ERF:
Some excellent and accurate LV / A’ Series comparison information on the previous page guys, John is pretty much spot on, as expected, except that some LV’s had a chassis that protruded from the front panel to mount a heavy duty jaw, and these were not A’ Series chassis, which leads me on to Robert, you are close, but the Scott’s of Oldham unit with an 8LV cab and protruding chassis is definitely NOT an A’ Series, so your caption needs changing to reflect that.All A’ Series chassis frames that were fitted with an LV cab had the 7LV structure with set back axle without exception.
The A’ Series drawbar rigids were a stretched tractor unit, but the design was not a success in this format (as I’m sure I have relayed before on here). Stress cracks began to appear in the 12 inch deep chassis rails where the cross members, which were the same items as specified for the 10 inch deep chassis railed 4x2 tractor unit, were bolted on. The A’ Series chassis required a full redesign before it was suitable for rigid vehicles, and that work was carried out by Jack Cooke and his team, and that vehicle became the B’ Series.
All A’ Series chassis equipped vehicles carry an 025 or 026 code in their model designation. Only 4 rigid A’ Series drawbar 4x2 vehicles seem to have been completed, and a handful of 6x4 tractor units, although the old chassis was found to be much superior in terms of strength for both these applications.
ERF themselves can carry some blame for the identification confusion. When the new chassis was launched in 1970 they stated in all the related press releases and articles that “…all ERF vehicles will be A’ Series chassis equipped by 1972” this proved not to be possible, and only the 4x2 tractor unit was actually in production from April 1972. This was an embarrassment to the marketing and sales people, so a minor effort was made to re-brand all 7LV and 8LV products as A’ Series from mid 1973, irrespective of whether they actually were or not. This proposal did not go down at all well with the dealer network who could foresee some very awkward questions being asked by operators who’s new rigid vehicle looked identical underneath to their old one!. Some 1973 issued handbooks and service manuals were actually printed to this effect, but in the event the effort was very soon halted and no sales literature or press releases were actually issued stating that anything other than the 7LV cabbed (or it’s MW equivalent) 4x2 tractor unit in production was actually an A’ Series.
Brilliant! Thanks for that highly illuminating piece,‘ERF’. Robert
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