By the way, for those who still wish to count B-series LHD units as ‘Europeans’ (or at least honorary ones), I’ve just popped some very good news and pics on my ‘LHD B-series ERFs’ thread.
In the meantime, while I’m on here here’s a couple of pictures by Jerry Cooke of Trans Arabia NGCs. Robert 
I am saddened to see just how much material has now been stripped by a single blogger from this and from the other LHD ERF threads in the name of ‘copyright’. In Britain we used to call this, ‘Working to rule.’ However legitimate and proper this may appear to be, it still amounts to low-level sabotage of our collective efforts to maintain a meaningful thread that can be a legacy for future enthusiasts and historians. I have actually managed to repost a few significant items myself.
The only positive thing I can think of to discourage this behaviour, and to stem the haemmorage, is to revive the ‘ERF 5MW LHD (European)’ that ERF-continental (A-J) started. I originally lent little support to this thread because I felt that it destroyed the integrity of the ‘ERF European (1975)’ thread. However, now that this thread is two or three times larger than it was before, is seems to me that rejuvenating the 5MW thread will be far less destructive than the asset-stripping that is currently under way.
To this end I have ‘loaded’ a massive amount of goodies on that 5MW thread to kick-start it and encourage refocused and more positive behaviour . Robert
To add and correct: had several telephone-calls with Mr. Jean Thibaut of Strée and he confirmed
the tractor (numberplate 9.B.494) was bought in 1973 after a visit to Brussels-show whereas the
drawbar (numberplate JJ.393) was bought in 1974 (price in BF’s 940.000,-) after this model was
exhibited on 1973 Brussels-show and not have been sold via Best Truck Import of Holland. Perhaps
I’ll later input the relevant invoices as well as parts of the maintenance- and spare-parts-manual,
however it will no doubt again lead to numerous discussions…
For the pic-chasers/collectors
ERF-Continental:
To add and correct: had several telephone-calls with Mr. Jean Thibaut of Strée and he confirmed
the tractor (numberplate 9.B.494) was bought in 1973 after a visit to Brussels-show whereas the
drawbar (numberplate JJ.393) was bought in 1974 (price in BF’s 940.000,-) after this model was
exhibited on 1973 Brussels-show and not have been sold via Best Truck Import of Holland. Perhaps
I’ll later input the relevant invoices as well as parts of the maintenance- and spare-parts-manual,
however it will no doubt again lead to numerous discussions…
Nice contribution, thank you. Robert
In the South of Belgium Jemappes Transport had similar lorries, for line-haul, and Delsaert had also some tippers.
Some years ago I saw one parked in a scrap-yard near Hasselt, As or Genk.
@En-Tour-Age: good remark/lead on Jemappes-transport, however are there pictures of their tractors?
I did know they drove Mack- and MAN in colours of Wagner for Caterpillar in Jumet, I frequently saw a
van collecting spare-parts at Van Hove the Mack-importer in Kobbegem
Small world…I was sales-manager for Mack, 1975-1985, dealing with Zwaans, Van Hove and Floor/FTF.
Need to check if some fleet-pictures of Jemappes-transport are kept safe somewhere. There were some
of the Europeans (with that awful SCANIA-look) on it. Guess half a dozen or so. Will PM you in due course
Alexander
Verachtert and Verhey of Rotterdam had some ERF for containers and reefers.
You could verify in BOVAG-blad of early seventies under imported lorries, only
on the number of lorries, not who bought them though
There was an active trade by Bestebreurtje in mid-seventies as the lease for
some transport-companies ended and quite some were exported to North Africa
and Middle East, as I noticed over here with photo-sharing
En-Tour-Age:
Small world…I was sales-manager for Mack, 1975-1985, dealing with Zwaans, Van Hove and Floor/FTF.Need to check if some fleet-pictures of Jemappes-transport are kept safe somewhere. There were some
of the Europeans (with that awful SCANIA-look) on it. Guess half a dozen or so. Will PM you in due courseAlexander
Welcome to the thread Alexander (or should I threads, as I notice you visited the other LHD ERF threads too!)! I love your observation about the ‘awful Scania-look’! Yes, the front-end of the ERF NGC 7MW cab is definitely an ‘acquired taste’ isn’t it? But there: some of us have learnt to love it. I look forward to your future contributions. Jemappes sounds intriguing…Robert
Morning all. I was recently asked why I chose to write a book about the ERF NGC only, and not include all the 5MW variants. Good question. Originally, I chose only the NGC, to keep things simple. In any case we all have our favourite dream machines and where others might write books about Aston Martin DB5s, E-type Jaguars or Volvo F89s, I wanted to write about NGC 420 ‘Europeans’.
Then I found out much more about the 5MW variants. I even seriously considered doing the whole of the book about all three ERF ‘European’s’ - 5MW, 7MW, B-series. But the real problem was trying to work out which of the 5MW-cabbed ERFs were real ‘Europeans’! I discussed this variously with Wobbe Reitsma and with Jerry Cooke at some length and we came to the conclusion that without specific information in a photo caption, examining each actual vehicle or interviewing its original owner, it would be really difficult to know, as no records of this appear to have been saved when ERF closed. The beafed up ‘Europeanised’ driving characteristics are probably the best indicators.
4x2 tractors with 5MW cabs came with: RHD or LHD; about four quite different chassis; at least 7 different engines; at least four different gearboxes; and on top of that, some were highly spec’d as ‘Europeans’ and some were not. And additionally, I have recently started to suspect that some of the ‘Europeans’ may have come with RHD for domestic hauliers doing international work.
In the end, I decided that I should stick only with the NGC for my book, as it was certainly the tidiest option and in any case it fulfilled my original mission.
Robert
ERF-Continental:
For the pic-chasers/collectors
Nice photographs, however I doubt if the tractor really IS from Thibaut…as I recall they had
the early type (so called 5MW■■?) and their drawbar was an European. Need to go over my
archive but perhaps some contributors may or may not confirm.
I do know that Thibaut ran quite some vehicles for many years…a Belgian/Dutch attitude?
En-Tour-Age:
ERF-Continental:
For the pic-chasers/collectorsNice photographs, however I doubt if the tractor really IS from Thibaut…as I recall they had
the early type (so called 5MW■■?) and their drawbar was an European. Need to go over my
archive but perhaps some contributors may or may not confirm.I do know that Thibaut ran quite some vehicles for many years…a Belgian/Dutch attitude?
We await any new information with patience. Robert
For those of you who were much taken by the pics of Mick Jones’s high-roof E-series Special, you may like to know I have received lots more pictures of Jona’s ERFs. Rather than stray too far from this thread, I have posted them all on the E-series ERF thread. Robert
A little more of the personal touch here from Mick Jones. Drivers (L-R: Billy Clem, Micky Jillings, Gypsy Dave Anslow).
Below that is a picture of Taif mountain between Jeddah and Riyadh that so many Trans Arabia road-trains had to negotiate! Robert 
Followers of Trans Arabia might note that there is also a lot of material on the Left-hand-drive B-series ERF thread and some on the LHD 5MW European thread too.
Mick was only in Jeddah three weeks ago and he took these pics. I have several more picures of the modern white TA fleet, so if you want to see more just give us a shout and I’ll post the rest. Robert
Now if you look hard, you can see a rare herd of ERF NGCs grazing in the Saudi desert. They can be shy, retiring creatures you know…! Robert
