In Praise of French Construction Machinery #FlashbackFriday

This post has been inspired by legendary French machine man Hervé Exca who runs the hugely successful Technique TP forum and Facebook pages, in a recent post he was discussing famous French brands from the past and I figured it would make for a good post here on the blog.

There was a time before the invasion of Japanese, Korean and Chinese manufactured machines, that French contractors could have easily sourced most types of construction equipment from their own domestic market, with many famous and now long-gone manufacturers able to supply anything from excavators to rough terrain forklift trucks.

For many years Poclain led the way in excavator and hydraulic system technology. The distinctive red and white machines were way ahead of their time in many respects, although history and experience with them reminds us that the high-pressure hydraulics were very prone to leaking.

Poclain were eventually gobbled up by the Tenneco organisation with the first move taking place in 1976, when they obtained a 40% share in the business, by the late 1980’s CASE had taken over 90% of the company’s shares, and the rest is history as we know.  

Other excavators of French descent included machines from Oleomat/Richier/Ford, Pingon, Pinguely, and Yumbo, while mini excavators were built by Pel-Job.

Photo Credit: Jimmy Pourcelot.

With excavators you need road going trucks and site dumptrucks to work with them, and the French solution came from truck manufacturer Berliet who made a wide range of vehicles to support the needs of customers in the construction industry.

Photo Credit: Jimmy Pourcelot.

Even bull dozers were produced in France by Richard Continental some examples of which were seen working at the last edition of the Engins Passion event in France. Other tractors were manufactured by CMC and Bondy.

Photo Credit: Jimmy Pourcelot.

Richier also produced motor graders too like this N 531 model seen below.

Add into the mix forklifts from Sambron, and of course still going strong to this day Manitou who offer a wide range of material handling equipment, and let’s not forget Mecalac who still continue to produce some of the most unique and stylish equipment on the market, flying the flag for French manufacturing to this day!