Vintage Thing No.87 - SUMB 4x4
This SUMB turned at Boconnoic this year After all that effort on the Candidi Provocatore Allard to change its engine I began to wonder how a side valve Ford flathead engine could still be churned out by a factory in Clermont-Ferrand in 1991. Rob's description of a four-wheel drive NATO Simca rang a distant bell and I referred to my copy of The Observer's Military Vehicles Directory by Bart Vanderveen. Under France: Trucks, ½ to 2 ton, 4x4 , I found the Simca-Unic-Marmon-Boucquet MH600BS. It's a bit of an ugly thing but that's okay with boonie bashers. The engines listed for this device is listed grow in stages from the original 3622cc via 3923cc litres to 4184cc. They still only put out 100 bhp, though, so any excitement is tempered somewhat, but still - phwaor, though, eh?. So who were Simca, Unic, Marmon and Boucquet? I'd heard of the first three. Simca was set up in 1934 to produce Fiats in France under licence and subsequently bought...