Now in preservation, one MAN X 90. Mr Radlmeier also owns this rare example.
michel:
Now in preservation, one MAN X 90. Mr Radlmeier also owns this rare example.
I can remember that motor on the front of Truck and Driver in the 80’s was it?
Evening all,
You know Apple Crumble, in all its flakey, syrupy, glorious, glutinous constituency… crowned with a descant of smooth, heavy, viscous deepest yellow custard, so hot as to make ones taste buds recoil, then revel in its magnificent mystery, is just one of mans most enjoyable and deeply mystic gastronomic experiences…
And I, this evening, have been fortunate to enjoy such deep pleasure. Fortunate , indeed so, because today I have visited that urban profanity, Wolverhampton, to collect a trailer load of bricks, and general building effluvia. Leaving my charge , in the yard of Messers Carver, I chose to walk along the canal a short way, to see first hand the destruction of one of Wolverhamptons outstanding Industrial landmarks, the Steam Mill, of Messers J&N , Miller, as shown in Pete`s pictures.
What do these “elected”, but totally irresponsible vandals propose to erect in its place? More “Whores apartments” , as they have done around the old Albion Mill opposite? Or yet more pre-fabricated accommodation for the Towns new industry, the University. Sweep out the old, throw up the worthless, but new, in its place, that seems to be the motto of these tasteless, faceless persons…what other town turns its central Police station into tacky “apartments”…a night in the cells indeed!
It is doubly nice to see that the past, even the recent past is preserved across that strip of water that seperates us from the mainland of Europe. Davidoff, your friend Julien needs a chrome V8 badge for the front of his SM300! That is a nice replica, but it should have a Burg swop body! Those 300 rigids were a beautiful lorry to drive, and that one looks to have the Saviem gearbox…Do you think that he would be tempted to sell her to an aged British Pensioner■■?
Michel, thank you for those pictures, I wondered if the UXT still existed, I am delighted that she does. What a couple of lorries to own, a UXT, and an X 90. When you think that the X90 was conceived back in the `70s, for the lorry market of the ``90s she was pretty sensational. That Leggo like cab had a Cd of 0.42, quite slippey for a brick! Her bumper, to back of cab measurement was very short, a real advantage on a rigid drawbar chassis in terms of useable body length, and that sleeper box was huge, you could get two 700mm wide bunks in there, and a wardrobe.
Instrumentation was above the drivers eye level, in the screen header , and that example was powered by a “slave” D2566 MTF 290 hp in line 6, taken from the current 19.280. But what would have been the power plant of choice? Perhaps the D2866, as in the later UXT, or yet another" unterflur" engine…but back in the 70s Klaus Flesch was directing his engineering team along the route of straight 6 vertical engine design…a broadly similar path to that being persued in France by the Berliet engineers.
The X90, was not alone as a concept vehicle, in the late 70s. Germany also had the Ackerman Fruehauf sponsored Colani articulated concept, with its Mercedes running gear, in France the new Renault Vehicules Industriels were to launch the Project Virage, that would eventually spawn the Magnum,Bedford were carrying out extensive work on aerodynamics, both for rigids, and artics, resulting in the TM Long Haul concept, and across the Atlantic, Ryder, showed its thinking on the vehicle of the future, with its "Cheese Wedge " design.
MAN, had profited greatly from the design expertise of Bussing, whose revolutionary "Deklaster, of 1965, load over cab concept could be traced in the X90s design. But like Leyland they had tinkered with Gas Turbine s, in the early `70s, in a 6x4 configuration, but had rejected this mode of power. Thinking back to my time in Italy, and the Big MAN V10s whose turbine smooth rocket ship performance was plenty enough to deal with, very nice lorries those products from MAN!
As was the little J range of lorries from Saviem. Backsplice, you have good taste in lorries! But the little JK with its 3.59 litre 100hp 720 engine was only the tip of the ice berg, the Serie J, was a deep old range, and the parent of the Mack MS Range, that was such a sensational range in the US, and became so much part of my daily life for a long time…
Another storey, for another day…wonder if there is any Custard left in the refrigerator…
Cheerio for now.
Saviem:
Evening all,You know Apple Crumble, in all its flakey, syrupy, glorious, glutinous constituency… crowned with a descant of smooth, heavy, viscous deepest yellow custard, so hot as to make ones taste buds recoil, then revel in its magnificent mystery, is just one of mans most enjoyable and deeply mystic gastronomic experiences…
…wonder if there is any Custard left in the refrigerator…
Cheerio for now.
Good old English Bramley’s I assume? And what if you add freshly picked wild blackberries from the hedgerows? Heaven 
Saviem:
Evening all,It is doubly nice to see that the past, even the recent past is preserved across that strip of water that seperates us from the mainland of Europe. Davidoff, your friend Julien needs a chrome V8 badge for the front of his SM300! That is a nice replica, but it should have a Burg swop body! Those 300 rigids were a beautiful lorry to drive, and that one looks to have the Saviem gearbox…Do you think that he would be tempted to sell her to an aged British Pensioner■■?
Hello John,
Well in fact three versions of MAN’s V8 existed in SAVIEM’s SM series. The same block originally delivered 280Hp then following some adjustments to the fuel injection system it was upgraded to 300hp, then 340hp towards the end of its career.
Then the first oil crisis took its toll on this engine which was utterly reliable and had a lot of creamy torque, but left a gurgling sound in the fuel tank. Julien told me that, when fully loaded, his father would often consume 50 to 55 liters/100km, which translates to a whopping 5-6 Mpg.
In response for the necessity to the (then new) concept of fuel efficiency, SAVIEM came in and introduced the SM280TU which was a 6-in-line with a (very large) turbo. This engine quickly became known for its very characteristic (loud!) whistle! If I am not mistaken, this too was a MAN block, the derivative of which later became the 19.321/360 model.
So why do I go into so much detail on the V8? because the badging was slightly different and Julien was insistent on making the vehicle as conform as possible to the original. So the SM280 and 300 had this V8 badge on the side behind the driver and passenger door (like on my pictures), only the 340 had the big aluminium V8 on the front grille. Or so I understood from Julien.
And in response to your final question, I did formally not ask him if the gearbox was a SAVIEM.
But three points lead me to believe it is:
- he did not mention anything about a non-conformity to SAVIEM’s original design as regards the gearbox
- she has SAVIEM’s typical steering column gear change
- the only alternative I could see would be a Fuller and Julien loves his Fullers (he has a Turbostar and several Renault R-Series with the RTO15), so had it been one he certainly would have mentioned it!
Nb: this just makes me wonder - have Fullers ever been converted to column gear change like on SAVIEM?
John, if the money is right he will sell her to you!
But I think he would be extremely proud on the value so do not expect an easy bargain. All the more so since your ability to concentrate during this perilous negotiation would be impaired by the hugely distracting other beauties he has parked up on his property.
But that will be the subject of a different post.
All the best
Saviem, Pickford,s ran some V10 M A N s column change and I think it was only a 5 speed box could have been 6 with a torque converter and 320 bhp if I remember correctly but they would certainly pull. They had sliding doors and I only had a couple of drives in it once in France and once in the UK but I had left when they came into service but bumped into my mate Eric a few times and we just swapped wagons for a couple of hours ( could get into bother these days for it 
) and Eric had never driven a tanker before so we both had a new experience, but they most certainly pulled extremely well and a tad on the thirsty side but a lovely wagon to drive.
cheers Johnnie 
Fergie I think the top picture of the tanker is an Automiesse and I am sure it is Belgium
like this one
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
Fergie I think the top picture of the tanker is an Automiesse and I am sure it is Belgium
like this one
cheers Johnnie
Your right John, I was thinking that when I posted it, but it looked Germanic…so I did… 
Possibly my favorite french wagon, , '60’s, with disc’s all round and air suspension, well before its time…what I’d have given to have driven it…I believe they only made the one, and I THINK the original was scrapped ( Michel or John, do you know ? ) however, it lives again, meticulously built from scratch…and the original below…
Evening all,
Ah David, “badge engineering”, now with Saviem, it is quite easy…
SM280, the first V8, chrome badges on the side of the cab.
SM300 second version, solid chrome badge on centre of grill, (but NOT the later V8 badge with the large 
, and dependent upon availability, and only this criteria, had cab side badges as well…but not all had them.
SM340 last version, the V8 badge as shown on Fergies Mahe picture. .....(Now Mahe were a company that I knew very well, and perhaps should write about.....that 6x4 was for a "special" job! SM280TuT, (not SM280TU), was the French 280 6cyl MAN powered Saviem. This engine was fitted into the last of the 32.240 chassis for the UK market, where it was sold as the 36.280, (247 bhp net DIN). The only true lhd 280TuTs operated from the UK were operated by Allwood Transport Cheltenham, (Don Griffiths, and the hard working, and great company, David Usher, (RIP), on behalf of Douglas Freight Services , Douglas Isle of Man, and supplied via Transports Jean LHariden, of Cap du Finisterre, ex Savifrance Rennes. Registered in the Isle of Man as 280MAN, and 281MAN, on black registration plates.
SM280TU, the last version of the 2156 engine before the PS 30 arrived, and the last “true” Saviem Tractor.
Then came the farcical PXs, a Berliet badged as a Saviem, both in 6 cylinder MIDR 06.35.40. 12 litre form (PX30, as operated by my friends at Romans - sur - Isere in the Drome, Jacques Vacher), as well as the Berliet 356 V8s. I was involved in the supply of one of these “half breeds” a PX40, as a 19 tonne drawbar to AEM, (Auto Express Moderne) La Souteraine, Creuse,(when part of the Groupe Picoty), I think that I wrote something about this amazing firm a while back.
Fergie, It was Rene Bastier, and his Fleet Engineer Roger Chambraud, who inspired Charles Bernard, one of Bernards sons, to build the 8x4 air suspended 32 tonne fridge as shown in your model. Designated 26 DA 8 P 180, (now if my memory is correct that stood for…26tonnes…D the chassis type, “Droit”…8, 8 wheeled, P , Dunlop Pneumatic suspension, 180, 185hp MF 636 6 cylinder Bernard, and 10 speed Bernard gearbox). The hope was to make the Ministry of Mines, accept that there was a safer way to carry a greater payload on a rigid, than the 26tonne gvw limit…sadly they were unsuccessfull, and she became a (heavy, 15 tonnes net, 11 tonnes payload in the 11 metre refrigerated body), 6x2, and then the end! That was a beautiful concept vehicle, very well balanced, and beautifully engineered, on 4 air sprung axles. Powered by the licence built Bernard 185hp Gardner, and whose braking was assisted by a Telma Retarder…what a machine, did we, in the UK have anything to match this collaboration between an operator and manufacturer…in 1962!!! …I think not…just look at that Charbonneaux Television sleeper cab…makes you want to jump behind the wheel does it not?
The , (originally a Renault design feature), column gearchange operated ZF, Fuller, (9 and 13 speed), boxes as well as the Saviem Synchromesh GV350 10 speed. MAN also used this identical gear linkage to operate the ZF, and Fuller installations, including the 13 speed. It was a quick, and easy change pattern, that gave great across cab access, and improved the living space. The argument for dropping it was that the linkage could not handle the increased torque loads of the new generation of synchromesh gearboxes…wonder whose box the engineers planned to use???Or was it a marketing ploy, to “modernise” the range…I know not.
David, I could well be interested in her, and I have found a 340 tractor down in the Var that is for sale as well…And I still love those Euro cabs…grief Ive done some miles in them, and the marque is very close to my heart!!
Fergie, nice picture of two of Onatras Magirus Plutos with the Bauxite 3 way tipping trailers, boy, they did some work, and were both ultra light, and very reliable. Always had a soft spot for Magirus, though I never had much to do with them.......except in the USA, where they were really Fiats…but Magirus was the" Brand"…more of a quality, “German” name I was told…and they were a great seller in the Class 6, and 7 markets…
I must away to a Bollinger…for I have much to contemplate…
That wonderful fleet of AEM, and their exotic Bernards, both Tractors, and rigids, let alone their integral Somua fridges,
Juliens SM rigid…perhaps for sale…
The SM340, definitely for sale, and only one owner,
And Fergies pictures, now there a few stories really lurk…
Cheerio for now.
Fergie47:
One for the experts…a Barreiros with a Saviem cab ?
Interesting story to that one Fergie, the cab is made from Berliet Relax cab pressings. The Spanish lorry market was almost totally closed to outsiders in the 50s/60s, and this deal was designed to help Berliet to sell its components into the Spanish market. It was not a great success…perhaps a story for another night…
Cheerio for now.
Here are a couple of pictures of Ryder’s wedge. I saw this one at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum in Walcott, Iowa. What was the reaction of the US truck-makers when Ryder started producing it’s own trucks? Did they do what the car-makers did when Preston Tucker started making his cars?
Super Azor,the biggest model.
Monsieur ‘Saviem’: continuing my gentle quest for good '70s/'80s tractive units with 9-speed Fullers in; having trawled through various material on here it occurs to me that I could have had a powerful and very reliable unit in the SM340T with a V8 15.45 litre lump at 335 horses and the all-important 9-speed Fuller. Could I have had one of those with the ‘Orient Express’ cab package for the Middle-East run? My scan of the Orient Express brochure only offers their own 10 and 12-speed 'boxes, but the brochure probably pre-dates the SM340T of the late '70s (described in CM as ‘probably the best fleet motor of its time’). Just wondered… Robert
Fergie47:
…Possibly my favorite french wagon, , '60’s, with disc’s all round and air suspension, well before its time…what I’d have given to have driven it…I believe they only made the one, and I THINK the original was scrapped ( Michel or John, do you know ? ) however, it lives again, meticulously built from scratch…and the original below…
Is the rebuilt one full size, or a model? Either way, it is excellent.