26-0749 Charge Utile HS 75 - Willème trucks 1960-1964

Brand: Charge Utile
Series: Special Edition N°75 - Willème trucks 1960-1964

(pages: 84)

We're in 1959, at the end of a decade that saw the Willème company expand and diversify its range to a great extent, surfing on the Trente Glorieuses and the oil boom in North Africa. While the fifties ended in apotheosis, heavy clouds began to appear on the horizon. A common market, increased competition, higher research and development costs, ageing models and components and, above all, semi-craft manufacturing and a lack of resources - the sixties were the decade of danger for Willème.

Pierre Willème, Louis' son, and his colleagues did everything in their power to secure a future for their company. A growing number of agreements, notably with English manufacturers AEC for engines and BMC for light trucks, an expanded range with lighter chassis, special fire engines and a new dumper, modernization of models with a six-cylinder AEC engine and a new hooded cab - nothing was left to chance. With this fifth special issue devoted to the great Nanterre brand, relive the history of Willème trucks in the early sixties...