Afternoon all,
Back for more" go go juice"…and a couple of thoughts regarding SAVAM, and VIT that occoured to me whil`st “Tractor bound”…
United also came to own Transports Chapuis, the Lyon Vennissieux based haulier who ran France / Lagos, Nigeria, as well as Moyen Orient. They had some rather tasty 6x4 Saviem tractors for the long distance work.
That picture of the VIT stickers on Collonas SMs must have been 75 ish, going by the fleet number. Collona, although an Italian based in Paris, had extensive interests in both Greece and Italy,which provided return loads for the VIT vehicles that were not returning from Iraq with Saviem stillages etc. The beauty of the Burg swop bodies was the efficiency in having pre loaded modules at each end of the trips.
Collonas death in an apparent suicide created a great deal of speculation at the time. with all sorts of stories springing up. However VIT did then invest in articulation,simply due to the volumes of traffic that they were handling with the "lignes" to Alfa Romeo in Italy, and MAN sites in Germany. But as I wrote some time ago about VIT, the Saviem/Berliet merger, and the Israil attacks on Iraqs , (French), Nuclear facilities, then the demise of the Saviem Iraq facility, hit them hard.
That Stouff SM 300 V8 was engaged in aid work following the Turkish Earthquake. Then came their big push for traffic to the Middle East, and the acquisition of 440 TR280 266hp Berliet units. There are a legion of tales around Stouff, many true, many, (as ever) total exagerations, but there is no doubt that their activities had a major impact on French Moyen Orient traffic.
Just a quick word about the Colani Concept vehicles…Odd to our eyes, but just look how many of his ideas have found there way onto production commercial vehicles…the raised gear consul being just one. His, and the brains of his design studio are very innovative and free thinking, what constrains the conceptual designer today is not the potential manufacture costs, but the burden of legislation, that forces design down the route dictated by the “chair bound beurocrat”.
My friend the late Pat Kennet drove one of Colani`s initial concepts, and although of necessaty it was rather rough around the edges, he told me that the basics were bang on, and a leap in the right direction…but Pat was a good driver, who happened to be an Engineer, and a blooming good journalist as well!
Cheerio for now.