Morning all,
Saturday morning, pouring rain, and Im waiting here for a delivery of reclaimed bricks, that should have come yesterday…So, the supplier says they will be with you “early”…no you and I all know how we define “early”, having driven lorries…so Im sitting here from 0500, and they still have not arrived, and the Bricklayer comes at 8.30.
Fergie, you have really got hold of some superb images! and Tomdhu your words are appreciated, but it is the people like Fergie, Michel, and so many others, who make this thread interesting. For me the images are like sitting in a comfortable arm chair, a journey of delight!
Fergies pictures of Jan 27 I think its 7th one down, a very sorry Assumption Circus unit and living van. The tractor could have been a WW2 Federal 406, or even a humble Panhard, or even a Ford V8! but when these exotic “home from home” on wheels were new, they were spectacular! I am tempted to say that that sad one is ex Cirque Pinder…but I could be wrong, as when they became older, they found new homes with smaller Cirque. The whole French Circus industry is well worthy of some words another time.
The Willeme of Andre Marmeth, now there was a lovely outfit…as was Louis Giraud, boy I had some battles there, (mainly with John Baker, who was traipsing around France on behalf of DAF…two English men trying to do business with a leading French haulier! But that Bernard “Lévrier” (Greyhound…which they certainly were not)! But it was an attempt to up power the traditional Gardner Licence Bernard with an all French Alsthop V8 air cooled engine of 12648cc, 120 x 140,200 hp @2000 rpm driving through a 5 speed ZF box. The engine was over 1300kgs heavier than the Gardner / Bernard MF636 @185hp. But after all, it was designed for Railway use, and as such became unreliable when used in a road context. Nearly, well it did actually bust Bernard, and in came Mack to give the corpse a good kicking…
That bike is an interesting one, it appears to be powered by Gazogene, (wood or coal)…any one know?..Wonder how you carried your Nutty Slack…or Logs!!
Pete, that is an early “semi Television cab”, on that 35 tonne 4 axle outfit. Pelpel discovered inherent weakness when the sleeper had big windows, hence the change to Port Holes in the sleeper…bit like a Guy Invincible cab “a tad flexible”. That would have had Bernards version of the LX the Bernard MF630 @165 hp, but the later, (1962), versions would have had the MF636 185 hp, based on the LXB. Fergies AutoRoute 6x4 Breakdown would probably have had the same engine, that is an interesting outfit, after the Bernard went from their service, I think that they had a Ford Transcontinental 4x2, and a 6x4.
But that TV Bernard really was something else, in terms of style, and a beautiful driving position…but a very Gardneresque rate of progress!
Bricklayer, and bricks seem to have arrived, (judging by the noise coming from the yard)!, but Fergie, that Chateau with the little Berliet in front, is on the Col de Rochpot, now you must have laboured up that just like me, bugger when it was icy/1 and those Primeurs used to fly down, …but at least when you needed a break, there was the Belle Aire to get something nice to eat! I loved the roof tiles with their pattern…happy days…gosh a 4LK Gardner used to get a bit breathless on the uphill.
And those Italian outfits always gave me an inferiority complex…Lancia, OM, Fiat, Italy was a closed market in the 60s…then I ended up there , and we offered a big KB TR Berliet with a steering rear axle…s… Could`nt those Italians put some weight on those millepedes!
Im away to check my bricks…
Cheerio for now.
