Saviem's fan club (Part 1)

[saviem]

Evening all, Fergie, she was similar to the second picture, but painted in a bright orange, and with a “huge” Black Oil tank on the back. But she was no slow coach, the old boy driving her could really nip along!

I like those Charboneaux designed “Television” cabs. One of his previous design briefs had been to design TVs for Tel Avia, so the Pelpel built cab, if viewed head on resembled a TV…big screen, with the speaker grill below, and below that the control knobs, (the headlights)!

Originally designed to tilt, but like Trevor Dudleys “American” car derived design for the Guy Invincible, the lack of structural integrity in early fibre glass construction resulted in a rigid mounting! Beautiful driving position, I had a brief drive in a very battered example at Druin Freres Nantes yard, (much to everyones mirth…to them she was an old girl…to me I was in love)! That cab was not at all “floppy”, doors shut, and everything worked…(if not a little “smelly” inside)!

Powered by Bernards last version of Hugh Gardners designed engine @185 hp. Personally I still prefer the earlier versions, like the 150TB35s of the `50s, with perhaps the Arnault, or Frappa cab and streamlining…streamlining with a licence built 150 LW!!! Transport Borca ran both versions, coupled to stainless steel American Dorsey trailers, lettered up for their client “Kelvinator” electrical appliances.

Transports Francois Vales, Boulevard Suisse, Toulouse, ran a truly beautiful one in deep “French” blue, with a pale blue top half…and that magnificent huge white steering wheel! still going well into the late `60s. Top of the cab had," Ocean Mediterranee-Paris", in that italic script. Often used to see her on the way to Italy. Went up Cenis in a most un Bernard way…fairly quickly…(.well speed is relative on that climb as you know). Parked by her at the top one day…found out why she was powerful…the Bernard diesel had gone, and a ■■■■■■■ sat there!

Happy memories of truly beautiful lorries…

Away to a large Bollinger to recall other operators of these beauties!

Cheerio for now.

[fergie47]

Thanks for all that info John…it’s certainly one of my favorite wagons. I was born in the wrong country, or to late, to have got a job driving one of those…

[buzzer]

For those into bikes when I was much younger I used to do grass track racing with a mate, me as passenger and you had to be very agile for that job and my mate who was pilot and only knew one speed which was flat out. This was the only way to win but there was always some one with more money who could afford better gear but it was great fun even if it scared the crap out of you, cheers Buzzer.

[dieseldennis2]

Hi saviem I was watching the news today and surprise surprise the reporter was in Downing St while he was giving his interview a delivery guy came up to no 10 and on his sack trucks were 2 cases of you’ve guessed it Bolinger I thought he had the wrong address regards Dennis

[rigsby]

someone said somewhere on this thread " saviem for prime minister " ■■?

[fergie47]

rigsby:
someone said somewhere on this thread " saviem for prime minister " ■■?

He’s too good for that job…President Saviem has a better ring to it…

Still haven’t given up hope that he’ll be the next President of France…

[saviem]

Gentlemen, you are too kind.

If that was really Bollinger that was going into no 10…then that explains why my last order was two cases short!!!It arrived for the first time ever on a simple “Noddy” UPS van…I was horrified…No French Haulier of repute…no show of Galic driving skill…just a brown uniform, and a computerised POD …“sign in the box…Sir”!!!

It might as well have been Cat Food…I was horrified…

But it still will taste the same…but the delivery was always my great delight…somehow it was “personal”…and that was more important than anything…

Ah well Im getting old…and off to the Isle of Man tomorrow…

Via a Polish plane from Gloucester…perhaps another Bollinger is called for…

Cheerio for now,

[retired_old_fart]

Got yer seat booked at the Creg, Saviem?

[retired_old_fart]

Got yer seat booked at the Creg, Saviem? A couple of weeks early, though.

[saviem]

Evening Gentlemen,

ROF, had “me snap” at the Creg today…wind…(natural, not mine)…fair blew your head off. Party of “training” travelling marshalls were there, all on tres posh BMWs…why do they wear head cameras on their helmets?

Putting barriers up around the course…bit slippy at Glen Helen this morning.

Back via “Polski Air”…bumpy old flight…but when you see the First Officer, (Mark), and Captain, (Alesandro), with their arms on the window, looking at the Welsh scenery…one knows all is well with the world, (flight), despite the plane bibbling around like a solo 9ft 6in WB 150 Atkinson tractor at 50 mph!!!

And some of the ladies, (2), on board with their heads down, …oh well Gloucester never looked so good!

Cheerio for now…

Are there now more Scania`s on the Island since Chris migrated there?..It would seem so!

[retired_old_fart]

I reckon Chris has got a little “cobble” going on with hardly-used Scanias!
The aircraft seem to have been updated since the days of Ray Darby’s DC3s with bits of aluminium hanging off the trailing edges of the wings!

[john_west]

Saviem:
Evening Gentlemen,

ROF, had “me snap” at the Creg today…wind…(natural, not mine)…fair blew your head off. Party of “training” travelling marshalls were there, all on tres posh BMWs…why do they wear head cameras on their helmets?

Putting barriers up around the course…bit slippy at Glen Helen this morning.

Back via “Polski Air”…bumpy old flight…but when you see the First Officer, (Mark), and Captain, (Alesandro), with their arms on the window, looking at the Welsh scenery…one knows all is well with the world, (flight), despite the plane bibbling around like a solo 9ft 6in WB 150 Atkinson tractor at 50 mph!!!

And some of the ladies, (2), on board with their heads down, …oh well Gloucester never looked so good!

Cheerio for now…

Are there now more Scania`s on the Island since Chris migrated there?..It would seem so!

Last time I went Polski air to the iom, they played a comedic silent movie about fitting electricity to a Beverley hills mansion in the thirties. It had to be silent because my left ear was only about 9 inches from the propellor!

John

[saviem]

Evening all,

John, so you sat on the single seats did you?(left ear problem), I always try to sit at the back…and avoid the emergency exit at all costs, and its, (fractionaly), quieter!..and if we land amongst the Oceanic wind turbines fractionally less responsible…“now how do I open this door”?

You must have been on the one with blue leather seating…no such luck for me, I was on the blue cloth, and the film , (coming back…It did not work going out)!, was the Stonewall Jackson Steamer one…odd how you remember the planes by the film, (working or not),but it is a great idea to use silent films…those planes are mega noisy!

Have you ever flown with the female crew? Super smooth…and the first officer is so tall she can easily reach the hub of the propeller…and she is one of the few to check the blades are" clean".

Some months back I was going over on the 09.10, but as we waited the Terminal fire alarm kept going off…so we were moved outside onto the grass at the front…

Second time one of the “staff” had a big red hi viz, with fire marshall writ bold upon it…and did we know he was “Boss”!!!

Third time we were all in the secure departure point…So the staff evacuated all four of us onto the tarmac, alongside the terminal…with strict instructions to “stand next to the building”…

But next to the building was parked that Dennis fuel tanker…obviously full…(always look at the tyres)…

“Do you think that it would be sensible to remove such vehicle from the building”? quoth I…“We cannot find the driver " said red hi-viz…Shall I move it”, said I…

“NO, you are not insured”… quoth red hi-viz…so I sauntered over to the plane and engaged the , (bored) crew in some amiable conversation…while red hi-viz left burned rubber trails from the heels of his smoking Doc Martins as he speeded to remonstrate with me…

And of course it was yet another false alarm…

Gloucester/Staverton is a great , (and very entertaining ) place to fly from…with free parking…and a Helicopter school to watch as you wait…

Cheerio for now.

[retired_old_fart]

And, of course, the scene of many a motorcycle race in the sixties. Most classes consisted of the “Run what ya brung”, resulting in some pretty hairy overtaking and lapping! Those were the days- fill the tank at the local Shell station, make sure you have plenty of black insulation tape to cover the headlight, remove rear number plate & mirrors and Hey Presto, you’re a motorcycle racer!

[john_west]

hmmm…

No suspicion of black tape over the headlights of Polski Air, but they do work hard for their Zlotys, sorry, Euros now! The First Officer took our luggage from us and shoved it behind a curtain, pointed us to our seats, then contorted himself around the front bulkhead to help fly the thing. His hat was peaked and the peak was pointing forward - not like ROF on his bike, cap turned round backwards, to keep the oil off his neck!

Yes, Saviem, single leather seat on the left. When the blades begin to whirr, you can’t help wondering what would happen if one of them came off, certainly more tragic than a big end failure in an F89!

Back to the film. Sod’s law, it was the same film going home!

Reminded me of a flight home from Saudi in 1981. We’d just got the tristars and ‘wow’ a film! Not the multimedia of today of course, but better than the VC10s, where the only entertainment was to see if we could drink the bar dry.

The film was ‘On Golden Pond’. I fell asleep about half way through, well, we still had to work at emptying the bar…

I took my Stepmother to America on my three week furlough and we stayed with my stepsister in New York.

The film was ‘On Golden Pond’. Ah well, at least I’d see the end of it!

Nah! Fell asleep again.

On the return flight to LHR, the film was yet again…

Fell asleep.

B***** me, the flight on the Tristar back to Saudi - guess what the film was. I still couldn’t stay awake!

Last Christmas the bride said ‘Oh I quite fancy this film, It’s got Jane and Henry Fonda in it…’

No! I’ve still never seen the end of it.

John.

[fergie47]

Couple of pic’s…MACK with a slight problem in winter…but, you didn’t call the local recovery, you waited till a couple of lads came along, joined your tow strops together, and out she’d come,…never short of a helping hand…that’s how it was in those days…and the cost ? well, a couple of cognacs and coffees at the nearest bar…

[fergie47]

If this photo was in black and white, it would be an evocative pic of '70’s France, but it was taken recently on a car / truck rally, still, nice old cars.
And there wont be many of us that don’t know the car on the Leopold trailer, taken in 1994 on route from Beaulieu to an exhibition in France. Leopold are a heavy / specialist haulier, I’ll post some more pic’s of them later.

[fergie47]

Lastly tonight, if you’ve got 7 minuets to spare, you’ll probably enjoy this lot of photo’s.

youtube.com/watch?v=1K3i2j48qwY

[saviem]

Evening all,

Fergie thank`s for that…then I drifted off on the SM 38.280…boy could they whistle…and that one on the video has the “early” , (devils), handbrake…a real B to get off, (as I think John West reported on his), …

I never really mastered the knack…you had to sort of ease the valve lever down…before pulling it up and off…just as tricky as the Clayton Dewander Lock Actuator valve on Atkinsons, and the K serie Dodges.

I once was perspiring with copious “bonus beads”, on a Routiers park in Dijon, unsuccessfully endeavouring to release said fiendish brakes…when a "mature " French driver opened the door of the SM300 demonstrator, and just simply released the brake valve with a broad grin!!!..Did I feel a fool…oh yes!

Great relief when Engineering changed the valve design!!!

Cheerio for now.

[john_west]

Ah, M. Saviem!

The Saviem handbrake. I can bore for France on this. To be honest, releasing it wasn’t a problem, it simply didn’t work!

It was a handle hanging down from below the dash as I remember. You grasped the lever, which had a compressible bit at the end. This allowed the lever to spring forward to the ‘erect’ position. There was a satisfying, orgasmic gasp of air. The lever remained in that position. Unfortunately it had no effect on the vehicle whatsoever!

The Man dealer in Dammam, with a very efficient German mechanic in charge, dealt with any problem I couldn’t handle myself. I rolled in there unit only one lunchtime - can’t remember what the problem was - maybe something to do with the wiring, beautiful in delicate shades of pink and lilacs!

I parked in front of a 20’ storage container, which had had the side taken out for ease of entry. I pulled on the handbrake. It was hot and quiet, they were away for lunch. I slumped forward over the wheel and immediately fell asleep. My reverie was rudely shattered by the world exploding around me.

The windscreen matched the container roof height and the handbrake had failed to stop me rolling forward into it.

Luckily, the expensive MAN windscreen, which of course exactly fitted, was in stock, so as well as fixing my other problem I was eventually able to drive away with a new screen too!

John