So French…
![5- [gr].JPG](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/trucknetuk/original/2X/6/6b27d38a3bf76495dc2b3b79b9ea4f6be0b561a0.jpeg)
those shots of the cab interiors , the one with the five spoked wheel looks evil . it could do you a serious damage if it spun back on you . but then i was taught on the old fodens , never put your fingers inside the wheel .dave
Berliet GR 350 6x2 in Italia ,surnamed ’ Il bisonti della strada’ …
Bernard 6x2 with Teilhol body.
Fergie47:
Inside the beasts…
Many of the Berliet dashboards are familiar to me, but which truck’s cab is on the first picture (4 spoke wheel)? German?
I remember that, in the 50s, Renault fitted octogonal speedmeters on their dashboards, but the 5-spoke steering-wheel (pic before last) has a taste of the 30’s. Last one is definitely a “Genève” cab on an Unic of the 60s. I daily drove one in the early 80s. Thanks for these interesting pictures.
Hi Saviem,
Thank You for the information on the “pre TV” artic, 35 ton with 165 hp would have made her a bit breathless, there would have been room under that cab to shoe horn a bigger lump into her! Cheer’s Pete
rigsby:
those shots of the cab interiors , the one with the five spoked wheel looks evil . it could do you a serious damage if it spun back on you . but then i was taught on the old fodens , never put your fingers inside the wheel .dave
I’ve a theory… put vehicle on full lock, hard acceleration, as wheel spins, hold Andouille at
45 degrees, feed through quickly onto baguette, balanced on your knee and pre filled with Compte…et voilà,…sandwich…saves stopping in those expensive le routiers… 
pete smith:
Hi Saviem,
Thank You for the information on the “pre TV” artic, 35 ton with 165 hp would have made her a bit breathless, there would have been room under that cab to shoe horn a bigger lump into her! Cheer’s Pete
Breathless, with 165 hp for 35 tons? Then what about that Renault VTD (c. 1932) which had to do the job with only 85 bhp! I’d say the load (probably pinewood boards) is some 70 cubic metres, thus roughly 35 tonnes just for the load. Picture from Charge-Utile Magazine
Froggy55:
pete smith:
Hi Saviem,
Thank You for the information on the “pre TV” artic, 35 ton with 165 hp would have made her a bit breathless, there would have been room under that cab to shoe horn a bigger lump into her! Cheer’s Pete0
Breathless, with 165 hp for 35 tons? Then what about that Renault VTD (c. 1932) which had to do the job with only 85 bhp! I’d say the load (probably pinewood boards) is some 70 cubic metres, thus roughly 35 tonnes just for the load. Picture from Charge-Utile Magazine
Hi Froggy,
Slow progress then mate! Some overhang on that Renault, Cheer’s Pete
Here you go Fergie, looks the part, sorry if you have posted it before but I have been mooching on Internet for TV’s 
Latil timber tractor that is apparently on display in BCVM in Leyland, there was a similar Latil fitted with a 4LK that was sat outside of the Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum at Stoke in the 1980’s anyone know what became of it, may be this one in the photo?
Like Bernard, Latil fitted Gardner engines on their lorries and timber tractors. Delahaye did too, though they commercialised mainly petrol-engined vehicles.
I remember our local sawmill had Latils and Douglas’ in the 1950s. I couldn’t be 100% sure but I seem to remember that they all had LW Gardners in them.
pete smith:
Here you go Fergie, looks the part, sorry if you have posted it before but I have been mooching on Internet for TV’s
Post it up as much as you like Mr Smith…never get tired of looking at them…was thinking of divorcing Mrs Fergie. and marrying one, but she reminded me that they probably couldn’t cook, so gave up on that idea.,…for the moment… 
Froggy55:
pete smith:
Hi Saviem,
Thank You for the information on the “pre TV” artic, 35 ton with 165 hp would have made her a bit breathless, there would have been room under that cab to shoe horn a bigger lump into her! Cheer’s Pete0
Breathless, with 165 hp for 35 tons? Then what about that Renault VTD (c. 1932) which had to do the job with only 85 bhp! I’d say the load (probably pinewood boards) is some 70 cubic metres, thus roughly 35 tonnes just for the load. Picture from Charge-Utile Magazine
Evening all,
Pete, Froggy55, funny old thing this power ■■■■■■■. When I was first driving back in the `60s, I sometimes felt that I would have liked a bit more" get up and go", than my little 98hp Foden had, but there again I was never under any strain to be “there and back” like a rocket ship. When I was given charge of “our” AEC Mercury 6x2, with that dreamily comfortable Ergomatic cab, I never really thrashed her along the way, because she was a lovely comfortable drive, and felt so perfect to handle…except when empty, and you were trying to back into somewhere “tight” over a drop kerb, or deep gutter…then the little sweetheart certainly had an undeserved thrashing just to overcome the design flaws of that stupid bogie, and to avoid getting stranded with one s drive wheels floundering with little effect in mid air…Boy I wished the bugger who created that bogie had to try to drive the blooming thing in the deepest Black Country…or any rural pick up point!
Never seemed to happen to my French friends with their 1200 tyred 6x2 bogies, Bernard, Willeme, Berliet, or even those “Moustachioed” Unic`s. But the on road pace of French Heavies never cought me out…even when I graduated to the mega power 150 Gardner…but that was probably the the wonder of that Foden 12 speed gearbox…you were never ever without a gear to keep going. Alpine Passes were a doddle, whatever the weather, she would just keep on climbing, and going down was just as easy, great brakes, pin point steering…cab comfort…well…oh dear…the “plastic pig” of a Micky Mouse was never the splendid "Edwardian Drawing Room " comfort of the magnificent S20…and when you have endured long days in the Sicilian heat piloting the Sandbach attempt at a tilting cab, the “everso flexible, “Porta Loo blue”, faintly obnoxious smelling, bendy wendy” S36…but above that throbbing male testoserone laden Leyland .680…how one longed for the regal, calm splendor of that slow, but so faithful little LK powered rigid!..But the .680 cut a whole day of the journey home…but it was a day of lost pleasure!
But France, proper food when you stopped, a proper bed, (if you choose well…if not…whoops…as bad as “our” lamentable digs)…But by the `60s the French were bouncing at the 200 hp barrier…Willeme had Turbo Charged their Deutz licence built T6 to 255 hp…even if they did explode occasionally. Berliet tried to Turbo charge as well, the GLM, and TLM, had 9.5 litres @180 hp back in the late 50s…but again it was “explosive” hp!..But the 14788cc monster 6 cylinder mounted in the TLM15 gave a true 240hp…and the largest “snout” that you could ever have seen…(then the Venissieux engineers coupled two together in a 90 degree V 12 form, to wrest the military Tank Transport contract away from the sedate , but so reliable chain driven Pacific of WW2…but not all the oil in any well could slake T1 & T 2 s gigantic fuel consumption)! But Willeme had their straigh 8…ultra reliable , and on the market as a design from the late 30s…(and sounded so much like a straight 8 Gardner from a later generation),but seldom seen beneath that handsome Cottard built Horizon cab…(Fergie, you would love the driving position, …ergonomic…before the word came into use!
Then there was the little Unic V8, 10.776 cc, 225 , (frantic), horsepower, but under that long bonnet…what a throbbing powerfull device!..(but the later 340 was decades ahead)…and Géneves tilting version of the standard Fiat cab was so comfortable and practicable. But I have ignored the Germans, because they were there in French hauliers fleets, The big Mercs, the LP334 of the late 50s gave 200hp from its 6 cylinders, which morphed into the 11.58 litre OM355 of the late 60s with its 230hp. Bussing were there, mainly via the Parisien Dealer Garabidien, but 11.43 litres gave 230 , (SAE), hp in a totally reliable way. But Saviem leaned on Germany, from 63, Henschel 11.04 litres gave 200 hp back on the roads of 1963, (more reliably than the Eberspacher turbo charged SomuaD615s 180 hp of 57! But then came the utter reliability of Munichs MAN, D2146s, 200/240 6 cylinder horsepower of 1965.
But Ive forgotten the screaming banashee from those pesky German Krupp licence built ■■■■■■■ Vs, 9.64 litres, 200 (noisey) hp at 2600 rpm in 1963, 1968, and 12.85 litres howled out 250 hp@2600 rpm…watch out Guy and the Big J!..but the German that sold well in France, and gave such excellent service was the big, light footed, loveable Magirus Deutz. 12.667cc, V8, the dear old Pluto found a welcome home with some of Frances largest fleets, following its older brother Jupiters faithfull service. Well loved, and just so good as an all round haulage lorry, light, powerfull, and reasonably economic, so much promise, foundered upon the Fiat Groups Iveco planning.
But poor old Bernard, the cream of the crop, Frances finest lorry, but left behind in the race for 200hp. Truly, a wonderful lorry, but as so many of our UK builders, that Gardner design, despite Bernards improvements, simply could not make the power leap needed. Then came the all French V8 by Alstrom,but that V8 was designed for railway use........and the sudden demands of the road engine were beyond its capabilities.....200 "unreliable" hp, lost Bernard its customer base......and the takeover by Mack in 63, and the injection of their Scania inspired power plants, coupled with “unusual” styling did little to help sales…
But me in my Fodens, 98,150, 200hp, I could keep up with these gigantic powered lorries of 200hp, and my speed was the same, if not better than theirs…what did I care…but the changes were to come…and they did…
My word, as I delivered F88 240s, and the “odd” 89, with that lovely 16 speed synchro box, I often contrasted them to my old Fodens…
Then the press tests with the TRs 305s, 356s, and the smooth over the road performance…power, and speed is a relationship of need, what I enjoyed, and felt comfortable with, today is laughable…but our earnings, and return on capital employed was far, far, in excess of even the most “professional” logistics company of today…and the job was great for the man behind the wheel!
Cheerio for now.
Mercedes LP 333 “Chinese six” with Wackenhut cab, rare in France.
Before,the same cheese company owned Berliet like this GRK 10 from 1964.
And in the 50th, they brought cheese in this Teilhol van not refrigerated with a sheet over. The Berliet is a GLM 10R ‘Ricardo’ engine.
Bonjour messieurs, what an interesting and informative thread this continues to be, the only one I check daily on this forum, and a great source of historical perspective on the French transport industry.
Thank you for all your contributions, and hopefully here are some photos to interest you gents, lent to me by my friend (and our fleet mechanic) Cedric Faget whose family used to run a fairly well known haulage firm down here in dept. 47. Faget & fils started with Cedric’s grandfather in the early 40s and an old flatbed truck used to haul local produce, and apparently move a few resistance essentials when the authorities’ backs were turned! The firm gradually grew as France recovered from the war and soon became engaged in transporting produce to the capital. By the 70s they had a ‘quai’ in Garonor and a handful of drivers based up there. A few years later they moved into multimodal work, transhipping reefer boxes onto the train at Agen, with five reefers kept up in Paris and five down here. In the mid 2000s one of the two brothers running the company was looking to retire and the business was taken over by SATAR, another Agen based concern which to this day is still expanding it network of acquisitions.
Anyway, enough of the preamble, here are a few photos, all French built this time. I’ll post up some ‘other’ marques later.
Much of the smart alloy bodywork was handled in house at the depot in Port Sainte Marie, inspired by the shining example set by the Italians. More to follow.
Craig
Craig 111:
Bonjour messieurs, what an interesting and informative thread this continues to be, the only one I check daily on this forum, and a great source of historical perspective on the French transport industry.Thank you for all your contributions, and hopefully here are some photos to interest you gents, lent to me by my friend (and our fleet mechanic) Cedric Faget whose family used to run a fairly well known haulage firm down here in dept. 47. Faget & fils started with Cedric’s grandfather in the early 40s and an old flatbed truck used to haul local produce, and apparently move a few resistance essentials when the authorities’ backs were turned! The firm gradually grew as France recovered from the war and soon became engaged in transporting produce to the capital. By the 70s they had a ‘quai’ in Garonor and a handful of drivers based up there. A few years later they moved into multimodal work, transhipping reefer boxes onto the train at Agen, with five reefers kept up in Paris and five down here. In the mid 2000s one of the two brothers running the company was looking to retire and the business was taken over by SATAR, another Agen based concern which to this day is still expanding it network of acquisitions.
Anyway, enough of the preamble, here are a few photos, all French built this time. I’ll post up some ‘other’ marques later.
More to follow.
Craig
Nice contribution there…more photo’s appreciated…