Berliet PCK

The Berliet PCK was a bus and coach built by Berliet from 1939 to 1952 in two models, the PCK 7 and the PCK 8, sold as a 38 seat coach and as a city bus. Presented in 1939, it was the first Berliet bus with the driving position moved forward across the full width of the body, a direct rival of the Renault ZP and AEMD, and although its design was very conventional it had a distinctive, strongly lowered frame. The PCK 7 had a petrol engine and the PCK 7D was the diesel; production almost stopped during the Second World War and resumed in 1945 with only the diesel. In October 1949 the original four cylinder 7.5 litre 85 horsepower engine gave way to a five cylinder 7.9 litre engine of 120 horsepower and the model became the PCK 8 W, with compressed air brakes on all four wheels and a top speed of 60 km/h. A PCK 8 R with a five speed gearbox followed in October 1950, and production ended in January 1952 against more modern rivals such as the Chausson AP 50 and the Renault R4190.