The Club of Four trucks: The most heinous case of rebadging ever.

"not for canada - australian in disguise" (for-canada) 11/02/2020 at 19:31 • Filed to: trucks

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In the 1970s, Europe’s truck manufacturers had a problem. They needed medium-sized trucks to fill in the gap in their lineups. So, as a solution, the Club of Four cab was designed. As the name suggests, it was initially used by four different brands throughout Europe . There was Volvo of Sweden :

Saviem of France :

Magirus of Germany :

And DAF of the Netherlands:

Things, however, would get even more complicated. The European truck market was rapidly going from an industry where different countries used different brands of truck, to one where basically all European brands were sold throughout Europe, and smaller brands got swallowed up by bigger companies. This resulted in the Magirus becoming an Iveco:

The Saviem becoming a Berliet, and later a Renault:

And with Renault’s purchase of Mack in 1979, the truck cab even made it across the pond as the Mack Midliner, complete with the option of a nose (conventional-style hooded trucks were also sold by Renault as the C-Series, but due to European tastes weren’t as popular as they were in North America). Iveco also exported their Club of Four trucks to the States for a short while as well.

I don’t think any one vehicle design has gotten around so much. At least with most of the incessantly rebadged GM vehicles like the Trailblazer and Escudo/Sidekick/Tracker cars , they stayed mostly under the GM umbrella. The original 4 brands are corporately completely unrelated. Especially interesting when you consider how many less truck brands there are out there compared to car brands. Like half of Europe’s truck brands sold a Club of Four variant at one point.

Interestingly, Volvo, Renault, and DAF still share a cab for their smaller trucks, the Volvo FL,   DAF LF, and Renault Range D respectively. It’s a tiny bit less blatant, but you can spot the shared body panels pretty quickly. Renault Trucks these days are actually owned by Volvo, so it makes sense they’d share a truck design.  

The DAF variant , through parent PACCAR, has also made it to North America under the Kenworth and Peterbilt brand names.

In a way, the ghost of the Club of Four lives on.

Svend > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 20:04

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Some trucks were sold as Dodge, while some of those still has the Renault logo badge too.

While some didn’t.

Amoore100 > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 20:15

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See, I never understood if this counted since it’s only cab-sharing, right? The engines, chassis, etc. are  all still individualized by manufacturer as far as I know, which could be wrong as I haven’t done much research. The Renault Maxity/Nissan Atlas is another great example though.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 20:50

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I kind of want a Volvo cab over now, you know, to haul my other janky Volvos around. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Svend 11/02/2020 at 21:18

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Woah, trippy. I didn't know the Dodge name was ever associated with commercial trucks in Europe. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Amoore100 11/02/2020 at 21:18

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Yeah seems like the chassis would be the hard part. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 21:29

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I remember looking at one of those Ken worths (seem to be more common than he Peterbilts) and wondering what company they were a rebadge of. They were pretty low volume as the niche for heavy duty vlcab overs is pretty much relegated to garbage trucks so I wonder if they were really worth it for the brands. 

Svend > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/02/2020 at 21:33

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Ye’, they’d been around for a while.

Svend > Snuze: Needs another Swede 11/02/2020 at 21:37

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Why not really mix it up with a Volvo low entry cab.

Svend > Amoore100 11/02/2020 at 21:41

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It reminds me of a Mitsubishi Fuse Canter.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/02/2020 at 21:44

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I remember reading that a massive chunk of cabover straight truck sales are in the New York area, so PACCAR basically went hard on selling them in New York and only a few were sold outside the Tri-State area. Mack seemed to do a pretty similar thing with their Freedom cabovers (also same cab, based on the previous gen Renault version ) as they also seem to be way more common in NYC than anywhere else.

Looking at NYC on Street View, there’s actually quite a few of the Kenworth/Peterbilt cabovers doing their business. Guess the strategy worked out.

Amoore100 > Svend 11/02/2020 at 21:47

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Nope, that’d be the Nissan NT450.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Svend 11/02/2020 at 21:47

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That is really cool!  Although I kind of like the old style with the round headlights, because it kind of mimics the front end of my 240.  But I could probably get creative and modify a low entry... Hmm...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Svend 11/02/2020 at 22:06

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Haha, it just looks so weird to see some very European looking vans that say Dodge across the front with a Renault logo on it too. What was the reasoning behind using Dodge as a truck/van brand? Must have been some corporate shenanigans.

Makes me think of one of these that got inexplicably stretched upwards.

Jb boin > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 22:11

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I didn’t know all of this but they are the kind of thing that are blended in the landscape, seeing all of these photos, i am not shocked at all.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/02/2020 at 22:13

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Huh, they really must have sold a lot of them in that area to justify bringing the truck there. The heavy and medium duty cabovers just don’t have a presence on the roads anywhere else, it seems. Isuzu has a niche with their light duty cab overs but anything more heavy duty and people seem to prefer the more conventional style. 

Svend > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/03/2020 at 00:54

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I really don't know to be honest. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/03/2020 at 04:47

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very interesting

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/03/2020 at 05:39

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These came from Chrysler’s UK operations and are related to the Turkish DeS oto and Fargo trucks too. Quote from All par:

“ The Kew Dodge truck story starts with Maxwell Motors’ assembly operation, using imported “kits,” in Kew, Surrey, England. Chrysler took over Maxwell, and kept the Kew operation going, giving the name “Chrysler Kew” to a 1930s Plymouth assembled in the plant.

Chrysler later moved Dodge Brothers (Britain) into the Kew plant; they made trucks with a slowly increasing number of domestic (UK) parts, including Perkins diesel engines, which became known as Kew Dodges.

...

Chrysler ran into heavy financial troubles at home, and had to sell its European operations to raise cash. Peugeot bought the company, and, as Hans Ensing wrote, “investigated many strategic options for Dodge Trucks (e.g. with DAF) but finally Peugeot passed Dodge Trucks to Renault, basically because the French government did not want Peugeot to create a new competitor to Renault Trucks.”

The sale was made in 1981, and, in 1983, a Renault nameplate was added alongside the Dodge label. In 1985, with a Renault logo joined the nameplate, and in 1987, the trucks were officially and visibly Renaults. The Dunstable plant lasted until 1993, when it succumbed to low sales, and Dodge, Karrier, and Commer met their final end.

The last Kew Dodge trucks were from Chrysler Sanayi (later renamed Askam), a truck plant that started in 1964. The trucks mostly relied on US drivetrain parts and Perkins diesels, including the Phaser in the 1990s. The company, which sold trucks under the Fargo and DeSoto names, folded in 2015.”

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/03/2020 at 10:41

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Fascinating stuff. I don’t think I really understand why any trucks had to be produced at all though. Renault already had a truck brand and Peugeot wasn’t allowed to do pete with them.

Kind of reminds me of the weird brand swapping with the Freightliner/Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter vans. Except those actually had a substantial market niche that needed tapping.

Oh yeah, and the whole DeSoto and Fargo commercial truck thing is pretty weird. 

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/03/2020 at 11:38

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The Chrysler->PSA -> Renault deal did include Dodge vans (used to be Commers) with their plant and Barr eiros Diesel in Spain. Both of these did continue making Renault badged thin gs .

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/03/2020 at 12:25

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Woah, what an odd looking thing. I really wonder about why the front wheels were skirted for a vehicle that really could the extra handling and stability from a wider front track width and unimpeded turning capability.

It appears some were badged as Dodges and others as Commers.

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/03/2020 at 12:51

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Maybe they used some existing chassis and just decided to make an excessively wide body? I’m not expecting very sporty handling out of them.

I think it was in the production when Chrysler took over the Rootes Group. The Commer name was replaced with Dodge, Fargo and Karrier . That cute van was indeed sold as Fargo in some p la ces. I think Finland did get some Fargos.

From the vans sold here a t least one Fargo and one Commer have survived.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/03/2020 at 13:04

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Wait, were those sold in the US or Canada? I knew they sold version of the Dodge A110 but not those Euro imports.

Also, what on earth is up with this van?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commer

According to Wikipedia it is a “television detector van.” ????

Also Wikipedia says the van , “ was praised for its brakes, cornering, and price, but criticized for its power, comforts, and top speed.” Apparently it handled well despite its  top-heavy appearance.

BTW you don’t need to credit images in comments.

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/04/2020 at 04:09

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I don’t that Commer sourced vans were brought to the US. Like lacked power to keep up with the traffic.

In many European countries you needed to have a license for watching a TV. Some countries enforced this with a detector vans. I think an operating TV can be easily found with those. We only had sharp eyed gu ys circling around and knocking doors.

I’m not en ti rely sure if we did get the US/Canada made “big eyed” vans here. Chrysler did sell fairly good amount of cars so maybe some vans too. Vans were import tax free which made  them very tempting.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/04/2020 at 08:39

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So basically preventing people from stealing cable? What exactly was it detecting that would be different than a legal TV setup?

I’m pretty  sure the Fargo branded Dodges were at least sold in Canada. Probably not the slow and cumbersome Euro vans though. It's still interesting how those two designs seemed to proliferate. 

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/04/2020 at 09:15

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I think the detectors van guys just had a list of the addresses/people that had license. So signal from a house that didn’t have a license could be c hecked. In my country the license system was replaced with a mandatory tax. So now we ’ll pay even though we wouldn’t own a TV.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/04/2020 at 09:27

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Oh, what country is that? (It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me) I’m a college kid in Georgia (the state). That’s very interesting. I wasn’t really alive for the golden age of stealing cable (hehe, weird thing to say but it’s true) but it seems odd that people were usually on foot looking for thieves in the US despite larger distances needing to be traveled.

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/04/2020 at 09:43

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Finland.

I visited Georgia ( and Florida) +10 years ago when I was helping my friend to buy a car from Duluth.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/04/2020 at 09:57

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Interesting. What would you say your favorite part about your country is?

I’m currently living in Atlanta while in college and actually don’t have my car with me. There’s not many places in the US where you can do that and I actually really like it. I miss driving but being able to walk everywhere has its own rewards.

Was that the only part of the US you’ve been to? Haha, I’m really not much more well traveled here than that. I’ve only been out of the southeastern US once. I’m curious, was this you just visiting a friend here and happening to help him buy a car or was this a trip to go buy a car and import it to Finland? 

SpeedSix > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/04/2020 at 14:06

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Commers were sold in Canada (as Commers) in the early 1960s, since Canada as a whole got many more British imports (with our close ties to Britain) compared to the U.S.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > SpeedSix 11/04/2020 at 14:51

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Lucky Canadians, you get a Lada cool stuff that we don't. 

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/05/2020 at 06:36

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Our culture is here very nice. The modification regulations are quite strict compa red to the US, UK or Sweden but quite tolerant com pa red to the most of European countries. But we do a plenty of enthusiasts here and the summer gathering can be quite large in variety. I guess this my favorite part.

There are many other good things here too. Our summer season is very nice and our country is generally very safe. The social security, the healthcare and the st ate of the education are also quite good.

But of course we aren’t a perfect country. Our economy relies heavily in heavy industry products to be expor ted. Locally made consumer goods are getting very scarc e. Nokia used to be pretty important money maker for Finalnd but their role has gotten smaller and smaller.   The a lcoholism is also a big issue here.

I haven’t seen the rest of the US but I did visit Montreal and Vancouver on a business trip. One day I will purchase some rust free car from the west coast and drive it to Florida myself to be shipped to Finland . My yard is currently full and budget doesn’t allow this but maybe a bit later.

I was helping my friend to purchase a car to be imported to Finland. It was a brand new Ford GT (the first reincarnation model) . I had found it through eBay but he needed help to get it moved to Fort Lauderdale and shoved in a shipping container. There are couple of Finnish guys running export businesses in Fort Lauderdale and Houston. Quite a lot of old A merican cars are shipped to Finland and Sweden.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/05/2020 at 10:12

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As I’m sure you’re aware, outside of California, modifications are unregulated here outside of certain emissions equipment. It’s nice when stuff is done right, but stuff is not always done right. A little bit of oversight has its advantages without going full TUV crazy.

I actually love living in the Atlanta area. I’ve not really been many other places but I don’t think my love for this place is bound to change. Everything is here, everything is somewhat close (at least before you factor in traffic), and I love the incredibly diverse culture. We are a city of transplants and you’ll never run out of stories to hear. Plus the actual city itself is an incredibly interesting place to live.

There’s a lot to like about Finland. I hope to visit someday. It does seem to be a running theme to see manufacturing moved out of Europe though. Especially with the economic uncertainty around certain trade issues that haven’t yet been resolved. We too have been having issues with the same thing (see: Lordstown; my Cruze is the best put together American car I’ve been in and they went and shut it down).

I heard Finland has quite a large American car scene. Is there a good mix of classics and modern American imports? I’m not sure how visible the American car export business is around my neck of the woods as it is reasonably far away from the ocean. You mostly avoid the rust issues here though so it makes sense for those businesses to be based down south or on the west coast. If you ever pull off your crazy bucket list dream trip, stop by. Or don’t, as you’d lose many many hours stuck in traffic by passing through the area.

I’m also a little jealous. I’ve not seen a Ford GT in person and you went and bought one of the ones allocated to my area. Of course with so much big money in the Atlanta area I’m sure some are around the place somewhere.

kanadanmajava1 > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 11/06/2020 at 13:46

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When we visited Georgia it was November/December so we didn’t see much exciting cars. I o nly spotted couple of donk cars . While waiting for the paperwork w e went to Atlanta Motor Speedway as the Richard Petty D riving S chool happened to have some event there. My friend bough a ride in a two seater modified former cup car. We did visit S eb ring (which was empty from any activities ) and the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing.

We didn’t see much Atlanta. The Ford assembly plant was still producing Tauruses but we had some kind of rumor that the factory tours weren’t organized.  

The A merican cars have always been quite popular here. The new ones haven’t been available well since 90's and I think Mustang, Teslas and Jeeps are the only American cars that you can buy as new here. I think the Jeeps that are sold here are assembled in A ustria.

But the old ones still exist in big quantities . I have owned several and I still own two. My current ones are US imports (one came from California and the other is a project car from Kansas) but my former ones had been in Finland since new.

We usually prefer cars imported from Calif or ni a, Texas, Arizona etc. that have a n ice climate for preserving cars. Of course good deals might appear in any place. But shiny things from the rust belt might contain a lot of bondo. The shipping is fairly affordable at ~$2000. But the cars have to reach the shipping guys first so in some cases in road transport might be more expensive than the trip in a shipping container.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > kanadanmajava1 11/06/2020 at 14:02

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Definitely. I’ve known a few cars that came from the rust belt down to here and while their paint is usually annoyingly pristine and they are usually free of major sun damage, once you look under them you know to stay away. I have a friend with a rusty old 4Runner that spent a lot of time up north and it looks far better than one local to the southeast from around 10 feet away. Then you see the rust. It’s a real struggle here to keep the sun at bay but cars don’t snap in half down here so I’ll take it.

How much would you say it was to ship and go through the importation taxes, registration, etc? Because that is not a whole lot of money it seems. I guess once you factor in brokers to actually buy the car in the first place plus road transport or plane tickets out to pick it up yourself it balloons in cost.

I’m kind of surprised so many of the old American cars in Finland were original Finnish market ones.

You definitely see more interesting cars out when the weather is nice but as we don’t have to worry about snow here it’s not unheard of for someone to daily something old year round. I have a neighbor that dailies an old VW Type 2 bus year round that still has perfect original floor pans.

You seem to have still gotten a good taste of the city. I think you really missed out now visiting the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest in the world. It’s really something special. I’ve not been to Atlanta Motor Speedway in a loooong time so I can’t really comment on that.