Berliet Type M

The Berliet Type M was a chain driven truck that Berliet built in Lyon from 1909 to 1913, with a payload of 3,500 kg, and it is regarded as one of the first modern trucks. Its four cylinder 22 HP engine of 4.5 litres drove the rear wheels by chain through a three speed gearbox, on solid rubber tyres, and the truck could reach 25 km/h, faster than others of its day. Berliet promoted it with a very modern advertising campaign built on the idea that the road extends the rail, since a motor truck could at last replace horse teams at country railway stations. The type won a prize at the War Ministry's endurance trial of 1910 and the French army took at least eight into artillery service before the Berliet CAT and CBD replaced it. A surviving example was found near Bastia in 1987, restored by the Fondation Berliet and listed as a historic monument on 2 November 1988.