backsplice:
Here you are then Fergie… sorry about the ones the wrong way round
No problem…I won’t make a comment about you being upside down … 
Fergie47:
Two here for Robert, couldn’t find the proper thread for Krupp, so put them on here for you…not sure if they’ve been posted before, if they have I can take them off…
Top tip for all posters- the Search function on here is rubbish (as it is on all of the web forums I have used). Simply type “Trucknet UK” and the stuff you want to read into Google:
google.co.uk/search?q=truck … 8AfCwKv4AQ
Fergie, it was probably a Panhard bus, the same was possible in their lorries.
michel:
Fergie, it was probably a Panhard bus, the same was possible in their lorries.
Thank you Michel…I will ask her when I see her… I think she may have a few photos of the various auto-buses her father owned.
What a great idea for maintaining the vehicle…
Nothing new is it…All this fuss over electric cars, and here’s electric wagons from a few years back !!
robert1952:
Fergie47:
Two here for Robert, couldn’t find the proper thread for Krupp, so put them on here for you…not sure if they’ve been posted before, if they have I can take them off…Thanks! Yes, these two pics are on the Atkinson CLT thread.
cheers, Robert
Here’s another one for you Robert…it’s not on the CLT thread, but could be somewhere else ?
Pretty looking wrecker…
michel:
Fergie, it was probably a Panhard bus, the same was possible in their lorries.
Who needs a tilt cab then eh? 
Fergie47:
Two here for Robert, couldn’t find the proper thread for Krupp, so put them on here for you…not sure if they’ve been posted before, if they have I can take them off…
Cheers for posting the second pic Fergie, it’s not however about the Krupp, though interesting to see, but it’s more the background on the wall… will show that to me granddad, he used to work for Fina as a young lad, and eventually after climbing on that long ladder ended up as one of the “boardmen” of Total… but he still is in love with everything that’s got Fina written on it!
Oh and once again cheers for the “heavies” mate, every time you post them it’s an absolute joy to look at
Cheers, Patrick
Fergie47:
robert1952:
Fergie47:
Two here for Robert, couldn’t find the proper thread for Krupp, so put them on here for you…not sure if they’ve been posted before, if they have I can take them off…Thanks! Yes, these two pics are on the Atkinson CLT thread.
cheers, Robert
Here’s another one for you Robert…it’s not on the CLT thread, but could be somewhere else ?
Pretty looking wrecker…
I always quite liked that Krupp cab. I doubt if it was very roomy though! Robert
Fergie47:
Twin headlights…conversion ? or for a different market…?
Evening all,
Ah my Internet woes that besail me pail into insignificance when I see such posts as Fergie 47s, and pvs,and michels…far too much for me to comment upon tonight…
Those Panhards, with the "slide out " motors, the SOMUAS, with their advanced engineering, and those trailers from that remarkable team based in Marseille, employed by Soc Coder…what incredible engineering…but engineering to “do the job”, not fettered by hide bound restrictive regulation from a central source!
Those shots of Zucconi, Millon, and Robert Leyx, I can pick out both the operators, their management, but far more important to me personally,… the crews that I personally knew, Piere, Robert, Jean Claude, I see their faces on these images, and remember so happily the friendly arguments about the Cyclists, B elgiums Rik Van Looy, Frances Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, (and our own Brian Robinson, and Alan Ramsbottom), then came Tom Simpson.........the merits of English Scammell, as opposed to the massive 15 litre Berliets, or the screaming Detroit powered Willemes, the hard to start Diamond Ts, or the Autocars, and of course the “Grandmother Pacifics”…either ■■■■■■■ HB, or straight 220 powered… We were all in love with the driving, the feeling of using “our” skill to beat the elements, …the road…the load…the “management”…what a common bond…and one which I know so many who read these threads share!
But Fergie you ask about the “African Saviem” SM Serie…for that is what your picture shows…Perhaps a few words about Africa…
Just as for our sceptered isle, for France the continent of Africa was a holy grail! Simply divided as Africa Francophile, and Africa non Francophile. The French speakers, and those who simply did not speak French…Colonialism…mais oui…why did “we” not maintain our stance ?
Lets get back to lorries…in 1977 Africa amounted to 2/3 of French International Commercial vehicle activity, and 75% of lorry exports.
Algeria, one had the joint venture SONACOME, (Societie des Constructions Mechaniques), based in Rouiba, the post separation of Algeria buy out of Berliets lorry manufacturing facility…and what a factory…from the foundry…to the assembly…development…(that is why you saw KB Berliet cabs over Deutz V serie engines)…Quite an incredible operation, well managed, well researched, great people, good products…not third world whatsoever!
Marocco…Berliet had been building lorries here from the 1950s and a superb, free thinking engineering team who developed some quite unique vehicles for their own domestic market…(how about a BMC/Leyland .698 4 cylinder engine Berliet with a fibreglass bonnet…that could take easily a 60% overload…year after year…with minimum maintenance)…
Tunisia…60million FF invested into Soc Tunisinne d`industrie automobiles, (STIA),…and the big old Berliets rolled out to do their , (overloaded), work, day after day!
Libya…gaining Governmental approval…(and so much in Africa totally depended upon “Governmental approval”…and the numbers of Suisse bank accounts…Potential 4000 unit market here…but the Italians liked to retain their influence here…But Soc El Kafila really made inroads here in the late `70s.
But then we come to the interesting bit, (and really related to Fergie`s picture…Non Francophile Africa…
You see , Berliet dominated in Francophile Africa, their lorries were produced there, and Saviems influence was really confined to their excellent, (Chausson), designed PSV chassis…
Non Francophile was the region south of the Sahara…where Berliet and Saviem imported via a network of competing franchised concessionaires…and not all French origin…The UK s Scott & Co controlling idilic Mauritious, and Indian Company Ramji, the market for Rowanda…
But in Niger, Marseille based Gaston Négre held sway, also over Toga…Saviem products were imported by CFAO, (Compagnie du Niger Francaise) for Niger, the Congo, Gabon…and even an office in Dakar…(right on thebeach)…(Now how should I know that fact)■■?
Reunion, Upper Bennin, by Reuniion based Soc SERCA…in Guinea , (as ever ), a joint venture with the Government SOCOPRINT)…I will not bore you further with the definition…
But the Holy Grail was the massive market in Nigeria…that should have been totally UK influenced…but my colleague Bernard Momin, (who later came to the UK to head up Renault Vehicule Industriels operation), was top dog…
Now 300 plus Berliet lorries were running here, some on the “Route de l`uranium” operated by over 300 Berliet TLM12 38 tonne, (and that was the starting weight), tractors of Soceitie National des Transporters Nigerienne… (SNTN)…running a 1000 km round trip "shuttle"across the north Nigerian area from the Uranium mines.
Saviems activity in Nigeria was confined to public service vehicles, with over 300 registered, and 400 for Soc Soviem trading as “Water Lines”
And I have ignored the total activities in Chad, Ghana, Liberia, and Mozambique where the Saviem product held the market lead…and I have ignored the outlets in Somalia, Ethopia, Egypt, and the Sudan.
In broad terms, north of the Sahara, Berliet ruled, south, (non Francophile), that was Saviem territiory…and Frgies picture shows the successful lorry…an SM 260, 240 hp straight 6 MAN 6/12 speed ZF MAN rear bogie with a 35 tonne capacity, low geared, (70kph max), similar to a SM 150 tonne rated…easily capable of daily 60 tonne payloads…then came the SM 340…same back end…those “colonials” loaded them to 80/100 tonnes gtw without any issues…the only complaint…the cab was “warmer” than a TLM 15 litre Berliet with “capot”, (bonnet).
Good solid workhorses…utterly dependable, those 16 leaf MAN bogies were indestructible, as was the ZF box, and the big MAN V8…and she would run on “dirty” fuel as well! Oh and those round Cibe lights were a million times better than the “orrible” rectangular units fitted to Euro spec lorries…and the deformation of the bumper in service meant that they were better mounted in the cab front panel as well!
The amalgamation of the opposing Berliet, and Saviem International Teams came under the urbane Jacques Beton, ably assisted by Phillipe Brossette, but the real African expert was Georges Ruaberchera, who held the post of Director of African Operations Francophile. But my friend Roland Pépin, based not in Lyon, but still at Suresnes held the responsibility for Gabon, the Congo, and Senegal . Supported by the able Mdme Catherine Vitalli, (who used to convert my non gramatic reports into “real” French back in `74), and the oh so beautiful, …(.and at my advancing years I can say that now)…Jeanette Connneau…truly a dream team to work within…
So when, at the end of my tether with the increasingly frustrating “Parisien politics”…I tendered my resignation from the USA operation, (despite being offered a direct USA employed permanent Mack post)…I was asked to re- consider, and instead to take up a position with the operations in Chad, Niger, or Gabon…but following the advice of my good lady…(.a lawyer of some repute)…that I would probably end up sharing space in a warm cooking pot with some Methodist Missionary that had fallen foul of the Natives…I left Renault Vehicules Industriels…and came back to “bumbling” around in Britain…
But I have a soft spot for the African operations…
Away to a (large), Bollinger, and to think about the heat, and those dry/ impossibly wet roads I never experienced…
Cheerio for now.
Agricultural in appearance but certainly not in manner, this Fastrac on the A9 at North Kessock, keeping up with the lorries it was, I read the top speed is 80kph, nigh on 50mph, towing what appeared to be a livestock feed mixer. All suspension behaving nicely.
Oily
For the sons of the soil, couple of ancient implements(from my youth) the first I spent many a weary shift at, the second I wouldn’t have been trusted on
Oily
Swiftly back to camion.
Oily
Remember when those AE Magnum’s came out early 90s?
Never saw something like that before, always thought they were a bit…er…odd looking to put it mildly. And the interior wasn’t much better…
Can’t say how they coped, never had the “pleasure” to have driven one…
I did however had a brief stint in a MK2 version (same cab, but updated interior) and was quite surprised by the engine, pulled like a train (was still a Renault engine under the bonnet, just shortly before Volvo took over).
And if I was given the choice between the MK1 or that new Magnum, I would opt for the MK1, 'cause that new thing looks…er…well I’m lost for words actually
Cheers, Patrick
Came past this Maggie Deutz of vintage '53 today when I stopped for a tea break.
And whilst being on the subject, what is it with Germans and tea? For some odd reason they always serve a nice cuppa with lemon juice? If I then ask for milk instead I’m being the odd one in their eyes… 
Germans and tea just don’t mingle together it seems…
Cheers, Patrick
Morning Saviem,
Just wondering if this was your little beauty on its way to body builders?
John, what an amazing post!! Really fascinating. Thank you.
Sent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
Saviem:
Fergie47:
Twin headlights…conversion ? or for a different market…?But I have a soft spot for the African operations….
.Cheerio for now.
Couple more for you John…bit over design weight …perhaps…
