ERF-Continental:
Indeed, the plot thickens…the olive green was ex-König when I am right but in all fairness
out of the NGC-100 few were available on the continent as the majority was doing a great job
for many years…with some exceptions as always
Do we actually know that the olive green unit was ex-Konig? This is the first time you have linked the mystery Konig and the olive green.
By coincidence, Ben Schaap ran his own olive green NGC in Konig colours - might there be some confusion there? By further coincidence, that unit (54-56-JB) ended up as TA 126 in Jeddah!
ERF-Continental:
Well, olive green was König’s livery…and we can go over every page over here…I assume it was a fact
Yes, I concede that the 1976 olive green one for sale had very likely indeed been run in Konig livery. The questions now are: who ran it? And who bought it from Best Trucks?
Don’t end in the scene of Arthur Lowe (aka Captain Mainwaring) in Dad’s Army when the group had to count 10 sheep each out
of 30 sheep in total…who counted which sheep?
You’re doing a great job Rowena and it shows that after roughly 10 years all of a sudden a rabbit comes out of the hat.
DEANB:
Ro, Cant remember if i popped this page on before or not. Its in French.
Good heavens, Dean!! My French is crap but I can understand enough to read that it completely supports your French informant’s intelligence that the Cauvas NGC did indeed have its rear end replaced by a Volvo TN 10.33 double-drive bogie that had been involved in an accident!
It also mentions that MABO of Paris supplied the NGC to Cauvas and that it had an NTC 335 plus 13-speed Fuller 'box. And that it was uprated to 120 tonnes GVW.
A real coup then! Well posted. Yet another mystery solved .I shall add the document to my evidence files.
EDIT ^^^^ to add the important extra piece of information in the article that Cauvas appears to have run TWO ERF NGCs, only one of which had the Volvo back-end grafted on. Well, as the number plate remains the same throughout all our photos of 4x2 and 6x4 units we can only conclude that we still have no picture of the 2nd unit.
However, we do know (from one of Dean’s informants) that the NGC we’ve been calling the ‘White & orange’ NGC was parked outside the Cauvas yard for some time (see photo of it there, below). Was this, then [768RR91 and No.15 on the register] the other unit?
Have you got the other pages of that Charge Utile article, Dean ^^? They might give us a clue. Also, it says Part Two so Part One might also give us a clue, especially if there are more pictures!
The alternative scenario, is that Cauvas’s 2nd ERF NGC was another unit altogether, about which we know nothing !
Rolling over from Dean’s revelationary news on the previous page, OUR NEXT TASK in pursuit of the elusive and stray NGCs is as follows.
To discover if Cauvas’s 2nd NGC was:
(a) The white-with-orange stripe unit registered 7681RR91 and No.15 on the register; which was parked for ages outside their premises.
(b) Or a new, as yet unknown NGC.
(c) Or one of the other French NGCs about which we know little beyond a picture or a registration number. Possible candidates are:
(1) No.38 – on a temporary plate as 2758W92 with Laiteries Preval of Vire, we think as a demonstrator. IT WAS THE SAME COLOUR AS 7681RR91 outside Cauvas.
(2) No.43 – 3987RM50 – was red
(3) No.94 – 9744RA14 – photo is black & white but it looks to be in factory colours
(4) No.95 – 373KJ59 – thought to have ended as fairground vehicle
If the dairies demo unit came from MABO it could well be that this is the other Cauvas lorry. We need witnesses who lived or worked around the Cauvas yard 45 years ago! The Frenchman who accurately described their NGC has having a Volvo rear-end might be a good place to start, Dean.
Meanwhile, here’s the good news: I’ve managed to buy both Charge Utile 301 and 302 (ie Cauvas parts 1 & 2) on ebay! So as soon as they arrive, I’ll post anything new on here .
ERF-NGC-European:
Meanwhile, here’s the good news: I’ve managed to buy both Charge Utile 301 and 302 (ie Cauvas parts 1 & 2) on ebay! So as soon as they arrive, I’ll post anything new on here .
10
…so keep drumming your fingers & put the kettle back on: there’s a postal strike!
ERF-Continental:
Don’t end in the scene of Arthur Lowe (aka Captain Mainwaring) in Dad’s Army when the group had to count 10 sheep each out
of 30 sheep in total…who counted which sheep?
You’re doing a great job Rowena and it shows that after roughly 10 years all of a sudden a rabbit comes out of the hat.
It would be nice if you “EVER” posted anything worth reading instead of crap like above. The Groen road registration i found about 4 years ago.
There must be lots of snippets in the French/Belgium truck magazines from the 70s/80s ?
Ro, This is a very intresting new pic of Pountains ERF in the last colours they operated in,and it shows it driving off a ferry with a 80 ton cased press crown.
Whats really intresting is where its coming off the ferry. Montreal,Canada !!
My friend Dave Lee sent me a copy of this brochure that also features another pic of the ERF when it was in the grey livery.
If you still have ■■■■ Pountain’s contact details it may be worth double checking that it was shipped to Montreal but it clearly states it in the brochure.
DEANB:
Ro, This is a very intresting new pic of Pountains ERF in the last colours they operated in,and it shows it driving off a ferry with a 80 ton cased press crown.
Whats really intresting is where its coming off the ferry. Montreal,Canada !!
My friend Dave Lee sent me a copy of this brochure that also features another pic of the ERF when it was in the grey livery.
If you still have ■■■■ Pountain’s contact details it may be worth double checking that it was shipped to Montreal but it clearly states it in the brochure.
I see in 1981 that the Atlantic Container Line operated between Liverpool and Montreal so possibly the route used.
■■■■ Pountain sold his entire fleet in 1988.
Cracking pictures Dean! And amazing to think of the ERF in Canada.
After Pountains sold it off it went to J & Y Weir of Fernigair and finished its days on ‘internals’ at Ravenscraig (see John Douglas picture below).
Well, I’ve received Charge Utile No.301 which features the first part of the Cauvas history article. Interesting though it is (and with good pictures), it deals with the 1939 to 1975 period; so we’ll have to see what the 2nd half brings us. '75 marks about the start of their ERF period and we already have a page of it that is rich in NGC info.
ERF-NGC-European:
Well, I’ve received Charge Utile No.301 which features the first part of the Cauvas history article. Interesting though it is (and with good pictures), it deals with the 1939 to 1975 period; so we’ll have to see what the 2nd half brings us. '75 marks about the start of their ERF period and we already have a page of it that is rich in NGC info.
Dont think there was anything apart from what i posted,as have the magazine but its not to hand.
ERF-NGC-European:
This excellent ‘find’ was discovered on FB by ‘vwvanman’ and posted on the Middle-East Not Astran thread this morning.
It shows that the Eric Vick Ford Transcontinental was in fact painted into EV livery eventually; as was the LPS Merc. The ERF NGCs ran down with various other lorries in Vick colours including B-series ERFs, a Seddon with day cab, an ERF A-series with a sleeper cab, the Ford Transcon, the Merc LPS, and of course the Richard Read ERFs (5MW, B-series and NGC) plus the Tony Jones Fodens, DAF, ERF NGCs, ERF 5MW etc.
Keep ‘em coming’! Often it’s the circumstantial evidence that leads to the hard evidence in putting together the jigsaw of road transport history.
With reference to the above, here’s a pic of the LPS Merc in its Vick livery and a reminder of the Transcon too. Both are to be found in Middle-East pics showing the NGCs, as indeed is the A-series in the second picture.
At last, I now have Charge Utile 301 and 302. The combined parts 1 & 2 of the Cauvas article run into several pages with good photos.
There are no further ERF pics to show you. But I can show you the additional French text which describes the accident damaged Volvo and its grafting onto the ERF. The text is at variance with the photo caption, as it describes the donor Volvo as a TN12.33 (not a TN10.33), which does make sense as a 6x4 is more likely to be a 12-litre job. The 2nd text also refers to the ERF’s rear axle as being a Rockwell, when in fact they were fitted with Kirkstall D85 hub-reduction drive axles. Here are the combined texts appertaining to the two ERF NGCs:
I’ve read the Lorries of Arabia books. I’m quite into those 7MWs. Can anyone explain why the second two volumes contradict the first volume to such an extent? Just as you get the facts straight in your head, along comes another book and changes everything.
.I shall add the document to my evidence files. 
!
and we already have a page of it that is rich in NGC info.
