The Panhard company helped by its South African representative, UFI (Union French Industries) gets involved in the adventure. It provides 2 diesel trucks, VS 215 K 88 type model converted into 4x4 by Ateliers Legueu de Meaux (ALM). Equipped with 110 HP engines and 10 speed gearboxes, the trucks are fitted out for the occasion.
The 2 VS 215 model K 88 type Panhard trucks including one equipped with a platform on the cabin for the filmmaker team
The supplies are planned to ensure 2500 km of autonomy and only 3 refuelling points punctuate the journey. The team consists of 6 French and 3 South Africans: a geographer, an entomologist, a palaeontologist, a filmmaker, an operator, an assistant, a mechanic-driver and a driver. François Balsan, industrialist, explorer and writer, project initiator declares: "Mr. Paul Panhard trusts me, I have in mine the hand of this great honest man with a heart of gold ...". The expedition allows a better knowledge of the Kalahari desert and of its inhabitants the Bushmen.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION :
Book : François Balsan. L'Expédition Panhard-Capricorne, Paris, Amiot-Dumont, 1952.