At any British commercial vehicle rally, one can expect to see a rich array of historic vehicles, but almost all will be British-made. This hardly requires any explanation – with such a strong lorry-building industry of our own, there has been little cause for importing foreign products – but it does mean one generally has to book a trip to the Continent if ever one wishes to see foreign marques. There are exceptions to the rule, though, such as this delightful 1926 Renault OS bétaillère which has had just two owners in its 97-year life, the last 45 of which have been spent in rural Kent.
It would be misleading to say that it was imported in 1978 by vintage vehicle enthusiast Ian Macdonald because he was not really an enthusiast when he bought it. He was interested in mechanical things to the same extent that many men are but, at 38 years old, he had never actively sought an historic vehicle. That all changed with a holiday to France.
“I wasn’t looking for it,” he says. “I was on a perambulation in a remote part of France
