Saviem's fan club (Part 1)

[fergie47]

Buzzer:
Hi Fergie here are a couple pics I gleaned from FB, the bus is a 1937 Renault TN4H and is K15, the French army truck is a Simca which is K2 but has a 200td Discovery engine, Buzzer.

Hi John

Couple of good pics there and has provoked some discussion…

I did a guy a favour lending him a trailer not long after we moved here, one of his relatives had died leaving 6 or 7 of those army wagons, 3 were tidy and show condition, and, desperate to get rid of them (as the house had been sold) he offered me one for free and was prepared to even drive me down the south to collect it…sadly it was petrol, and we were so busy with the house, garden, and b&b that I didn’t take him up on it…the thought of one with a 200 or 300 tdi would make a decent show wagon, but a 6 cylinder petrol ! !

[dipster]

Froggy55:

Dipster:
The older Renault buses had gone by the time I moved to Paris in '74. They had what I believe were front wheel drive Saviems, solid-looking this they were.

Are you talking about Paris buses or army trucks? In the '70s, the most common parisian bus was the Saviem SC 10, but it was a conventional rear wheel drive. In the army, they had the all-wheel drive TP 3 and other all-terrain Saviems.

I wasn’t very concise, was I? I apologise! Talking about both.

The lovely older buses were gone from Paris in years there. As I recall the Saviem replacements ran super singles, the hubs of which made me think they might have been front wheel drive. Wrong!

The army vehicle, the Simca, was still in service in the 70’s. I worked in Paris but actually lived in the Versailles, where there were large military bases. So I saw many and often.

[froggy55]

As I reckon you must master perfectly French, here’s an article about the Saviem SC 10, the front wheels of which can indeed let think its front-wheel drive:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVIEM_SC_10

Cheers

Paul

[pv83]

This looks interesting, can only imagine how much more comfortable the Berliet cab was!

[froggy55]

I had never seen that one before! As you say, it must have been night and day compared to the standard US cab (Ward-la France or Corbitt, I reckon?)! The only minus was the access to the engine.

[dipster]

Froggy55:
As I reckon you must master perfectly French, here’s an article about the Saviem SC 10, the front wheels of which can indeed let think its front-wheel drive:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVIEM_SC_10

Cheers

Paul

Thanks for posting this. Yes, I can deal with French having had a very long and happy association with L’Hexagone lasting and enduring over many years.

I read through it with interest. The most surprising thing about this bus for me (other than it was not FWD!) is that it had a tubular beam chassis. I had a Google around but could not find any pics. So I am left wondering what form that took. Was it round or square section, a couple of long tubes or multi-tubular? Anorak stuff but the French have often surprised me with their engineering solutions. They often think quite outside the box.

Any bus people happen to know?

Regards to all who take the time to share their knowledge and experience here.

[eddie_heaton]

I recently discovered this photo, lurking in the darkest recesses of my cluttered francofiling cabinet. This unremarkable motor was photographed in 1983 by the side of the road …( if anyone on here is familiar with the old RN7 ) , just outside Mornas. I recall that they may have doing a bit of resurfacing at the time.

So, working on the premise that anything remotely French belongs here on Saviem’s thread, here it is…it may even prove to be of marginal interest to one or two of our Gallic contributors …or Francophile ex-pats.

The old girl is looking distinctly sorry for herself in this shot, and may well be recalling her far off glory
days at the French equivalent of our Earls Court commercial motor show, recollections, now sadly, nothing but a dim and distant memory.

Taken in 1983, almost 38 years ago, she will almost certainly be long gone by now…It’s quite possible in fact that I may well have shaved with her this very morning.

I’m loving the parking brake though.

It’s just a pity that Mercedes Benz hadn’t considered this system of braking for their commercial vehicles back in the 70s, as I remain convinced to this day, that a couple of rocks, tied to a length of rope and chucked out of the cab window may well have proved to be far more effective than the braking system that they appeared to have chosen to install on a few of the old 1418s that I have driven.

Still,…we survived eh?..amazingly.

[froggy55]

Its a Berliet GLM 10M, produced between 1959 and 1961; 180 bhp SAE; 5 x 2 speed gearbox with two sticks. Obviously has-been, it’s used on off-road work. Has certainly been scrapped since and probably recycled several times in soda cans or bolts.

[michel]

This one is a GLM 10R with Eberspacher turbo from 1958 and preserved not far from Avignon.

[eddie_heaton]

Merde Alors !..180 bhp in a 4 wheeler rigid eh ?..that would have been some kind of muscle way back in 1959 I’m thinking.

I’m also thinking that from a recovery point of view, without the benefit of hydraulic underlift gear, a front end lift on this particular beast could quite well prove to be a bit of a ball-ache.

[froggy55]

Eddie Heaton:
Merde Alors !..180 bhp in a 4 wheeler rigid eh ?..that would have been some kind of muscle way back in 1959 I’m thinking.

I’m also thinking that from a recovery point of view, without the benefit of hydraulic underlift gear, a front end lift on this particular beast could quite well prove to be a bit of a ball-ache.

That was just the average power for a continental truck back in the sixties! Berliet issued theit 12 litres 240 bhp engine in 1964, even if they had the big 14.8 litres 240 bhp MDO engine since 1955, but used mainly for overweight transport.

Bernard 19 DA 180 (1961)

[erf-ngc-european]

Froggy55:

Eddie Heaton:
Merde Alors !..180 bhp in a 4 wheeler rigid eh ?..that would have been some kind of muscle way back in 1959 I’m thinking.

I’m also thinking that from a recovery point of view, without the benefit of hydraulic underlift gear, a front end lift on this particular beast could quite well prove to be a bit of a ball-ache.

That was just the average power for a continental truck back in the sixties! Berliet issued theit 12 litres 240 bhp engine in 1964, even if they had the big 14.8 litres 240 bhp MDO engine since 1955, but used mainly for overweight transport.

0Bernard 19 DA 180 (1961)

I’m not in the least surprised. 125bhp at max weight would be hard work across the Massif Centrale, the Pyrenees or the Alps!

[michel]

Nevertheless, the 5 cylinders Berliet was often used with a trailer like this one.

[dipster]

ERF-NGC-European:

Froggy55:

Eddie Heaton:
Merde Alors !..180 bhp in a 4 wheeler rigid eh ?..that would have been some kind of muscle way back in 1959 I’m thinking.

I’m also thinking that from a recovery point of view, without the benefit of hydraulic underlift gear, a front end lift on this particular beast could quite well prove to be a bit of a ball-ache.

That was just the average power for a continental truck back in the sixties! Berliet issued theit 12 litres 240 bhp engine in 1964, even if they had the big 14.8 litres 240 bhp MDO engine since 1955, but used mainly for overweight transport.

0Bernard 19 DA 180 (1961)

I’m not in the least surprised. 125bhp at max weight would be hard work across the Massif Centrale, the Pyrenees or the Alps!

In daylight hours you would have had plenty of time to admire the often spectacular scenery though!

[eddie_heaton]

Froggy55:

Eddie Heaton:
Merde Alors !..180 bhp in a 4 wheeler rigid eh ?..that would have been some kind of muscle way back in 1959 I’m thinking.

I’m also thinking that from a recovery point of view, without the benefit of hydraulic underlift gear, a front end lift on this particular beast could quite well prove to be a bit of a ball-ache.

That was just the average power for a continental truck back in the sixties! Berliet issued theit 12 litres 240 bhp engine in 1964, even if they had the big 14.8 litres 240 bhp MDO engine since 1955, but used mainly for overweight transport.

0Bernard 19 DA 180 (1961)

I would like to apologise in advance for the comment that I am about to make as it will almost certainly offend some people, but please rest assured that I remain an avid fan of most things French . And to prove it, I actually drive around in a clapped out Citroën C15 van. You may have seen me whizzing around Wigan towing a converted Czech trailer tent , recovered from a déchetterie in the Loire valley incidentally, loaded with scrap metal on my way to Calderbank’s yard…a pile of scrap iron pulling a pile of scrap iron if you will.

But in my specific locality we have a word that perfectly describes the looks of this particular Bernard truck.

Its a dialect word, so I don’t know how to spell it, as I’ve never seen the word in its written form, but the word is pronounced…Far…, as in " far from the madding crowd ", or " over the hills and far away ",
In short, the word far, in common speak, translates as ’ ugly ', and I feel obliged to state that this is the farest ( or most far ) motor that I’ve clapped eyes on in some good while.

I don’t care how many horses are stabled under its ’ far ’ bonnet, and I’m perfectly aware that beauty is only skin deep,…but…well,… as John West would probably put it…" Beauty is only skin deep, whereas far goes to the bone ".

[froggy55]

As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need to apologise for your opinion about that Bernard; just be cause I share it. Nevertheless, it was a mot unusual and innovating cab when it was introduced in 1960, two years before the DAF cab. Just compare it with the Berliet round-bonneted “M” cab or the AEC Mk V which were in production at the same time! Space, visibility and comfort never known at that time, excepted perhaps with some Dutch coachbuilders.

[fergie47]

Eddie Heaton:
[q
in my specific locality we have a word that perfectly describes the looks of this particular Bernard truck.
.

You Sir, are a Philistine, That Bernard, is one of my favorite French Camions…The British were running around in piles of absolute ■■■ in the late 50’s and early '60’s compared to that beautiful piece of kit.
In comparison to any British wagon it was miles ahead of its time, the famous 8 wheeler they built had air suspension and disc brakes too…in 1960 !!

So Mr Heaton, I demand satisfaction for your scandalous disregard for beauty, a duel sir, yes a duel…A French duel at that, seeing as you’ve insulted a French icon, and a thing of beauty.

We will eat plates of escargot,. with garlic bread,until one of us is sick…that’sir, when you lose, will teach you a lesson not to insult that magnificent Bernad…

[fergie47]

A few BEAUTIFUL French wagons…

[fergie47]

Synchronization…

[nei1]

Hello all,

I do hope you forgive my intrusion into your forum and I hope you’ll excuse the preamble. Like a good many folk over the last 12 months, the pandemic has caused me to live life a little differently, and as a keen walker, having hiked many hundreds of miles with my wife before we had children, over the last 12 months with the purchase of suitable slings for our young children we’ve ever increased the distance we can now go from our home up to about seven miles round trip or so carrying the ever growing beasts.

With the beautiful weather this weekend we took the opportunity to catch up with my parents by going for a (socially distanced) walk around the local countryside, along a route I did once last year but was unfortunate enough to get caught in a thunderstorm with my three year old, resulting in a fairly forced march by myself with my head down, hood up at a pace, grumpy, wet and cold child on back.

Doing the same route yesterday with the glorious sunshine, I was able to take in the beautiful countryside, wildlife and other things we tend not to notice with the pace of life in this day and age and came across a memorial plaque down a small track with a cottage and yard nearby, with the name John Goodreid. I took a snap of the plaque as I was intrigued by the touching verse written on it and decided to see if I could discover a bit about this man, who was “Killed here in the place he loved most” and my research has led me to your forums where I seem to have discovered the legacy of a man who was very much larger than life and loved by many.

I’ve very much enjoyed reading some of his posts and have found his character and charisma shine through the internet, Saviem or John, comes alive in this place and I was amazed to discover that his fan club thread lives on and is still active. I certainly share his love of Laphroiag, but alas, not Bollinger!

Given the high regard he was held here, and how his unfortunate passing a few years ago met with such sadness and touching tributes by many of the members here I thought you might find some comfort in the memorial and in knowing that even after his death, his posts have been making a stranger smile today.

I’m sorry for the loss so many of you felt, Saviem does indeed sound like the sort of chap I would very much have enjoyed meeting in one of our local pubs and getting to know, and the little insights I’ve gleaned into his life and interests here made me feel it was appropriate to make the effort to register here and post, once again I do hope you don’t mind, as my knowledge of any sort of motor vehicle is limited to filling the fuel tank, changing a tyre or battery and checking the oil!

All the best.

Neil

(I did intend to post on his other thread here but it appears to have been locked or I don’t possess the ability to post in it, perhaps a moderator may link this post back to that thread.)