BLACK GOLD

Berliet’s fame in oil exploration rests on its enormous and extensively publicised T100 models of 1957-60 which rather dubiously were called the world’s biggest lorries. Despite being exhibited in America, Africa and many parts of Europe, there were actually only three of them, and a fourth which worked as a dumptruck on a French nuclear site. There were other and far more numerous Berliet models which worked in the Sahara in the 1950/60s but to the ‘marque of the locomotive’ those were deemed small-fry.

The locomotive allusion dated back to 1909 when the American Locomotive Co obtained a Berliet licence and built over 1000 cars and lorries in a four-year period, including a three tonner which carried a load of soap for the 4145miles across America from Philadelphia to California. This pioneer journey in 1912 took a bone-jarring ninety four days. Berliet proudly bore a stylised locomotive emblem ever afterwards.

Having made 25,000 First World War CBA models, Berliet entered the diesel field in 1930 and by 1932 had 7.2 litre fours and 10.9 litre sixes, some of which were tried in massive six wheelers with self-loading gantries. Whilst eminently suitable for oilfield use, it seems that