Founded in 1992, Charge Utile (Live Load) immediately imposed itself as the reference in the domain of lorry collecting and all old utility vehicle collecting, both life-size and miniature: heavy haulage lorries, shopkeepers vans, removals lorries, delivery vans, regular line and package tour coaches, town buses, fire brigade vehicles, together with military vehicles, without forgetting farm tractors, public works vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances and hearses, postal vans and so many more utility vehicles.
Every month, our readers and our subscribers devour their favourite magazine, which gets bigger all the time, constantly offering them slightly more articles and columns, a few more souvenirs of the grand period of the Berliets, the Willèmes and the Latils which travelled the country, or Bernards, Saurers and Unics parked, all quiet on the lorry parks, at midday…And what a flavour the old Vierzon, Vendeuvre, John Deere, Farmall and all the other farm tractors have when they pop up from our pages, recalling the times when they furrowed the land of our childhood.
Charge Utile: you did say Utility?
The main idea which started the magazine and which has never been refuted since is very simple: “if it was utility, that’s good enough for us!” The great saga of road transport from the twenties to the seventies: the history smelling good of farm machines, the tranquil shuttles of coaches and buses in our streets and roads, the ever-so-familiar sight of the circus caravans and publicity vehicles, the gleaming red of the fire brigade’s vehicles taking off from the nearest fire station … It’s all that, that old daily magic, which Charge Utile recalls each month for the greatest joy of its readers, who are lovers of the full-sized machines just as much as the scaled-down miniature versions.
A touch of nostalgia, a top-up of knowledge
The first thing that strikes one when one leafs through Charge Utile is the atmosphere which comes out of its pages. Pleasant nostalgia for what made our childhood or adolescence, that big three-axle Somua struggling up the hill at Rochepot, that Citroën Type 45 coach which bumped us all the way to the neighbouring village market, the famous Delahaye turntable ladder lifting the firemen quickly up to the seventh floor; that good old Vierzon tractor which coughed and spluttered before attacking its acres of wheat without faltering … But do not be mistaken. Even though it loves all these touching scenes, our monthly, Charge Utile is also and especially a real bible for the amateurs who want to find out even more; it’s a permanent guide for demanding connoisseurs, an attentive companion for the addicts in all utility vehicle domains. There is not one author who is a specialist on one of the themes (lorries, coaches and buses, farm vehicles, fire brigade vehicles, public works machines, military vehicles, advertising vehicles, circus caravans, etc) dealt with who has not written or who does not write regularly for our magazine.
Charge Utile delivers on time, and then even more
Apart from very full articles on all the historic aspects of utility vehicles, each month Charge Utile offers a choice of regular columns to its readers which are particularly appreciated:
The Log-Book: a calendar of all the great events, exhibitions, meetings and gatherings of collectors of old vehicles, exchange marts, etc.
Readers’ letters which takes the form of a safari throughout all the wrecks throughout France. How many old trucks, old tractors have been saved just in time from the scrap-heap and become collectors’ items thanks to a timely appearance in our columns.
The Atmosphere column in which all the news from collectors’ associations, new books about old utility vehicles and a host of other news can be found.
The Souvenirs column which gathers together a selection of old photographs which are commented upon and sent in by our readers.
New miniatures, a column of about ten pages which deals with all the new scale models of utility vehicles which have been brought out onto the market.
Small ads which will surprise you by their number, their variety and their clarity. The variety of the number of old vehicles on the market every month bears witness to the vitality of a collecting phenomenon which “is not quite like the others”. Indeed, they do take up a lot of space, but how can one resist the temptation to store away a beautiful recently-restored 1955 Berliet GLB in one’s garage (.. well I didn’t resist temptation).
Finally and this is reserved to our subscribers, Charge Utile offers an extraordinary collection of facsimiles of old publicity prospectuses on all the builders who contributed to the saga of the utility vehicle, be they as famous as Renault or Panhard or just as unknown as Laffly or Rochet-Schneider. Each fall, four new models are added to the collection. Do you already know Charge Utile? Then there’s no need to sing its praises. But if you have just discovered our magazine, go along a bit further and visit these web pages for a little visit. Be my guest.
Jean-François Colombet
Editor
