Industrial heritage and culture

Carefully built up since 1982, the heritage is mostly made of the products (private cars, trucks and lorries, buses and coaches), engines and components, and all documents related to their manufacturing, use and industrial and business environment for all periods.

La Fondation Marius Berliet has now got 210 restaured vehicles and an additional 100 to be rebuilt, from 30 different trade names, all french, from 1886 until to-day.
The Archives and Documentation Centre contains more than 300 000 archives and digitalised documents related to some 200 trade names. The Foundation aims at setting the products into its technical, business and human environment.

The cultural dimension of the automotive industry

The products, cars, trucks and buses as well as the Documentation Centre are very useful to students, historians and researchers. They have been used for many university theses in various areas: Industrial History, History of Art, Ethnology….

These resources are also used to designers of historical exhibitions. Members of the Foundation regularly deliver presentations at national or international conferences. Studies are made jointly with the “Direction Generale des Archives de France”.

The Foundation Marius Berliet belongs to the “Conseil Superieur des Archives” created in 1988. Vehicles regularly take part to historical commemorations. The 1910 Berliet M Type has been listed as National Monuments in 1988 as well as the 1899 Latil Front Wheel Drive Axle in 1992 and the 1886 Patay “Colibri” Steam Locomotive by the French Ministry of Culture.