1955 - 1965

Extracts taken from the CD-Rom "Amicale du Tracteur Renault" (1999 - Jacques Gouet)
and extracts from the "Encyclopédie du Tracteur Renault"
Three volumes (1919-1970) - (1971-2000) - (2000-2005) Editions ETAI
(Reproduced on this site with permission of ETAI)

  In late 1955, Pierre Dreyfus succeeded Pierre Lefaucheux who was killed in a car accident. In his Memorandum No. 143, dated 15 April 1955, Pierre Dreyfus set out the remit for the Agricultural Equipment Division.

"  This Division, reporting to General Management , will address either directly wherever possible, or indirectly in all other cases, all operations of RNUR and of its subsidiaries in respect of agricultural machinery; tractors, tools, research and testing, production, sales, after-sales, etc. Indeed DMA will deal directly with research and testing, sales and after-sales and indirectly with production and the various functional services of the State Management Team."

   Following the Monnet Plan and the adoption by the public authorities of domestic fuel oil, or high-grade diesel, agricultural mechanisation moved quickly towards diesel.

   

In late 1955 Renault released a new range of tractors, the « D » series and its spin-offs, the  « E »series

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The photographs opposite and below, show the « D » series prototypes, released in late 1955; in-house, it was known as the ET5.

In 1956 the US test centre was set up near Pontoise in a farm rented from Félix Potin’s family.      Shortly afterwards in 1958, the DMA rented from the Le Nôtre school (a horticultural training centre at Sonchamp) the buildings necessary to set up a Development Centre and a tractor exhibition        In 1959 the DMA Head Office moved to rue du vieux Pont de Sèvres at Billancourt ; and Daniel Dreyfus became Managing Director .    Head Office housed the research and testing team, the sales and marketing team, the after-sales service, administration services and the spare parts shop.

In 1963 Renault tackled the top-of-the-range market; that is, vehicles over 50hp. The Renault 385 was born; a pioneering tractor design, genuinely powered hydraulically ; and disc brakes (a legacy from the success of the R 8).    Events had hastened the release of the Renault 385 and fresh technical difficulties were threatening to destroy this tractor; so, the after-sales executives and researchers responded quickly and one year later released the MASTER, clear for the most part of the problems that beset the 385.

        Buoyed by its hydraulics experiences, Renault developed a design concept for a depth control device; le Tracto-Control. By late 1965 it had been installed into the entire range. 

    

Translated by LCI Bretagne

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