Well that puts my theorising about ERF down the bog, except that ERF was selling a 14 litre engine against a 10litre (Volvo). Considering that, and the fact that the ERF had a higher residual than the F10, why did ERF not charge more for the thing new?
An interesting thread with some perceptive and informed comments. Some companies who were, and are large purchasers actually play the market to their advantage when they make a deal. They are not too concerned about the actual vehicle spec or the size of the cab. As an example I will refer to my former employer, Turners (Soham) Ltd., who would frequently buy large batches of trucks that were at the end of their production life. Turners always had a reputation for buying “fleet spec” trucks until they bought a batch of 25 Volvo F88s in 1977. These were bought at a time when the F10 was being launched so the F88s were bought at a very advantageous price to Turners. They have always been ready to take advantage of a good deal and have the financial strength and clout to do so. In my years at Turners from approximately 1990 until 2005 the fleet spec truck reigned supreme, Volvo FL10, Scania P93, and DAF85, along with ERFs.
Still being involved in transport today, then payload is not quite as important as it used to be (unless you are running tippers that is). The majority of our work is on a job rate basis, including our bulk powder tanks, where 27-28 tonnes is the maximum load. Some loads are still paid on a tonnage rate and only last week one driver achieved a legal payload of 29.200 tonnes with a load of scrap railway lines (paid on tonnage) with a small wheel DAF85CF and 13.6 metres flat trailer.
[zb]
anorak:
Well that puts my theorising about ERF down the bog, except that ERF was selling a 14 litre engine against a 10litre (Volvo). Considering that, and the fact that the ERF had a higher residual than the F10, why did ERF not charge more for the thing new?
Evening all, Anorak, they priced against the competition, 320hp/360hp range, which was where the market was going at that time. TheE14 was a direct competitor to the Volvo 10 litre in nett hp terms. It was a fleet lorry, but with a good acceptable specification. Personally I found the E series a very robust, and cheap lorry to run. As a comparison the Seddon Atkinson Stratocruisers worked out at around 1p per Km extra cost over the ERFs on a 3year, 100000 miles per year contract, and around .75 pence per mile cheaper than the Volvo F10, and .65 pence per mile cheaper over the 113 360 Scania.) The dear old, (and I liked them), 1628, and 1633 Mercedes cost a whopping 1,5 pence per mile above the E14 ERFs to run on a similar basis…and the Dealers were horrible to work with, as were Mercedes themselves, (less than ethical I found personally)!! But they were easy to sell for export when we had done with them, and a lot of mine went to the East, and quite a few to Cyprus!
Residual wise the ERFs could always be retailed at above their Guaranteed Residual value, the Volvos were easier to return to the supplier, although oddly we found sale values above Guaranteed buyback with the F10s, and the FL10s with the “trade”! A similar situation existed with the P cab Scanias, although we never ever returned an R cab. They always found a good retail market, and in fact we had a waiting list for ex contract, or rental R cabs! The same with those box on wheels 95 series DAFs, fat, lardy arsed, but people loved them!
One last thought, one major advantage that our European "friends " had over our domestic manufacturers, (and it is an enormous one), any losses incurred in export markets could be off set against future tax payments…a situation that was never enjoyed by our own manufacturing base…talk about “knobbling the horse”…have we always had a death wish in the UK■■?
I shall away to a Bollinger to contemplate the same, apparantly my new knee comes from Slovenia…same as the loader on one of my tractors…I prefer the loader!
Cheerio for now.
Saviem:
[zb]
anorak:
Well that puts my theorising about ERF down the bog, except that ERF was selling a 14 litre engine against a 10litre (Volvo). Considering that, and the fact that the ERF had a higher residual than the F10, why did ERF not charge more for the thing new?Evening all, Anorak, they priced against the competition, 320hp/360hp range, which was where the market was going at that time. TheE14 was a direct competitor to the Volvo 10 litre in nett hp terms. It was a fleet lorry, but with a good acceptable specification. Personally I found the E series a very robust, and cheap lorry to run. As a comparison the Seddon Atkinson Stratocruisers worked out at around 1p per Km extra cost over the ERFs on a 3year, 100000 miles per year contract, and around .75 pence per mile cheaper than the Volvo F10, and .65 pence per mile cheaper over the 113 360 Scania.) The dear old, (and I liked them), 1628, and 1633 Mercedes cost a whopping 1,5 pence per mile above the E14 ERFs to run on a similar basis…and the Dealers were horrible to work with, as were Mercedes themselves, (less than ethical I found personally)!! But they were easy to sell for export when we had done with them, and a lot of mine went to the East, and quite a few to Cyprus!
Residual wise the ERFs could always be retailed at above their Guaranteed Residual value, the Volvos were easier to return to the supplier, although oddly we found sale values above Guaranteed buyback with the F10s, and the FL10s with the “trade”! A similar situation existed with the P cab Scanias, although we never ever returned an R cab. They always found a good retail market, and in fact we had a waiting list for ex contract, or rental R cabs! The same with those box on wheels 95 series DAFs, fat, lardy arsed, but people loved them!
One last thought, one major advantage that our European "friends " had over our domestic manufacturers, (and it is an enormous one), any losses incurred in export markets could be off set against future tax payments…a situation that was never enjoyed by our own manufacturing base…talk about “knobbling the horse”…have we always had a death wish in the UK■■?
I shall away to a Bollinger to contemplate the same, apparantly my new knee comes from Slovenia…same as the loader on one of my tractors…I prefer the loader!
Cheerio for now.
You will have to run the knee in John. 
Cheers Dave.