Berliet

I think there was two of those, story in T+B many years back. The Leader book mentions Berliet axles being used in heavy Leader trucks. page 111

More there on page 134, six cab overs to Banavas transport,

As a tipper ,one older model GBH12 6x4.
If you could get any photos of other australian ones ,it would be great !

In England,year 1971 advertise in a truck magazine:

Stradair,

I always thought of all the French big truck manufacturers Berliet should have achieved more success exporting to such markets as Australia and maybe Canada, but perhaps their efforts where not serious enough, or came too late - their 1950s products were tested in the Sahara and I believe the old 6 cyl. engines were reliable. The old (1950s) GBO series was comparable to the US offerings and should have worked under Aussi conditions but I don't think any export began there until the 1970s, when the players on the market were fully established...

The above (from Franko Modelle's site) could almost have been taken somewhere in the outback.

I think the same could be said for the big Willemes (pic from here: www.hansebubeforum.de/showtopic.php?threadid=7179 )...


Cheers,

T

Tatra - The French truck manufacturers fell by the way side in Australia, because of a lack of dealerships, lack of spare parts, and a lack of marketing. Not the first time that an overseas manufacturer thought that trucks would sell themselves.
I also personally believe, that many overseas manufacturers don't understand the vast distances in Australia, with nothing in between, that makes trucking a whole lot different proposition to Europe, the U.K. and Nth America. Nothing worse than pulling into Coober Pedy and asking if anyone has a left-handed wing-nut for a Berliet ..
I've pulled into Coober Pedy in the 1960's, via a hitchhike with a truckie, after stripping a fibre timing gear in my Holden ute, between Alice Springs and Coober Pedy (about 250kms out of CP).
I walked into the only workshop in town, and asked the bloke if he had a Holden timing gear .. and he went to a lonely big drum in the corner of the shop, and pulled out a new one .. Holden understood the meaning of "parts backup" ..

Who knows this company which had a Berliet TR 280 in the 80th ?

Berliet had links with Leader , selling to them rear axles.

Hi Stradair, regarding those Berliet rear ends, Mack has offered them for years, I'm not sure if they still do, but I think a few early Titans may have been fitted with them, so that goes back to 1996 at least. I know quiet a few Superliners and some Ultraliners left the factory fitted with Berliet hub reduction. regards jeff.

Many thanks for your comments.The truck history is always funny because nowadays, Berliet which is Renault Trucks since 1978 is in Volvo Trucks group who also owns Mack...
My son owns a Willeme truck, but I show the photo later.