Rotinoff Motors Ltd was a British commercial vehicle manufacturer based in

Colnbrook Colnbrook is a village in the Slough district in Berkshire, England. It lies within the historic boundaries of Buckinghamshire, and straddles two distributaries of the Colne, the Colne Brook and Wraysbury River. These two streams have their conf ...

in western

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The company was founded in 1952 by the

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian émigré George Rotinoff. The Rotinoff company specialized in the production of

ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible ...

s and heavy transport vehicles. The vehicles of Rotinoff were widely used in Europe as tractors for

tank transporter A tank transporter is a combination of a heavy tractor unit and a mating full trailer or semi-trailer (typically of the "lowboy" type), used for transporting tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Some also function as tank recovery vehi ...

s. In the

Swiss army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

, the Rotinoff Atlantic GR 7 was used from 1958 - 1991 by the tank troops to haul

Centurion tank The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing ...

s. More Rotinoff transporters were in use as

road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...

s in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for the transport of cattle. George Rotinoff died in 1959, and the brand name Rotinoff was then discontinued. Worldwide there are still Rotinoff vehicles in operation today and they are coveted collectibles.

Types

* Rotinoff Atlantic *

Rotinoff Super Atlantic The Rotinoff Super Atlantic is a 6×4 ballast tractor made by the British company Rotinoff Motors Ltd. The Swiss Army bought ten of them (in Atlantic and Super Atlantic configuration) in 1958, which they used to pull trailers built by Scheuerl ...

* Rotinoff Viscount, cattle transporters (2 examples built) * Rotinoff Pacific * Rotinoff Atkinson

Locations of preserved vehicles

Schweizerisches Militärmuseum Full The Schweizerisches Militärmuseum Full is the Swiss military museum, located in Full-Reuenthal, canton Aargau. Collection The museum displays military hardware and uniforms of Swiss and foreign armed forces, mainly from World War II and the Co ...

Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

Sources

Data of the Rotinoff Super Atlantic on militärfahrzeuge.ch

Schweizerisches Militärmuseum Full: Werksammlung Mowag GmbH Kreuzlingen

External links

Video Rotinoff Atlantic

Photo Rotinoff Atlantic

flickr photo group on Rotinoff Trucks
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Slough