Hachette 1:43 Renault 1400 KG Promotional Vehicle: Byrrh Wine Barrel

This model comes in a blister pack

 In the 50s of the last century, the French firm of the Byrrh aperitif drink stood out in the advertising caravan that accompanied the famous Tour de France. This had commissioned some striking barrel-shaped vehicles bodied by JB Chalaud of Aubervilliers using the base of the Renault 1000 and 1400 Kgs light trucks. Of this fleet only a couple of them have survived, still used by Byrrh in their promotional activities.

Byrrh is the name of a cinchona-based aperitif wine that was quite successful, especially before World War II, partly thanks to the exploitation of a well-known brand among the French public. Eager to take advantage of the commercial pull of the famous French cycling event, it began by showing a bus around 1950 but, not considering it sufficiently striking, it commissioned a Renault diesel-powered barrel-vehicle from coachbuilder Commeinhes, surely inspired by others that had already appeared in England and the United States.

Subsequently, Byrrh's ordered other "casks" from another French coachbuilder, Chalaud. The "barrel" was entirely built using aluminum panels, which gave it the advantage of low weight and its anti-corrosion resistance, but even so the small Renault engine (gasoline this time) of two liters, four cylinders in line and almost 50 CVs of power were seen and desired to be able to move the attached device.

The base, as already mentioned, was the Renault light trucks with rear-wheel drive and a classic chassis based on spars that greatly facilitated its bodywork, with practically no adaptation to the truck's mechanical parts. In the case of the tonneau, only the grille was left recognizable with its horizontal bars, the front bumper and the Renault logo, but the front was completely flat (unlike the series model, which was tilted back). The decoration of the bodywork was painted by hand and wood was used in the frame of the front windows and access steps. On this occasion the base was a Renault 1400 Kgs, but later they chose the one ton model .

It was really difficult to drive one of these vehicles for various reasons: the heat inside the passenger compartment, its clumsiness when driving and the "heats" suffered by the engines, with almost 40% of models lying in the ditch somewhere. occasion with a colorful white plume coming out of the engine...