The ‘LV’ Cab was indeed designed by Gerald Broadbent of Bowyer Bros (Boalloy) in Congleton. Gerald was the man who had designed the ‘KV’ cab back in 1952/53 when he worked at JH Jennings, so he was an obvious choice to design a new equally forward thinking replacement.
The Boalloy LV cab was a very innovative design for the time of it’s launch in 1962 at the Earls Court show. It was a huge jig built one piece fibreglass moulding, reinforcement where required was provided by wood and aluminum angle sections bonded into the moulding. It was the first lorry cab to feature a full width opening front panel to assist with access for servicing, vertically mounted push button door handles to avoid snagging by ropes, concealed door hinges, wind-up door windows, a one-piece wrap-around windscreen (unique to this cab) and luxurious (for the time) quilted vinyl cab interior trim.
The Boalloy cab was very expensive to produce, so ERF approached JH Jennings to see if they could produce a version of the LV cab based on Broardbents’ visual design, but built in the traditional style of timber frame with seperate fibreglass panels. This they did, and their version of the LV cab appeared in 1963. Incidentally, the Jennings cab shared no components at all with the Boalloy, both cabs even required seperate windscreen jigs to be built by Triplex.
The Boalloy LV cab only lasted in production until 1964 when about 50 cabs had been completed. After that all LV cab production was by JH Jennings.
So, there were lots of detail changes, but here we go with a very basic run-down…
LV Boalloy cab - always a ‘set back’ axle, in production 1962-64.
First type LV Jennings cab, always ‘set back’ axle with long doors. In production 1963-65.
2LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set forward‘ axle, flush wheelarches and short doors. Only produced 1964-65.
3LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set back’ axle, short doors with exposed step, cooling slots in the top grille panel. In production 1965-67.
4LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set forward’ axle, short doors, cooling slots in the top grille panel. In production 1965-67.
5 LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set back’ axle, short doors, larger cooling slots in the top grille panel (which first appeared on late 3/4 LV cabs). New dashboard and better sound insulation. In production 1967-71.
6LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set forward’ axle, short doors, larger cooling slots in the top grille panel (which first appeared on late 3/4 LV cabs). New dashboard and better sound insulation. In production 1967-71.
7LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set back’ axle, new larger full grille, 7 inch headlamps, twin heaters, more insulation, engine air filter moved to outside of cab structure. Commonly used on the A’ Series tractor unit chassis. Launched at the 1970 Earls Court show along with the new A’ Series tractor unit chassis. In production 1971-75.
8LV Cab - Jennings produced, ‘set forward’ axle, new larger full grille, 7 inch headlamps, twin heaters, more insulation, engine air filter moved to outside of cab structure. Launched at the 1970 Earls Court show. In production 1971-75.
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NMP