pete smith:
How about driving this about? I’d be taking the gable end out of everything
When I was a lad, I remember watching one of those emerge from Huntingdon Street into Mansfield Road in Nottingham, and push its jib straight through the upper deck windows of a passing trolley-bus! 
The newspaper reported that a schoolgirl had been slightly injured.Robert
pete smith:
Froggy55:
Mack truck fitted with the same Fernand Genève cab as the Unics of the '60s. Only a handful were produced.Sorry but that Mack is uglier than me and Fergie will no doubt agree
Naaaaaaa, wouldn’t say that about you Smithy, …well, …alright then… 
Belive me, there are some really ugly trucks out there, not quite as ugly as Pierre, but still pretty ugly, when I get five I’ll dig some pic’s out… 
neversweat1:
0
What ever happened to Hurel as when I was driving there seemed to be hundreds of them about, Buzzer.
neversweat1:
0
Evening all,
Now neversweat has posted a real conundrum…a substantial French Haulier, who exists today…based in Abington , Oxfordshire!
From Normandy, to Abington…how on earth…but that is a long story…and Hurel were good fleet clients of mine…
But they saw the light if the new “Superstate”…so today we have…
Hurel, Algries, Hurel, Tunise, Hurel Paris, Hurel, Abingdon!..long way from Famile Hurel Normandie…and I forgot the USA arm…or the Marseille operation where I first encountered the Familie!
Big story about Hurel Buzzer, …and I`m tired tonight, …sorry…perhaps a bit more later…its worth waiting for…Michel…blooming heck…you would think that it was his own money he was spending!!!1
Cheerio for now.
Fergie47:
pete smith:
Froggy55:
Mack truck fitted with the same Fernand Genève cab as the Unics of the '60s. Only a handful were produced.Sorry but that Mack is uglier than me and Fergie will no doubt agree
Naaaaaaa, wouldn’t say that about you Smithy, …well, …alright then…
Belive me, there are some really ugly trucks out there, not quite as ugly as Pierre, but still pretty ugly, when I get five I’ll dig some pic’s out…
Oh I do like you Fergie…my only friend on here! Get some ugly trucks on and I will post an up to date pic and let you decide…Pal
pete smith:
Fergie47:
pete smith:
Froggy55:
Mack truck fitted with the same Fernand Genève cab as the Unics of the '60s. Only a handful were produced.Sorry but that Mack is uglier than me and Fergie will no doubt agree
Naaaaaaa, wouldn’t say that about you Smithy, …well, …alright then…
Belive me, there are some really ugly trucks out there, not quite as ugly as Pierre, but still pretty ugly, when I get five I’ll dig some pic’s out…
Oh I do like you Fergie…my only friend on here! Get some ugly trucks on and I will post an up to date pic and let you decide…Pal
Deal… 
…but, can the followers of this thread take an up-to-date photo of you Smithy…at least, post one with your clothes on…!!
Fergie47:
Deal…
Heres some pretty ugly motors Smithy…
Buzzer:
neversweat1:
0What ever happened to Hurel as when I was driving there seemed to be hundreds of them about, Buzzer.
Monsieur Saviem will give you a more comprehensive answer, but I know the refrigerated side of Hurel was taken over by TFE (if I could find my STEF-TFE book I could tell you when it happened). I was chatting with one of Hurel’s ex-drivers only last night, he reckoned it was a fine firm to work for back in the day.
Craig
pete smith:
Here you go Fergie, all the ammo you will ever need…Mate
Now Smithy, here was me thinking you were an old, fat, ugly git…how wrong I was, what a fine specimen of an upstanding citizen you are…
Off this afternoon to spec-savers… I keep seeing the world through rose tinted glasses
Fergie47:
Fergie47:
Deal…
Heres some pretty ugly motors Smithy…
Evening all,
Pete against that ugly lot what a fine upstanding fellow you look…had someone just nicked your cup of tea…or desk 
But that broken down Willeme of Roger Rieubland is worth a second look, (yes it is ugly…Willemes lorries generally were brutal to look at, but oh so strong on the road). That one looks to be powered by the 18 litre straight 8 Willeme 517 P 8 @225 hp........generous for a 26 tonne rated tractor back in the late 40s early 50s. But that picture must be much later, she is coupled to one of Rieublands in house fridge trailers, on a tandem frame. That would have been rated for the new 35 tonnes on 4 axle limit, as opposed to the 32 tonne on 3 axles. No wonder the old girl was asking for a" breather"…Rieubland worked his kit very hard, and for a long time as well!
Now Pete and Fergie, that Bernard with the Leutournier cab, was the ugly Bernard that I was referring to! Even makes the B61 Mack look handsome, and they were both Mack powered. She was one of the very last Bernards, that were sold unfinished to the Dealership in Dunkirk, and he finished building them. Ugly, but she was just on 6 tonnes ready to go, with 214 hp, but I bet that nose needed watching going backwards into a tight place!
But the next one down takes the biscuit…the front of a Nez de Requin, grafted onto one of Rue-Marcel-Royer, Gennervilliers, Carrosserie Douzet cabs. Those cabs of the late `40s early 50s were only ever built as sleepers. Normally they sat over the 18 litre straight 8 225 hp engine, which stuck well out in front of the front axle. Normally seen on three axle chassis, (as some of the pictures that Fergie has previously posted), but that one I suspect only had the “little” 13.5 litre 518.6 engine @175 hp.This was not the only odd ball cab that Willeme produced, the austere Cottard Z Sahara cab had the same Shark Nose front grafted onto it, and an equally odd visual result was achieved!
But these were the early post WW2 days, the strategic Pons Plan had designated Willeme as a heavy lorry builder, and Louis Willeme`s men responded with the , (perhaps), ugly to our 21st century eyes, MW30B 6 wheeler…for a nominal 30 tonne payload! Weighing around 15 tonnes with a tipper body, gross weight was around the 46/47 tonne mark…but France needed rebuilding…and weight was of less importance…
Many were bodied with two split bodies, one a single or two way side tipper, and the rearmost as a conventional rear tipper. One of my very good friends and colleague at Suresnes Saviem offices had for many years worked for Willeme under M Béchir, Louis Willemes research head. The storeys that he told, of the factory, the lorries, and the Dealers were tremendous......the difficulty of turning the steering wheel in any direction when going in reverse in a K15, or MW30, due to the substantial weight of that 18 litre engine........."pinching" deals from right under the noses of the massive Berliet operation.....and once Willeme were "in"....then they stayed in! My friends at Onatra had in their early days run an large quantity of Willemes, on really hard quarry work…they never let them down despite gross overloading, and for so many small or medium sized hire and reward hauliers the Willeme product was the natural choice, strong, well engineered, and at a competitive cost…and in the Oil Fields the Willeme product was regarded well above the offerings of Berliet…Georges Veuve the Willeme Algeirs Dealer sold just so many.
But not all Willemes were "ugly", the Cottard "Boule" cab, the Horizon, and its later Pelpel incarnation,sitting over everything from a 35 tonne tractor, to a 250 tonne TG.........but the most handsome of course the Levallois Nez de Requin, shark nose.........pure elegance in metal!.....and of course there were the badge engineered BMCs as well as the Ergomatic cabbed one shown at The Paris Salon. Henris tales, and the documents that he gave to me I hold in great value, he is no longer with us, but my memories of him burn so bright,( and the fun we had, laughing at some of the arrogant attitudes at Venissieux when we both ended up working there).
Back on page 85, Fergies post of March 11th, 6th picture down is a very early photograph of André Marmeth, and his bride Rose, with his first lorry, a “Gazogene” powered GD Berliet. A bit ago we were talking about Transports Marmeth, and their eclectic fleet, (including several generations of GMC Astro tractors…But André was also a Willeme Lorry Dealer…as well as running them, (and those on the photograph below were …well, perhaps a bit ugly)!..And if André appears to be standing a little oddly…well he did only have one leg!
Robert thanks for posting those images…Giraud from Sonnay with one of their later R340s…if Leyland had not been given to DAF, then almost certainly that lorry would have been a Leyland, they liked them so much!
But there is no other description than handsome for thatwonderful 32 tonne 3 axle Bernard with its Pelpel number 3 sleeper cab, oh to drive anything as handsome as that outfit!
The further we get away from the 60s and 70s, the more handsome the lorries of that period become, and non more so than the Unic 340V8. What a handsome lorry they were, and unlike the belecose Fiat 619, that cab tilted. But the Italian looking Trilex wheeled 3 axle, (bearing French registration), looks to have done quite some work…
Which is a bit like me, Ive been clearing the old Orchard today, and more to come tomorrow…so Im away to my bed
Cheerio for now.
Ive posted some pic’s of Willemes up on the WILLEMES thread…
