Renault FT and TSF – Numero de Assemblage Chassis Number - Inside Track | Renault TSF Tank Kent

Our last article covered the emergence of the new theory purporting to link the number stamped on an angle iron panel on the front right hand interior of the driver’s cabin area to the Renault FT registration and assembly number. Our own Renault assembled FT surrendered a number of archaeological trophies in the form of a handwritten number discovered on the upper surface of the driver’s hatch, the registration number teased out after painstaking scientific research and this new number found stamped on the interior angle iron section. Our French colleague who has played a key role in original research for our Renault FT continues to challenge our findings. This challenge emanating from the numbers on the angle iron has been confirmed in a number of examples of Renault FT assembled by contractors other than Renault itself. The first image provided by the author Francois Vauvillier in an article titled De Sacre’s Numeros in GBM 101 on page 71. This shows a Delauney Belleville assembled FT with assembly number 4022 (Delauney Belleville range) and a registration number 70022. The second example also from the collection of Vauvillier on page 69 of the same publication shows a Berliet assembled FT with an assembly number of 2786 and a registration number of 73786. Other Berliet examples also show a close link between their registration number and the assembly (chassis) number 73259 and 2253. This could represent a hitch in the assembly line where this FT was held back after failing in one area to then be approved but resulting in a slightly out of sequence later registration number. A number of additional surviving period images provide succour to this theory with some slight outliers as above but have not extended to any Renault FT produced by Renault Billancourt. A well known image of one of the Renault assembled FTs subsequently sent to Poland has a registration number of 66160 and the assembly number of 919. Our assembly number of 994, registration number off 66357 do not appear to fit very well with the emerging convention of Berliet or Delauney-Belleville assembly.

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