of being invited to their reunions…a great honour indeed.
But if anyone would like me to do a sort of précis company history, then I would be happy so to do…but tonight I have gone on far too long, and am probably becoming a bore…apologies…
But a couple of points…
On the front of those TRs you can see the letters…R.O.T. that signifies that they were operating from ONATRAs Roissy base, VIT from Vitrolles, (has there ever been such a company Headquarters)? other branch vehicles bore on their front panel the letters signifying the branch operation, CHT, Challon sur Soane, LAT, Lacq-Arance, SAT, Saint Aubain, FAT, Faulquement, PBT, Pierre - Bénite, SET , Seclin, TAT, Tancarville-Quevilly, (my afternoon “scive” when the politics simply got too much for me…I could go and “play” real lorries, with real people)!, SLT, Saint -Eloi - les -Mines, MAT, Mazingarbe, MET, Meurchin, …Easy to identify where each lorry came from along with its fleet number…
And the first picture looks like one of the new Van Hool blower tanks when ONATRA became part of Pakhoed in 1975, and in came Freddy Van Gaever…who liked white suits…and later became Hollands Freddy Laker!!!(an Airline entrepreneur, for those of more earlier years)…
Then last of all we have a" Hooligan lorry"…a screaming Detroit powered GMC Astro from my friends the Wauthier family from Carvin…in later years we were to have many enjoyable deals on US equipment…
Funny how the rain soaked north of France drew together afficianadoes of the American lorry…TAF at Les Mines, and Daniel, and his family. Wauthiers even put a Detroit in a Willeme Horizon…it went like stink…and consumed diesel like no other…but there was also a 262 Peterbilt, …and a T600 Kenworth…they were known as “the purple peage eaters” …and not without reason…those tanks travelled faster than most…
Apologies for going on a bit…
Looking forward to the story behind the Kassbhorer outfit…
Cheerio for now.