MaggieD:
Hi All,
David Senior I’m surprised you get away with all the time you spend on here,has Liz left you ■■
Kind regards
RichardIt’s winter Richard, rainy days, dark evenings and time on my hands…don’t post that much in the summer though…
Have a nice one, bisous to Angie…
,
,
Thanks a million Fergie for the fantastic pictures and Christmas greetings. Also a big thank you to all the contributors
Johnny
MaggieD:
Hi All,Thanks to John (Saviem),David Senior,David Junior,Pete,Michel,and everyone else for all the brilliant information/photo’s on this my favourite T/N thread,seasons greetings and all the best for 2016.
David Senior I’m surprised you get away with all the time you spend on here,has Liz left you ■■
Saviem your mention of Whitmore Reans brought back fond memories of the trolleybuses thank you
Pete your mention of Wednesfield reminded me of my Grandfather who worked at the Weldless Tube there all his working life and Joseph Foulkes Transport,thank you.Kind regards
Richard
Hello Maggie/D - Richard
Nice pictures these are!
The first one I would like to make a guess as to where it was taken. The blue OFTEL (animal feed) tanker truck is French registered and this kind of transport would not normally venture outside the Country. Then such snowy weather rarely occurs outside of France’s mountainous Regions. OFTEL were based somewhere halfway between Bourg-en-Bresse and Dôle, so I would venture to guess that this shot was taken in the Jura mountains, i.e. somewhere in the area of Pontarlier. Perhaps you were about to, or had just crossed the border with la Suisse?
In any case, nice F-series globetrotter, numerous SKs and of course the R-series Renault parked up for what was undoubtedly lunchtime, decorated a red wine-supplemented lunch. Those were the days.
In turn, I would like to thank the subject of this thread, Monsieur John SAVIEM for his numerous and invaluable contributions, as well as all the other more or less young old hands who post pictures, anecdotes, or various other elements of colourful interest. For me too, this is by far the favourite thread, almost a forum in its own right.
Many thanks to all for feeding the youngsters like myself with generational continuity of knowledge.
Joyeux Noël et bonne année
David
And since there seems to be a resurgence in SAURERs of late, I might as well share a few pictures I took at a SAURER gathering in the small town of Aigle, not for from where I live, in spring this year.
Saurer did not only supply lorries, they once owned almost the whole entire Swiss local public transport market, bar a sprinkling of NEOPLANs and MB O303s.
Here’s a few.
Still with the original skibox on the back. This is an interesting one, she belongs to my mate Anthony who converted her to a mobile home. He is also a Scania afficionado and for a long time drove a 580hp 164 V8 for everyday work. Click on the picture, close up and check out his numberplate 
FBW (Franz Brozincevic & Cie., Wetzikon). Here is a little history (in German - sorry gents): fbw.ch/. Please select “8-Geschichte” then “Die FBW-Saga”
A stunning piece of restoration this is.
RHD was a very common occurrence until well into the 70s. This solution offered much better visibility on the roadside in case of tight crossings etc. Not a bad workplace, considering that this motor was first on the road in 1957, don’t you think?
Long-bonneted units were very commonplace right until Saurer’s demise in the early eighties.
Here’s a little series.
An old 1927 Petrol Berna
Some more Swiss-made odds and sods…
When the Swiss convert a lorry into a mobile home, they make a chalet!!!
100% wood. And with a wood stove inside apparently.
Emil Egger. A well-known firm on the Swiss transportation scene. Still going strong today
If this isn’t a beautifully restored road train I don’t know what is…
And a nice finishing touch. This too was a really nice sight
Evening all,
I really like the Suisse lorries, and just as a sort of PS on my previous post, and those superb pictures from David Junior, Berna, a bit of background.
Established in Olten Suisse, in the early 1900s as J Wyss Schweicherische Automobilefabrik Berna, and manufactured very high quality products for the age. But they were expensive, so much that they did not sell! Rescued from insolvency around 1910 by the UK based Hudson Consolidated, who renamed the manufacturer Berna Commercial Motors Ltd, but just prior to WW1 it went back to Suisse ownership! Yet during WW1 Henry Watson of Newcastle on Tyne licence built Berna lorries, many of which were reliably used during the conflict.
1920s new product, the G range was developed, and so succesfull was this lorry that licence plants for manufacture were created in Austria, and Hungary, then the licence was obtained from Deutz to produce their engines…sales climbed…the lorry market in Suisse became a two horse race, so close were the sales of Berna and Saurer.
Just prior to WW2 Saurer obtained financial control of Berna, and from then on the Berna product became a "premium " Saurer offering. But despite this the distinctive Berna name plates were seen on Italian OM products in the `60s as Fiat and Saurer sought a combined market strategy, but then in 1980 Saurer and FBW merged, (taking Berna with them), and in 1982 Daimler Benz swallowed the lot!..But what handsome well engineered lorries they were, and how popular the engineering of Saurer was,all the earlier Unics had Saurer injection, (as Berliet adopted that of MAN), and of course Unic bought the Saurer French operation, and the smooth reliable 4X2 Auvergne resulted. Amazing how everones product became so inter related.
Thank you all for such superb contributions, they really do get my little grey cells excited!!! Hope that it does the same for all of you,
Thank you all,
Joyeux Noel, Good luck health and happiness for 2016!
Cheerio for now.
Davidoff:
MaggieD:
Hi All,Thanks to John (Saviem),David Senior,David Junior,Pete,Michel,and everyone else for all the brilliant information/photo’s on this my favourite T/N thread,seasons greetings and all the best for 2016.
David Senior I’m surprised you get away with all the time you spend on here,has Liz left you ■■
Saviem your mention of Whitmore Reans brought back fond memories of the trolleybuses thank you
Pete your mention of Wednesfield reminded me of my Grandfather who worked at the Weldless Tube there all his working life and Joseph Foulkes Transport,thank you.Kind regards
Richard
Hello Maggie/D - Richard
Nice pictures these are!
The first one I would like to make a guess as to where it was taken. The blue OFTEL (animal feed) tanker truck is French registered and this kind of transport would not normally venture outside the Country. Then such snowy weather rarely occurs outside of France’s mountainous Regions. OFTEL were based somewhere halfway between Bourg-en-Bresse and Dôle, so I would venture to guess that this shot was taken in the Jura mountains, i.e. somewhere in the area of Pontarlier. Perhaps you were about to, or had just crossed the border with la Suisse?
In any case, nice F-series globetrotter, numerous SKs and of course the R-series Renault parked up for what was undoubtedly lunchtime, decorated a red wine-supplemented lunch. Those were the days.In turn, I would like to thank the subject of this thread, Monsieur John SAVIEM for his numerous and invaluable contributions, as well as all the other more or less young old hands who post pictures, anecdotes, or various other elements of colourful interest. For me too, this is by far the favourite thread, almost a forum in its own right.
Many thanks to all for feeding the youngsters like myself with generational continuity of knowledge.Joyeux Noël et bonne année
David
First pic looks like Jayat and a couple of Whitetrux sk"s.
Hi Suedehead,
Well done excellent,you’ve probably stopped there a couple of times 
one of my Globetrotters in the middle and as you say a couple of Whitetrux as well.
Your mince pie is in the post, Happy Christmas to you and your family.
Regards
Richard
Good morning,MaggieD.
Used that route many a time in the late 80s/early 90s,as the firm i was on for at the time were a bit tight with the “running money”.
Also stopped at a place known as The Englishmans"?
It was a bit further down the road . I think it was nr St John du Maurriene(spelling) 
Happy days indeed.
Bon Noel.
Andy.
Edit
The “englishmans” was nr Berienne(i think).Nowhere near St John whatever its called 
Combination of a senior moment and too much Christmas spirit
Well John, seasons greetings to you and thank you for your regular informative input throughout the year which I know amazes us all, what a memory you have. On another note I saw this ode about a farmer out doing his Christmas shopping with his wife and thought to my self could this be you, Cheers Buzzer.
Unic- Saurer in the 50th after the merger :
Oftel was based in Louhans between Chalon dur Saone and Lons le Saulnier.
To bring you oysters for Christmas :
Merry Christmas !
This a Saurer that ended up in the US. They exported them in kit form. I remember going to the town of Arbon on the shores of Lake Constance where they used to make Saurers. I found an Iveco factory but don’t know if it was the old Saurer place; there was a museum but it was closed. It was late evening and I was coming from loading vending-machine coffee cups from Horgen. There were a lot of Saurers on the roads in the area and a lot of well kept farm trucks. I bought some postcards and told them that my name was Arbon; they were totally under-whelmed.
Hiya,
Since the Saurer thread is on a roll, I’ve got two more pics to include, this time it’s a tipper wich was standing amongst several other things in the yard next to the autohof where I was parked up for the weekend somewhere in the summer of 2014.
Patrick
Davidoff:
pv83:
I’ve just came across some pics I’ve made a few years ago, whilst waiting to load a secondhand draw bar trailer, I had a look around, and although there were none french marques, hopefully you will find it interestingPatrick
Very nice pictures there Patrick.
The second picture shows two identical Swiss Vehicles, of the marque BERNA. Both are model “Berna 5V”.
I think these were manufactured in the 60s and a few are still around today. I believe there was an association with Saurer but I am not sure how exactly that worked.
Saurer announced in 1982 that they would halt the production of mainstream heavy goods vehicles, and they ceased production of specialised lorries for the Swiss army I believe in 1986 or thereabouts.
There is a large local collector scene and the quality of their build means that there are still a large number in excellent condition to this day. Still, spare parts are becoming scarce, with only few specialised firms left to offer some relief on that front, such as the below firm.
saurer-berna.ch/berna-fahrzeuge.htmlThere would be room for a Saurer / Berna / FBW thread really, but SAVIEM’s fanclub has become a nice forum in its own right so I just chuck in the occasional contribution in here, just making sure that every so often it actually relates to SAVIEM or BERLIET for good measure.
I wish you all a good evening
Regards
David
Thanks there for the info David, much appreciated.
Don’t know to much about Saurer, it’s very “exotic” in my neck of the woods, but they surely do look the part 
pv83:
A “heavy” pair I’ve spotted at a Daf workshop in PerpignanPatrick
Hi Patrick
Lovely motors those are.
The first one, if not modified (especially the headlights in the radiator grill) will in all likelihood be a TRH320 with Berliet’s naturally-aspirated V8. This would date her back to somewhere around 1974-1976. Very small chance she might be a straight-6 TRH280 but those were extremely rare in 6x4 execution.
Second one is given away by her beige dashboard and would thus be a representative from the very early days after Berliet + Saviem became Renault Véhicules Industriels or RVI, so somewhere between 1981 and 1983. She might be a straight-6 turbocharged R310, but i presume more likely an R360 with her turbocharged V8, the direct successor to Berliet’s TRH350.
I expect John “SAVIEM” in his Renaultphile will put me right somewhere on the above…
Very, very well-kept vehicles in any case. True eye candy.
Thanks for having posted these pictures.