CDB in Brussels continues to exercise the mind regarding the importation and distribution of ERF NGCs. I think I have news of a ‘new’ unit that CDB probably handled. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, here is one of their advertisements. This image appears in Lorries of Arabia 2. You will, of course, recognize the Thibaut draw-bar prime-mover as JJ.393. Robert
Continuing, then, with the CDB Brussels theme; we appear to have another NGC in the European camp! I have a little more information about this mystery picture of an NGC in Comart livery taken in Italy by Pasquale Caccavale. It is seen here pulling an MJL tilt (MJL = Michael John Luff). Older Comart drivers report having seen such a unit in their colours. Apparently, it was French-registered and briefly operated by LTL (Luff Transport Ltd), after which it was sold on to a small Belgian operator because it was a non-standard unit.
Given that MABO didn’t start dealing in ERFs until the big B-series arrived in 1977 (according to Philippe Methurin, if you remember), I would have thought that it is highly likely that this NGC was supplied by CDB in Belgium. And even if it wasn’t, and was supplied directly by ERF in the UK, I imagine that the transfer from LTL in France to the Belgian operator would have been brokered by CDB. Perhaps, indeed, this unit went to De Meulemeester of Pittem or Gruwez of Brugge, (bijvoorbelt).
If any of our correspondents on the Continent have access to CDB archives, maybe they can shed a little more light on this transaction, furnishing us with further clues now that we have something to work on.
Robert
And my previous post segues nicely into this one. With Book 2 now on the shelves and new articles in the pipe-line, there is still work to do on the NGC project.
I remain in touch with some of the kind Belgian, Dutch and French contacts who helped me with my research. Indeed, I’ve just received some new pictures from the family of Cees Willemstein who operated two NGCs from Barendrecht in the Netherlands.
The first picture shows DB-77-52 with a container trailer.
The second picture shows the same unit behind their B-series unit.
The third picture shows DB-77-52 on the left and what appears to be 87-67-RB on the right. We know that Cees Willemstein ran the DB-77-52 in the livery of HT. Wilhelminakade and 87-69-RB in the livery of Goodkoop de Geus. However, it is not clear in this picture if 87-69-RB is in its G+G livery, or in Cees’s own CW livery as seen on the two units in the fourth (bottom) picture. It is probably in G+G livery; and is that not a G+G trailer? Robert
Nice to see some new pictures Robert. Out of intrest without me having to go through the whole thread how
many of these were actually built ? Also do you know how many have survived and have been restored ?
DEANB:
Nice to see some new pictures Robert. Out of intrest without me having to go through the whole thread how
many of these were actually built ? Also do you know how many have survived and have been restored ?
91 built, Dean, and 1 restored. There is possibly another being worked on in NL. Robert
No ERF European but wow, the girl next door looks ok for
the promotion of a driving-license-school. No it’s not me!
Marianne
Macadam-woman:
Look at the end of the yardMarianne
Nice! 
Robert
robert1952:
DEANB:
Nice to see some new pictures Robert. Out of intrest without me having to go through the whole thread how
many of these were actually built ? Also do you know how many have survived and have been restored ?91 built, Dean, and 1 restored. There is possibly another being worked on in NL. Robert
Thanks Robert, only 91 built ! Suppose its lucky that one has managed to survive. Hopefully that French one
will be restored.
I am sure you already have,but just a thought have any of your foreign contacts had any luck in searching
for articles in the foreign truck magazines ?
DEANB:
robert1952:
DEANB:
Nice to see some new pictures Robert. Out of intrest without me having to go through the whole thread how
many of these were actually built ? Also do you know how many have survived and have been restored ?91 built, Dean, and 1 restored. There is possibly another being worked on in NL. Robert
Thanks Robert, only 91 built ! Suppose its lucky that one has managed to survive. Hopefully that French one
will be restored.I am sure you already have,but just a thought have any of your foreign contacts had any luck in searching
for articles in the foreign truck magazines ?
Yes! Some have already surfaced and I have posted information (and the odd picture) about them on this thread. However, there must be more out there somewhere! Robert
I notice from the door of GDS 543N, that the full name of the company is Thomas Greer & Sons, of Holytown (I have a much clearer picture of it, that was supplied to me by Peter Davies himself for Lorries of Arabia 2). It’s the only Scottish ERF NGC we know of. Robert
And none is know of in either Wales, N. Ireland or Eire. Robert
Robert
UGE 852R , also appears to have been a Scottish registered one , the registration GE was a Glasgow issue at time of registration .
Casual Observer:
RobertUGE 852R , also appears to have been a Scottish registered one , the registration GE was a Glasgow issue at time of registration .
True, but that particular unit is actually an MDC, not an NGC. The 7MW cab was added later to replace the original 6MW cab.
There are 3 ‘false friends’ in the camp - all of them 6x4: two MDCs, one RHD belonging to Pountains and one LHD belonging to Cauvas (France) and both with retro-fitted 7MW cabs. The third is a 7MW-cabbed Pacific belonging to Loste (France). They will not be listed in the revised version of Lorries of Arabia (book 1), but will nonetheless be mentioned by way of eliminating them from future enquiries.
Cheers, Robert
With the 3 ‘false friends’ (see above) deleted we have about 77 units. However, if we assume that the following pairs are ‘doubles’ - ie, the same unit:
PDF 444R / Q691 NTR (Shamara)
HMO 220N (Calor) / Q824 RGC (BFI wrecker)
TA 107 (Trans Arabia) / ERF demonstrator crashed
TA 126 (Trans Arabia) / 84-56-JB (Schaap)
all of which are highly likely, then we have a total of 73 (out of 91 units) accounted for.
We could very tentatively add an extra Beresford unit if it can be shown that JDF 132N was not the same one as the French-registered Beresford unit based in Le Havre (we now know that JDF was given its registration number while it was still a demonstrator for ERF). That would give us 74 out of 91.
But then there is the business of the Comart coloured LTL unit in France, which passed to a Belgian operator. If we have already counted that vehicle (Gruwez for example), then we could be down to 72 or 73 units in total. There may, too, be other doubles we have not yet identified.
So we still have maybe as many as twenty more NGCs to find! The work goes on. Robert
In 1975 BRS ordered ten LHD Marathons equipped for overland trips to Iran. It still baffles me that ERF didn’t market their more reliable and robust NGC ‘European’ in the UK and ensure that BRS knew about their product. Perhaps BRS did know about this well put together model, but had other more pressing ties with Leyland - who knows? It seems odd, too, that Astran tried (but didn’t buy) Marathons and still didn’t sample the robust NGC. All very strange. 
Robert
robert1952:
In 1975 BRS ordered ten LHD Marathons equipped for overland trips to Iran. It still baffles me that ERF didn’t market their more reliable and robust NGC ‘European’ in the UK and ensure that BRS knew about their product. Perhaps BRS did know about this well put together model, but had other more pressing ties with Leyland - who knows? It seems odd, too, that Astran tried (but didn’t buy) Marathons and still didn’t sample the robust NGC. All very strange.
Leyland set up a service network specifically for ME traffic- something to do with their support of the BRS effort to that region, IIRC. That would have made Leyland a competitor to Scania, in theory. Did ERF have that box ticked?
[zb]
anorak:robert1952:
In 1975 BRS ordered ten LHD Marathons equipped for overland trips to Iran. It still baffles me that ERF didn’t market their more reliable and robust NGC ‘European’ in the UK and ensure that BRS knew about their product. Perhaps BRS did know about this well put together model, but had other more pressing ties with Leyland - who knows? It seems odd, too, that Astran tried (but didn’t buy) Marathons and still didn’t sample the robust NGC. All very strange.Leyland set up a service network specifically for ME traffic- something to do with their support of the BRS effort to that region, IIRC. That would have made Leyland a competitor to Scania, in theory. Did ERF have that box ticked?
No, ERF didn’t have that box ticked. And only hindsight informs us that with or without a support network, the ERF NGC arguably proved to be sufficiently more reliable than the Marathon not to require an elaborate network. I would love to have done a trip down there with a Marathon and then a 2nd trip with the ERF, but of course that is too simplistic because no two trips are remotely the same on M/E work. Robert
