Berliet GAK

The Berliet GAK was a French range of medium tonnage trucks that Berliet launched in 1958, the first of its medium trucks to carry the fixed forward control Relaxe cab, a design credited to the Franco-American stylist Raymond Loewy. It began with the GAK 5 and GAK 19, powered by the new Magic diesel, a 4.95 litre six cylinder engine of 100 horsepower SAE built on the MAN direct injection design, with a five speed manual gearbox and a two axle chassis of 8.5 tonnes gross weight. The range grew downward with the GAK 4 in 1960 and upward with the GAK 6 and GAK 8 in 1961, and a family of fire fighting versions followed, among them the GAK 17, built in 854 examples, and the GAK 20H, which stayed in production until 1971. A tractor version, the TAK, was shown in 1961. The Stradair of 1965 was meant to replace the range but failed, which kept the GAK in production until after the K series arrived in 1968.