[zb]
anorak:
gingerfold:
The question of what cab AEC would have used if they had not been subsumed by Leyland has always intrigued me. Unquestionably the Ergomatic cab was a Leyland initiative and until late 1965 / early 1966 when AEC fitted the Ergo cab they had been chassis producers that a multitude of coach builders provided cabs for. AEC provided basic cab drawings that the coach builders used, often with their own “artistic licence”. I have never found any evidence that AEC was considering a standard cab design before the Leyland takeover. The other strange thing about the Ergomatic cab is the question of why Leyland, with all its manufacturing resource, didn’t build it themselves. Leyland commissioned the design from Michelotti yet contracted Joseph Sankey to build them. Why?
Leyland had bought Standard Triumph in 1960. Michelotti had worked on the Triumph Herald, so he probably came cheap! Leyland did not do presswork; the LAD was made by Motor Panels. A wild guess- was Sankey a Standard Triumph supplier? The Ergo was Michelotti’s best work, IMO. The cars he drew were ugly, and the cheesegrater Scammell was no great beauty either.
I did not realise that there was a “cheapo” single-skinned version of the Ergo, as well as the fibreglass version. Michelotti’s artistry was certainly spread thinly! The V8 had the ultimate version- a walk-through floor and space for two bunks under the standard roof, without jacking the shed into the sky. Consideration of the difficulties caused by the engine’s compact dimensions must be tempered with that.
Pressed Steel Fisher was a big Leyland group pressworks, but to the best of my knowledge they made pressings (and complete body structures) for everything except lorries!. Even DMU bodies for British Rail were pressed there.
They had three factory sites, but I would guess they just didn’t have the capacity to make lorry cabs when BL car building was at it’s peak.
It’s an interesting point that ‘gingerfold’ raises with regard to Leyland.
Which UK heavy lorry manufacturers did entirely manufacture their own cabs?
Bedford perhaps?.
Foden did, but only composite cabs and very basic dumper steel structures. Their steel cabs were supplied by Motor Panels.
ERF, but their cab building operation originated from the JH Jennings business, and again focused on composite cabs, with steel frames and steel cab pressings supplied by Motor Panels. Seddon Atkinson was similar.
Guy were supplied again by MP, so was Scammell, so I would say it’s a pretty safe bet that if AEC had not been a user of the Sankey Ergomatic, MP could well have been the favoured cab supplier.
At the lighter end of the market, the BL Freight Rover (Sherpa) van operation at Washwood Heath had a big pressworks, so their body operation was largely in house.
I would still like to hear the opinion of you chaps as to why AEC fitted the basic cab, and Leyland the deluxe version. Do we think it was just a weight thing, or were AEC made to use the lower spec cab to generate the perception of the Leyland product as superior?.
In 2015 my own V8 cab went back to the GKN (former Joseph Sankey) plant where it was built to be E coated. At that time they were mainly producing Land Rover wheels and chassis frames. It is a huge complex, but many of the buildings on site were unoccupied. You could really get an impression of how busy it must have been there in the 1960’s and 70’s with cab, lorry wheel and lorry chassis rail production in full swing.
