ERF (lorry manufacturer)
Encyclopedia
ERF was a British
truck
manufacturer
. Established in 1933 by Dennis Foden, its factory in Sandbach
, Cheshire
was closed in 2002, and finished as a marque by owner MAN AG in 2007.
, Cheshire
, the company made their own chassis
and cab
s, originally with engines from Gardner, but later also Cummins
, Perkins, Detroit Diesel
and Caterpillar Inc.
.
ERFs used to be marketed under the Western Star
badge in some countries such as Australia
. It also built a specialist fire engine
chassis, with a body built on by in-house company JH Jennings, later Cheshire Fire Engineering. However, when recession came in the early 1980s and production fell from a total output of 4,000 chassis per annum, CFE was sold to management to eventually become Saxon Sanbec.
The company was bought by Canadian truck maker Western Star
in 1996. However, after PACCAR
's purchase of Foden
, DAF Trucks
and Leyland Trucks
increased competitive pressure, and Western Star was approached by Freightliner Trucks
corporation, the decision was made to sell ERF.
(for heavy trucks), and a plant in Middlewich
for light trucks - positioned to win a contract from the Ministry of Defence
for 8,000 new British Armed Forces
trucks.
All the ERF trucks were based on MAN's existing products, the only difference being that the ERF model came with the option of specifying use of Cummins
ISMe
power plant as an alternate to MAN's own D20 common rail
power-plant. The Middlewich factory was closed by MAN in 2002, with production of the ECT, ECM and ECL units moved to Salzburg
, Austria
where they are built on the same facilities as their identical MAN counterparts.
In the light of Cummins' intransigence on upgrading the ISMe engine to comply with the Euro4 emission regulations, MAN initially took the decision to replace it completely with the new series of MAN D20 engines. With ERF badging only used for the British market, MAN decided to cease the supply of ERF badged trucks from July 2007.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
manufacturer
Automotive industry
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
. Established in 1933 by Dennis Foden, its factory in Sandbach
Sandbach
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements; Sandbach itself, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock....
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
was closed in 2002, and finished as a marque by owner MAN AG in 2007.
History
Established in 1933 by [Dennis Foden, whose father, Edwin Richard Foden had lately been fired from Fodens Ltd by his step mother. ERF lTD, was founded by Dennis Foden but named in honour of his father. There was no squabble over steam versus diesel; all that is a fabrication. One founder's son, Billy, went to live in Australi in 1924 and the other son, Edwin Richard retired after being fired and went to live in Blackpool. Based in SandbachSandbach
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements; Sandbach itself, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock....
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, the company made their own chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
and cab
Cab
The word cab has a number of meanings, most of which are abbreviations:In transport:* Cabriolet, a horse-drawn carriage* Taxicab* Cabin * Cab , the driving compartment of a locomotive...
s, originally with engines from Gardner, but later also Cummins
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
, Perkins, Detroit Diesel
Detroit Diesel
As a corporation, Daimler Trucks North America has decided to rename the company "DETROIT".Detroit Diesel Corporation is an American-based diesel engine producer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, USA...
and Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
.
ERFs used to be marketed under the Western Star
Western Star Trucks
Western Star Trucks is a Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States based manufacturer of Class 8 commercial trucks and a subsidiary of the German Daimler AG.-History:...
badge in some countries such as Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It also built a specialist fire engine
Fire apparatus
A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
chassis, with a body built on by in-house company JH Jennings, later Cheshire Fire Engineering. However, when recession came in the early 1980s and production fell from a total output of 4,000 chassis per annum, CFE was sold to management to eventually become Saxon Sanbec.
The company was bought by Canadian truck maker Western Star
Western Star Trucks
Western Star Trucks is a Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States based manufacturer of Class 8 commercial trucks and a subsidiary of the German Daimler AG.-History:...
in 1996. However, after PACCAR
PACCAR
PACCAR Inc is the third largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in the world , and has substantial manufacture in light and medium vehicles through its various subsidiaries.-History:...
's purchase of Foden
Foden
Foden may refer to:* Ben Foden , English rugby union player* Giles Foden , British author* Wendy Foden, South African conservation biologist- See also :* Edwin Foden, Sons & Co., a former British truck and bus manufacturer...
, DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...
and Leyland Trucks
Leyland Trucks
Leyland Trucks is the UK's leading medium & heavy duty truck manufacturer and is based in the town of Leyland, Lancashire. It emerged from the bankruptcy of DAF NV as the result of a management buy-out in 1993, and was acquired by PACCAR in 1998, of which it is now a subsidiary...
increased competitive pressure, and Western Star was approached by Freightliner Trucks
Freightliner Trucks
Freightliner Trucks is an American manufacturer of heavy duty trucks, chassis and semi-trailer trucks in the United States. The company was founded as Freightliner Inc in 1942 and is now a division of Daimler Trucks North America, a subsidiary of the German Daimler AG...
corporation, the decision was made to sell ERF.
Purchase by MAN
In 2000, ERF became part of MAN AG. MAN bought the company on the understanding that ERF was profitable, but it was suggested that its Financial Controller had for years been syphoning monies from the company, but a very strong rumour has it that he was made a scapegoat for someone much higher up the tree, and resultantly MAN sued Western Star successfully in the British courts. Freightliner tried to sue Western Star and ERF's former auditors, but failed on technical grounds of corporate negligence.Final model range
ERF's final model range consisted of the ECT, ECM and ECL built on MAN's production line in NurembergNuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
(for heavy trucks), and a plant in Middlewich
Middlewich
Middlewich is a market town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is east of the city of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach....
for light trucks - positioned to win a contract from the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
for 8,000 new British Armed Forces
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
trucks.
All the ERF trucks were based on MAN's existing products, the only difference being that the ERF model came with the option of specifying use of Cummins
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
ISMe
Cummins M Series engine
The Cummins M Series engine is a straight six diesel engine designed and produced by Cummins. It displaces . Introduced as the M11 in 1994, it was built on the previous L10 engine .In 1996, Cummins added electronic controls to improve efficiency...
power plant as an alternate to MAN's own D20 common rail
Common rail
Common rail direct fuel injection is a modern variant of direct fuel injection system for petrol and diesel engines.On diesel engines, it features a high-pressure fuel rail feeding individual solenoid valves, as opposed to low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors...
power-plant. The Middlewich factory was closed by MAN in 2002, with production of the ECT, ECM and ECL units moved to Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
where they are built on the same facilities as their identical MAN counterparts.
In the light of Cummins' intransigence on upgrading the ISMe engine to comply with the Euro4 emission regulations, MAN initially took the decision to replace it completely with the new series of MAN D20 engines. With ERF badging only used for the British market, MAN decided to cease the supply of ERF badged trucks from July 2007.
In popular culture
- On the BBC motoring programme Top Gear, the presenters are challenged to buy lorries and presenter Richard HammondRichard HammondRichard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
buys an ERF from Walker Movements Limited in Leicester. He pronounces the name phonetically. In response to a quip about its diminutive size, Hammond responds by calling it 'the CaterhamCaterham CarsCaterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 , is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A...
of lorries' due to the fact it has an engine that could match Jeremy ClarksonJeremy ClarksonJeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
's 12 litre Renault MagnumRenault MagnumThe Renault Magnum is the flagship model of Renault Trucks, which is available in semi and rigid configurations. Both configurations can be bought with a 6×2 or 4×2 drivetrain...
, but as light and as small as James MayJames MayJames Daniel May is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond....
's Scania P94D. It was also the fastest among the three; it has a top speed that exceeds 90 miles per hour (40 m/s). - Dai Davies OBE, a former ERF director has written a book called ERF - The Inside Story, Davies now lives in Johannesburg in South Africa. He worked his way up from Apprentice when he started working for the firm in 1954 to director of South African, Australian and New Zealand operations.
External links
- ERF.com official website
- History in Fleet Data website