Here's a bit of a 'rare beast'....it's from John Pugh who says: "Hi Brian, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park (in your back yard?) has a fleet of ex military 4x4 trucks, fitted out with seats, to operate their "African Experience" tours around the park. Most of them are British Bedford M-Types, but there are at least two of these French Renaults (at least that's what I presume they are - you can just see where the Renault badge used to be on the grille). I think there might be a Volvo in the fleet too." Now click through here for more...
John continues:"The trucks operate entirely within the zoo and do not venture onto public roads, hence the lack of reg plates (or tax discs), although one of the Renaults does carry an E-prefix plate. They run mainly on dirt tracks, with some fearsome gradients, so I don't think they have an easy life. Some of the animals (giraffes, zebras, wildebeste) really do seem out in the wild, and their enclosures are not accessible on foot; the African Experience tour is the only way to see them. You have to remind yourself that you're still in Kent! The ride is surprisingly comfortable, despite the rather crude bench seating and the hard suspension, and at £5 for a 75 minute tour, is good value for money!" And old trucks thrown in too John!
In fact the Renault truck is a SAVIEM 4x4 SM8 TRM 4000. SAVIEM (Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Equipements Mécaniques) was a French manufacturer of trucks and buses and a part of the Renault group. Its successors today are Renault Trucks in the truck business and Irisbus in the bus-building world.
I can vaguely remember that the old SAVIEM importer, (I think they were called Nicholson or something like and came from the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire area), brought in a few 4x4s to test the market, as the one in the photo is right hand drive I wonder if it was one of these.
Thanks for the comments, guys. I had an idea that this truck wasn't a Renault as we would know it. Just couldn't think of the name.
Dave: I've checked out another photo I took of this truck, and it is definitely left hand drive, like its stablemate. It also has a hatch on the cab roof. So possibly ex French military?
John
Looking closely I can now see that it is LHD but for some reason has wipers set for RHD. the opposite wiper layout was for many years a favourite of the car and light van division of BLMC.