Mystery

[Gardian]

There's probably an obvious explanation for this, but it's escaping me!

[IMG]http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt15/gardian830/FrenchLorry.jpg[/IMG]

I was browsing through a book that I've just bought - Transports et Voyages 1900 - 1968 - and found this photograph of a lorry taken in 1955.  It's RH drive.  What's more, it's not the only image in the book like this.

Now it could have been a British lorry I suppose, but it is a Parisian registration.  Any ideas anybody?

[Pickles]

At a guess, it could well be a war-surplus UK army lorry. There were lots around, they were cheap, much of France's stock of vehicles had been destroyed or run into the ground during the war ...

Regards

Pickles

[Loiseau]

At one time, French mountain buses had the steering-wheel on the right - I suppose so the drivers could see how near the edge they were.

Angela

[Will]

The truck doesn't look very British, although I can't say what make it is it looks far more European.

My guess is that the clue is in the 'TIR' symbol that the chap in the gendarme hat is applying .Although Transports International Routiers has its origins in the immediate post-war period, it was only formally constituted in 1954, so it could well have been newsworthy in 1955. As TIR was intended to ease international journeys carrying goods then if some trucks were intended mainly for trips to countries that drove on the left, they could well have been right hand drive, even though they were French. Just as some British hauliers use LHD trucks for European voyages today.

[PaulT]

Will comments made me remember reading in a magazine of a trip from London to Manchester in the 50s and what a horror of a journey.

Wonder what the journey from, say, Glasgow to  Costa Del Sol was like by lorry in the 50s - and people moan about motorways.

[idun]

I know that there were RH drive lorries in Italy for the mountain routes, still maybe, just so the driver can see how close they are to the edge............. I suppose as was said, that this was for the same reason.

[Gardian]

Sorry for the delay in replying - been away for a few days.

I reckon that a combination of Will's & Pickles' suggestions could well be the answer.  Thanks for the ideas. 

[AnOther]

A great many French vehicles were made in both LH &

RHD, Hotchkiss, Amilcar, Facel Vega, and Corre La Licorne, are some examples which spring to mind immediately.

If you're bored one cold Winter's evening...........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_motor_vehicle_manufacturers_of_France [;-)]

[Will]

And I think I am correct in saying that just about every Bugatti that left the French factory pre-WW2 was right hand drive. There were some later replicas and conversions that put the driver on the other side. The modern Bugatti, the Veyron, however, is not available at all in RHD, but it is built by VW, not Bugatti.

[Araucaria]

Citroën made 2CV-based post office vans for the Belgian market that were RHD: the idea was that the postman would be able to get out onto the kerb rather than into the traffic.

And if I remember rightly, back in the 70s one used to see Italian TIR lorries in the UK that were RHD: these had been built for the Italian market. It was thought to be a safety feature to put the driver where he had a good view of the nearside of the road (possibly the lorries were too slow for overtaking in Europe to be an issue).

[Pickles]

[quote user="Will"]The truck doesn't look very British, although I can't say what make it is it looks far more European.[/quote]

I have a hunch that it is a Scania ... and Sweden was a RHD country until 1967.

Regards

Pickles

[Araucaria]

The radiator grille doesn't look much like a Scania: they were always a bit more square.

Could it be a Swiss (ex-military?) Saurer, like this one (though not that precise model). You'll note that it is RHD.

[PaulT]

[quote user="Araucaria"]Citroën made 2CV-based post office vans for the Belgian market that were RHD: the idea was that the postman would be able to get out onto the kerb rather than into the traffic.

And if I remember rightly, back in the 70s one used to see Italian TIR lorries in the UK that were RHD: these had been built for the Italian market. It was thought to be a safety feature to put the driver where he had a good view of the nearside of the road (possibly the lorries were too slow for overtaking in Europe to be an issue).
[/quote]

And the only RHD vehicle built and used in the US is.......the US Mail van - so they can put the mail in the box without getting out.

[Keni]

The other half says did it get a CofC?

[cooperlola]

I posed this question on another forum (petrolheads) and one interesting point which came up was the fact that the TIR treaty seems to have been made in 1975, thus this begs the question about the declared date of the photo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIR_Treaty

The consensus in that other place is towards Saurer also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurer

[Ron-sur-Marne]

Its a Saurer truck, a Swiss maker who had a manufacturing subsidiary in France. They were powerful, good quality trucks and buses, popular in hilly regions - where their ability to climb hills AND stop when going downhill made them worth their higher than average cost.

Like most trucks from mountainous regions until the 60's they were right-hand drive, so that the driver could get close to the edge safely. Most Swiss, Italian & Austrian trucks were rhd in the old days.

In Clermont-Ferrand, for example, the buses were bonneted french-built Saurers with rhd up to the 1950's.

Regarding rhd cars - the expensive continental chauffeur-driven cars were often rhd, so that the driver could leap out and open the kerbside rear door for his passenger. Apart from Bugattis, makes such as Delage Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza and even big Renaults were rhd.

By this logic, Rollses and Bentleys should have been lhd in UK, but they weren't... perhaps the footman or hotel doorman was supposed to open the car door?

As an aside, as an an occasional HGV driver I can confirm that its a lot easier to drive a truck on narrow roads with the steering wheel on the kerb side.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Ron-sur-Marne"]As an aside, as an an occasional HGV driver I can confirm that its a lot easier to drive a truck on narrow roads with the steering wheel on the kerb side.[/quote]My o/h moans like mad when he has to drive my car which is lhd because he says he finds it so much more difficult to keep in on narrow roads.  Funny, as this didn't seem to be a problem to him when he drove his own rhd when it lived in Britain with us!  There was me thinking it was just a feeble excuse...

Interesting stuff, Ron.

[Chancer]

I am oe of the blokes that lack spatial awareness, I have for a few days been trying to work out just how this driving on the side of a maounatin works better with RHD, I kept thinking surely it is the opposite in the oposite direction and what about the zig zaggy alpine roads where the drop is on the left on one section and the right on another.

And then the penny finally dropped [I]

I vividly remember cycling down "the road of death" to Coroico in Bolivia, squeezing past the trucks with the sheer drop below, IIRC some of them were RHD.

[Loiseau]

Well I wish that our hire car in the mountainous French island of La Reunion had had RHD!   It was almost impossible to gauge how close we were to the edge of the tarmac and the deep adjacent ditches.

Angela

[woolybanana]

If you had looked on the back seat, they provided parachutes!

[powerdesal]

As a totally irrelevant comment........I always found caravan towing in UK easier with a LHD tow vehicle.

[Loiseau]

QUOTE

If you had looked on the back seat, they provided parachutes!

END QUOTE

As you well know, Wooly, the Vendee provides little opportunity to practise either mountain driving or parachute jumping!

Angela

[Holedigger]

I asked a French friend why so many pre war French cars in French museums were RHD.

His answer was that in the days of prioritie a droite it made more sense to be sitting on the right.

[Loiseau]

And there are still plenty of "priorite a droite" junctions today (just look for those "X" crossroad signs) - so maybe we are best off in our RHD vehicles after all!

Angela