The Unic 75 PC is one of the last trucks to carry the Unic badge. Examples of this medium truck are dated 1982, a few years before the French marque disappeared; a four-wheel-drive version also survives and has been filmed at work.
Unic 75 PC at a glance
| Model | Unic 75 PC |
|---|---|
| Type | medium truck |
| Period | early 1980s; surviving examples dated 1982 |
| Maker | Unic, by then part of Iveco |
| Drive | rear-wheel drive; a 4×4 version is known |
| Badge policy | from 1975 Unic sold rebadged Fiat V.I. trucks |
| Marque ended | Unic name disappeared in 1984 |
| Production ended | truck manufacture in France stopped in 1985 |
No dedicated article on the 75 PC exists; the page uses the Unic company history and the descriptions of surviving 1982 trucks on Wikimedia Commons.
History of the Unic 75 PC
Unic was founded in 1905 by Georges Richard with the backing of Baron Henri de Rothschild, and began with light cars and taxis. In 1922 the company built its first truck and gradually turned towards commercial vehicles; by 1933 it offered what French Wikipedia calls the first complete range of industrial vehicles in France, from 3 to 18 tonnes. In the 1950s Unic was bought by Henri Pigozzi’s Simca, and in 1966 it was integrated into Fiat V.I.
The creation of Iveco in 1975 marked the end of Unic as a designer of its own trucks: from then on the company built only rebadged Fiat commercial vehicles. The Unic name survived for a few more years on the grille and in the French sales network, alongside the Iveco logo at the centre of the grille. The 75 PC belongs to this final period. Photographs on Wikimedia Commons describe surviving vehicles as Unic 75 PC trucks from 1982, and the model appears in both two-axle and four-wheel-drive form.
The end came in 1984. The Trappes plant, which had built Unic-specific vehicles and Fiat models for France since 1975, was turned into a spare-parts warehouse after Iveco-Unic lost a French Army contract: the army did not want Fiat engines produced abroad in its trucks. The Unic marque disappeared in the same year, and in 1985 truck production in France stopped, leaving the Bourbon-Lancy works to build Fiat engines only. The 75 PC therefore stands at the very end of a French truck-making tradition that had begun with taxis and light cars in Puteaux.
Design and features
- Late Unic badge: a truck of the Iveco era, when Unic sold rebadged Fiat vehicles in France.
- Medium-duty model: the 75 PC was smaller than the heavy Izoard and Vercors ranges.
- Four-wheel drive: a 4×4 version survives and is shown in the video below.
- Rare survivor: the known photographs are of 1982 vehicles, close to the end of the marque.
Unic 75 PC versions
- Unic 75 PC: the standard two-axle truck.
- Unic 75 PC 4×4: four-wheel-drive version used on difficult ground.
The 75 PC belongs to the Iveco years, like the Unic Daily; the last heavy trucks designed by Unic itself are covered in the Izoard and Vercors articles, and the whole history is in the Unic collection.
Video: 4×4 Unic 75 pc limite crash
Video by Gibou83 on YouTube.
Sources
- Liste des véhicules Unic, French Wikipedia: Iveco-era models, end of production
- Unic (entreprise), French Wikipedia: company history, Trappes, end of the marque
- Unic, English Wikipedia: founding, early history, Simca and Fiat
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