Poclain caught on camera

by Nick Drew | Fri 23 Nov 2018

Poclain caught on camera

Famous French excavator manufacturer Poclain may be long gone now, but many in the plant game still have fond memories of the company and its machines.

Poclain excavators have always been a popular topic on the blog over the years and in many ways it’s not hard to see why. Back in the day these typically French machines were somewhat groundbreaking in their design and were way ahead of their time in terms of cab comfort and styling. On the other hand many may recall the constant stream of hydraulic oil that used to leak out of the high pressure hydraulic systems and the fact that they could run very hot, often making it an uncomfortable experience to sit in one during the long hot summer months that we used to get in the UK.

I recently came across a series of grainy looking videos on You Tube featuring old footage of a Poclain promotional film, despite the poor quality and French voiceover I think you will agree, both these videos are good to watch and to reminisce about Poclain’s finest hour before they were finally taken over by Case, a scenario that saw the distinctive Red, white and grey colour scheme disappear forever.

Even to this day though there is still a strong connection between Case and the old Poclain brand, the site of the Case Customer Centre in Monthyon, Paris, was once the testing and proving ground for Poclain, as such its a very significant area in terms of the development of the modern hydraulic excavator.

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