After a preparation of several months, here we are: 75th Anniversary of the landings in Normandy! Like every year, UNIVEM held its Dog Green Camp in the field next to the Vierville-sur-Mer castle. First vehicles went by road on the 27th May: Jeep, GMC CCKW, DUKW, and the International M425 with its trailer! Tents and sanitary…
This Sherman M4A4 was built in January 1943. It belonged to the 274 M4A4 that were delivered to the French Army and equipped 4 regiments in the 1st and 5th French Armored Division during WW2. It was never hit or destroyed during the war and was modernized after war by the French Army to be…
For the commemoration of the victory on the 8th May 1945, UNIVEM prepared a convoy composed of Jeep, Half-Track M5, GMC DUKW, GMC tipper, International M-2-4, International M426, and Ward-La-France which went Les-Loges-en-Josas in the morning. Vehicles were displayed around the war memorial, place Louis Grenier. The warming coffee offered by the ASPEH (a local…
While a part of members of UNIVEM was in Les-Loges-en-Josas and Vélizy for the commemoration of the Victory on 8th May 1945, another convoy took the route to Enghien-les-Bains. Several Jeep, a Dodge Command Car, a GMC CCKW 353 and the Scout-Car gathered in front of the lake in the morning. At noon, the ceremony took place, and…
For Retromobile, UNIVEM brought this year its last vehicle restored: the Sherman tank! It left Satory at 5:30 Tuesday morning on a truck and arrived an hour later at “Porte de Versailles”. An hour later, the tank was installed on the stand. This year, the stand was shared with the Saumur Tank Museum which brought…
Each year, the city of Wissous commemorates the crash on the 6th of February 1944 oft he B-17 bomber “Old Man” of the 447th Bombgroup of the 8th Air Force as it was hit by the Flak. For this occasion, UNIVEM came with the 3 Half-Track, 1 Dodge Command-Car and 4 Jeep. Like last year,…
Twice a year (in winter and in summer), the “Vincennes en Anciennes” association (a French association gathering owners of classic cars) organises what is called the “Traversée de Paris” (meaning the “Paris Crossing”) where hundreds of classic cars drive around Paris in the morning. Several members of UNIVEM took their Jeep in the streets of…
Anybody living along the Seine where France’s great river winds its way around Boulogne-Billancourt would tell you the same thing: there was no need to keep an alarm clock at home, nor even a wristwatch; ‘La Grande Renault’ kept time for everyone. From its eight great horns, standing on supports seven metres high, this magnificent…
UNIVEM premises are located only a hundred yards away from the historic airfield that saw in 1897 the very first aeroplane taking off the ground. Clement Ader had designed and built it for the military. He also coined the name « avion » which is today the french word for « aeroplane », or « plane » for short. A historical…
UNIVEM had the occasion to get this 2.5 ton Fenwick fork lift. It had some problems, like in the hydraulic circuit. A small team gathered to put it back into running condition in a few weeks. He will become a valuable asset and will ease handling in the workshop.
Our Dodge T110 light truck is undergoing a total restoration. In addition to its cab and mechanical elements we need to rebuild its original “stake and platform” cargo area. We still have the original stakes and planks that made the sides, front and rear of the cargo area but in very poor condition. Most of…
UNIVEM held an open day again during the 2018 European Heritage Day in September. During this sunny weekend, about 1,900 visitors came to (re)discover the vehicles which participated in the liberation of France during WW2. A lot of activities were offered: guided tours of our workshop, diorama with a Follow Me Jeep, broadcast of WW2-era…
This year, UNIVEM participated in the 2018 commemorations of the liberation of the city of Noyon. About fifteen members went to the event with some Jeep, a Command-Car (coming by their own means by road) and two half-tracks, the M5 and the M16 (coming with a transporter). About 300 participants came and were offered several…
Again, UNIVEM was invited by the “Vincennes en Anciennes” association (an association of classic cars) to attend the arrival of their famous event, the “Traversée de Paris”: hundreds of classic cars driving through Paris on Sunday morning. The finish line being in the castle of Meudon, which is on the edge of a wooded plateau, that…
This year again, several members of UNIVEM went to Normandy to commemorate the 74th Anniversary of Normandy landings. Two Jeep and one Dodge of UNIVEM and three Jeep of members came for this event (the vehicles came by their own means by road!). Base camp was as usual at the Vierville-sur-mer castle, owned by the Hausermann family.…