pv83:
The Italian job… so far…
Great pictures Patrick. Beautiful landscapes. Having nice weather makes all the difference. I guess the shorts and t-shirts will be coming out soon. [emoji3]
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jsutherland:
pv83:
The Italian job… so far…Great pictures Patrick. Beautiful landscapes. Having nice weather makes all the difference. I guess the shorts and t-shirts will be coming out soon. [emoji3]
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Cheers Johnny, the shorts came out shortly after I left Fergie’s HQ, only to spare Mrs Fergie the sight of my glorious looking legs 
I’ll get me coat…
pv83:
jsutherland:
pv83:
The Italian job… so far…Great pictures Patrick. Beautiful landscapes. Having nice weather makes all the difference. I guess the shorts and t-shirts will be coming out soon. [emoji3]
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Cheers Johnny, the shorts came out shortly after I left Fergie’s HQ, only to spare Mrs Fergie the sight of my glorious looking legs
If Mrs Fergie had caught sight of those " glorious legs" she might have mistaken you for a piano . anon
Fergie47:
Nostalgic old Pic…And before any of you sarcastic gits say its me and Mrs F taking chickens to market…it isn’t !!!
Could be an early shot of Q.C. Evans and Mrs A.Evans en-route to Italy before they got the Maggies…
Hi Dave, hope you and Liz are ok,I see your little lad has gone to Rome,we can call him Nero now as he’s good at fiddling !! I hope he gets off that Autostrada there are some nice sea food restaurants on the old SS 1.
Mrs.Evans says thanks for the photo she will sort you out,on the way back when she’s finished loading at Tibet Sports !!
Regards
Richard
MaggieD:
Fergie47:
Nostalgic old Pic…And before any of you sarcastic gits say its me and Mrs F taking chickens to market…it isn’t !!!
Could be an early shot of Q.C. Evans and Mrs A.Evans en-route to Italy before they got the Maggies…
Hi Dave, hope you and Liz are ok,I see your little lad has gone to Rome,we can call him Nero now as he’s good at fiddling !! I hope he gets off that Autostrada there are some nice sea food restaurants on the old SS 1.
Mrs.Evans says thanks for the photo she will sort you out,on the way back when she’s finished loading at Tibet Sports !!
Regards
Richard
Richard, hope all’s well at Evan Enterprises…
The whippersnapper dropped in on us for a week, we’ve moved twice, but he still manages to find us, our next move will be Paraguay, see if he can get to us there…
Yep, he’s in Rome, one of my favourite places, I can remember parking up there several times at weekends and getting a bus ticket to travel around the city for a day for a shilling…not today I bet…
Anyway, here’s a pic of me trying to explain the intricate workings and operations of a Fuller manual twin splitter gearbox. …sadly with little effect…
By heck Dave you never let it be known that the snapper is follically challenged , and you’re wasting your time trying to educate him about proper gearboxes , I can tell by the blank look on his face and don’t mention 13 speed Fullers , he’s only got 10 fingers .
rigsby:
By heck Dave you never let it be known that the snapper is follically challenged , and you’re wasting your time trying to educate him about proper gearboxes , I can tell by the blank look on his face and don’t mention 13 speed Fullers , he’s only got 10 fingers .
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rigsby:
pv83:
jsutherland:
pv83:
The Italian job… so far…Great pictures Patrick. Beautiful landscapes. Having nice weather makes all the difference. I guess the shorts and t-shirts will be coming out soon. [emoji3]
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Cheers Johnny, the shorts came out shortly after I left Fergie’s HQ, only to spare Mrs Fergie the sight of my glorious looking legs
If Mrs Fergie had caught sight of those " glorious legs" she might have mistaken you for a piano . anon
You’ve never seen my legs then Rigsby, they’re in good shape and quite tanned, as I’m usually wearing shorts most of the year, Mr and Mrs Fergie and Herr Sutherland (and maybe Frau Sutherland) have commented on that fact several times! 
You lot have got it all wrong… as usual… here’s what happened, anyone remember “The Empire strikes back” in the Star Wars trilogy? The “Luke… I am your father” scene…? Well that was what this was about… sort of… Fergie started with “Pat… I’ve got sommat to tell ya” (long silence)… buy a Peugeot, they are the most reliable cars… in the world… not a big surprise that the look on my face was a bit blank then eh…
Richard, took the motorway from Turin to Florence as that used to be a proper road with some cracking scenery after you’ve passed Bologna… Well that changed a bit, they’ve bypassed the scenic route, all you see now are tunnels… old road is still there though, but you have to follow the signs for it…
Senior, went to city centre yesterday, a ticket for public transport costs €1,50 for 100 minutes, still not too bad I reckon
Geoffo:
This month’s issue of Truckstar magazine.
Hello Gentlemen and I hope you are all doing well. It’s been some time since I last posted on here.
I see our young PV83 is on the road again, visiting somewhere sunny. Not many lads get the chance of doing international work these days, unless they are ex-commie block so Patrick I hope your enjoying yourself!
Did you manage to put Fergie’s Fuller tutorial to work yet? Though I don’t suppose you’d be running down to Italy in a Beriet, Turbostar or such like…
Geoffo, I like that article of the Centaure. This would have been a subject very dear to the heart of John “SAVIEM”, sadly no longer with us.
The motor on the picture is a very convincing replica of a Centaure, owned and restored by the Berliet Trust (Foundation Berliet), located some 40 clicks North-East of Lyons.
I think I might have posted some stuff on the Centaure saga on here before (many years ago) but there seems to be some new guys on here so at the risk of repeating myself…
- the article is correct in stating that the Centaure came out in 1978, ahead of Volvo’s F-series Globetrotter.
- Berliet’s Centaure was designed to enhance Berliet’s brand credibility (and sales volumes) in the harshly competitive international road haulage market.
- The article says it was equipped with Berliet’s V8. That is true but was not the only choice. Indeed most of the approx 400 Centaures built were TR350 with Berliet’s in-house MIVS 08.35.30, 15-litre V8 power plant. However some Centaures were sold as the more modestly-powered (and more frugal) 6-in line, intercooled TR305.
- Berliet’s heavy range was articulated as follows: TR (single drive artic units) - TRH (double-drive 6x4 artics), GR (single drive wagons), GRH (6x4 wagons). The TR350 was of course the most frequently sold.
- Berliet’s main issue was cost. All Centaures were basically standard units which were sent to bodywork specialist Lamberet for customisation, and with a very wide range of taylor-made options and features). As such, Berliet’s wonderful product always remained a very expensive specialty product, they could never manage the economies of scale which Volvo achieved thanks to building their Globies on the main production line, and were sold by the hundreds if not thousands.
- In 1980, the French government decided that both Berliet and Saviem should merge together under the Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI) umbrella. It was quickly decided by RVI management that the “Le Centaure” programme should be discontinued. Only a handful of existing Customer commitments would still be honoured, but these Centaures would already be badged under Renault’s new nomenclature: R310 (6 in-line, successor to the intercooled TR/GR305) or R360 (V8, the exact same engine specs as Berliet’s TR/GR350).
- The only known original surviving Centaure belongs to my mate Julien who lives not far from Paris. I will share a picture a bit later. This motor was put away in a barn in 1990 after 10 years on Iraq work only to turn up again in 2011 in Julien’s hands. A unique find indeed.
- Fondation Berliet’s Centaure as pictured in Geoffo’s article is in fact a replica based on a later model Renault R390 Turboleader, an evolution of Berliet’s 350 (now intercooled). The purists will spot the details giving away it’s not a “true” Centaure, and this lorry receives occasional criticism for that. Factually this is true, but personally I think this is a very unfair blame on Fondation Berliet whose work is remarkable (230 vehicles on 7’000 square meters which is the size of a large supermarket).
By the time they decided they needed to include a Centaure to their remarkable collection it was too late, the always rare le Centaures had all been scrapped or been sent somewhere hot. The nearest thing available was a high-roofed Renault R Turboleader, which is what they took. Their work deserves nothing but praise for the quality and finish of this vehicle. - Last anecdote: the forced marriage between former archrivals Berliet and SAVIEM was far from easy - basically the two had been competing on the same market for the same Customers for some 30 years, and some Customer wouldn’t accept Berliet under any circumstance. To preserve their chance of selling the product, Berliet/Renault decided to re-badge some units under SAVIEM. See below the result.
Why am I saying that? Because exactly ONE SAVIEM-badged Centaure was built, unfortunately it burnt down due to electric problems somewhere in the 80s.
Okay chaps, I do realise the length if this post is its best defence against ever being read (a quote from Sir Winston). I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.
Bonne nuit
pv83:
You’ve never seen my legs then Rigsby, they’re in good shape and quite tanned, as I’m usually wearing shorts most of the year, Mr and Mrs Fergie and Herr Sutherland (and maybe Frau Sutherland) have commented on that fact several times!
No we haven’t, in fact last time he was here I nearly shot him. as I mistook him for a pigeon with those little skinny spindly legs… 
.
Davidoff:
Geoffo, I like that article of the Centaure. This would have been a subject very dear to the heart of John “SAVIEM”, sadly no longer with us.
Bonne nuit
Junior…John (SAVIEM) would have been proud of you for that write up…
The opening of the Berliet factory… Bourg-en-bresse in 1964
inauguration-de-l-usine-berliet-a-bourg-en-1964-en-presence-de-la-nouba-du-regiment-de-tirailleurs-marocains-document-des-archives-municipales-de-la-ville-de-bourg-1479278308.jpg
Fergie47:
pv83:
You’ve never seen my legs then Rigsby, they’re in good shape and quite tanned, as I’m usually wearing shorts most of the year, Mr and Mrs Fergie and Herr Sutherland (and maybe Frau Sutherland) have commented on that fact several times!No we haven’t, in fact last time he was here I nearly shot him. as I mistook him for a pigeon with those little skinny spindly legs…
[emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]
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Froggy55:
0
“Nothing equals leather”. 1951 registrated Bernard
Do you reckon that’s a sleeper pod, or part of the load area ?