Anyone who has been collecting for so long that they have everything they want (or think they do) will have been confronted by the question of what else they are actually looking for. The trouble is that when you stop looking, you stop collecting! Of course for most of us, we never get to that point since the more you buy, the more you understand how complex the maze of model variants and product changes can get - and that in many cases the number of variants out there is truly infinite! This Solido Bernard truck is a perfect illustration of that!

At the Reims vintage car show in 2010 (which I find much more fun than many of our Parisian shows) I stopped by a booth where I saw this truck on display and my collector’s curiosity pushed me to take a closer look. The model is normally issued in the Sahara, PL2 or PL4 construction gift sets (made possible by its screw-together assembly design) - meaning the owner can put together an infinite combination of Berliet, Bernard, Willeme and Unic trucks - something that many did since the emphasis of these sets was on assembling, disassembling and re-assembling new truck variations.

As such, it was the fact that this Bernard truck was all one consistent colour that made me take notice of it. Looking at it, I was surprised to see that the truck and trailer were riveted together. It was immediately apparent that this model was never part of a build-it-yourself set, but rather was sold ready-made by Solido, with the Bernard cab replacing the Willeme that this model usually comes with for reasons unknown. This model is so rare it is unmentioned in any book - proof that even when one isn’t looking for anything, one often finds something; a happy surprise proving that there are such rarities out there!

Isabelle and Vincent Espinasse. Autojaune.fr

Tags: Vehicles