Classic Refuse Trucks LABRIE

Labrie
St. Nicolas, Quebec

The Labrie Expert 1000 front loader

    Looking to build a front loader for the Canadian market, Claude Boivan secured the rights to build the Bowles front loader in 1984, which was sold under the Labrie name. Soon after, the Labrie 200 series was added, a drop-frame side loader using a main body similar to the front loader. Perfectly timed for the recycling boom of the 1980s, Labrie then introduced the patented Top Select, a multi-compartment side-bucket loader which became one of the most popular recycling trucks of all time.

    Automizer ASLs arrived for 2004, with arms manufactured at Labrie's new Industrial Lifters plant. A modern, seamless-bodied Expert 2000 arrived for 2006, updating their best selling MSL model. In a major coup that same year, Labrie acquired the Leach/Wittke brands from Federal Signal, moving production of the 2R, Alpha and Starlight models from Alberta to Quebec, although maintaining these companies a separate marques. The original Leach facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin now serves as their USA customer support facility.

    In 2012, Labrie Enviroquip Grouptook over Pendpac, of Fairview, Oklahoma. That product line, which also included the Impac and Sprinter side loader models, has been consolidated into the Labrie product family. Through innovation and timely acquisition, Labrie has built itself into a major force in the North American market, and sports its most advanced and diverse product line ever.

1985 Labrie Expert 200 side loader, with flat-back cowl cab also built by Labrie

The 200 series had a unitized body and hopper assembly

1990 Labrie 200 side loader

Late 1990s Labrie 200 with shortened overall body height

The Top Select arrived just in time for the recycling boom of the 1980s, and was available in 29-yard single sided loading (model 1000) and a 31-cubic yard dual-side (model 2000). Claude Boivan had practically invented a whole new category of refuse truck, based on the bucket-lift concept dating back to the 1920s. With a low-loading street-side trough, these were easy on operators, especially when specified with RH drive cab controls. 6 interior compartments could be made, with adjustable dividers on 12" centers. Two roof-mounted cylinders operated the mechanism, and options included a plastics crusher, air-operated partition locks and a container attachment for 90-gallon carts.

Early Labrie front loader, built under license from the S. Vincen Bowles Company of California

Labrie Top Select 1000

2002 Labrie Optimizer 40-yard; current front loader production is sold under the Wittke name

The Expert 2000 curved-side drop-frame manual side loader

CNG-powered Automizer standard-frame automated side loader (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Automizer FE full-eject ASL (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Minimax compact side loader (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Labrie Predator pendulum-packer ASL, formerly Pendpac (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Labrie Sprinter commercial ASL, formerly Pendpac (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Impac circular side loader, a Pendpac model tracing its roots back to the original EMCO (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

Predator is a leaf-vacuum body based on the Impac (Labrie Enviroquip photo)

REFERENCES

Special thanks to Louis-Charles Lefebvre at Labrie Enviroquip for the early model images

Wittke page at Classic Refuse Trucks

Leach album at Classic Refuse Trucks

Vintage Labrie Literature in PDF at the Classic Refuse Trucks Library

SELECTED PATENTS

Patent #	Description	Inventor	Assignee	Date
CA1264702A	Recyclable refuse collecting and transport vehicle...	Boivan		March 23, 1988
US5421689A	Refuse compaction vehicle	Boivan		April 12, 1993
US5988972A	Double action compactor with fixed sub-compartments	Boivan		March 6, 1998