The Mack Mid-Liner was Mack’s medium-duty truck, built for it by Renault Véhicules Industriels in France and sold from 1979. It used the cab designed by the Club of Four alliance, competed in the American Class 6 and Class 7 weight categories, and was originally offered as the MS200 and MS300.
Mack Mid-Liner at a glance
| Sold from | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Built by | Renault Véhicules Industriels, France |
| Cab | Club of Four cab-over design |
| Weight class | Class 6 and Class 7 |
| MS200 engine | 5.5 L turbocharged diesel six, 175 hp |
| MS300 engine | 8.8 L turbocharged diesel six, 210 hp |
| Tractor version | MS300 |
| MS250 | heavier-duty version with the smaller engine, mid-1980s |
| Bonneted version | CS (“Conventional Styling”), 1985, with a CS300T tractor |
| Replaced by | Mack Freedom, 2001, also built by Renault |
Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the Club of Four, which covers the Mack Mid-Liner in its Mack section.
History of the Mack Mid-Liner
Renault bought 10 percent of Mack in 1979, and one of the first products of that link was a medium-duty Mack built in France. The Mid-Liner used the cab developed by the Club of Four, the alliance of Saviem, Volvo, DAF and Magirus-Deutz that shared one cab design across four manufacturers to spread the cost of tooling. The alliance, officially the Société Européenne de Travaux et de Développement, was based in Paris, and its cab proved so versatile that it was still in production almost a quarter of a century later, on trucks as varied as the Volvo F6, the Renault Midliner and the Iveco MK.
For Mack, the Club of Four cab was sold as the Mid-Liner and Manager. The first models were the MS200 with a 5.5-litre turbocharged Renault diesel six of 175 hp and the MS300 with an 8.8-litre unit of 210 hp; the MS300 was also available as a tractor unit. In the mid-1980s a heavier-duty MS250 appeared with the less powerful engine. Because American buyers also wanted a conventional truck, Mack developed a bonneted version called the CS — for “Conventional Styling” — which appeared in 1985 and was offered as a tractor in CS300T form.
The Mid-Liner was replaced in 2001 by the Mack Freedom, again built by Renault. By then the cab it used had outlived most of the alliance that created it: Saviem had merged into Renault Véhicules Industriels in 1978, Magirus had become part of Iveco, and DAF had replaced its Club of Four cabs with Leyland designs after the two companies merged in 1987.
Design and features
- Club of Four cab: one shared European cab design, tiltable and cheap to tool, used by four makers and later by Mack.
- Renault engines: 5.5-litre and 8.8-litre turbocharged inline sixes of 175 and 210 hp.
- Class 6 and 7: medium-duty work below Mack’s heavy trucks.
- Two layouts: the cab-over Mid-Liner and the 1985 bonneted CS.
Mack Mid-Liner versions
- MS200: 5.5-litre engine, 175 hp.
- MS300: 8.8-litre engine, 210 hp, also sold as a tractor unit.
- MS250: heavier-duty version with the smaller engine, from the mid-1980s.
- CS and CS300T (from 1985): the bonneted “Conventional Styling” version.
- Mack Freedom (2001): the Renault-built replacement.
The Mid-Liner sat below the heavy Mack R series and the conventional Mack CH series. More trucks are in the Mack collection.
Sources
- Club of Four, English Wikipedia: the alliance, the cab, the Mack Mid-Liner and CS versions
