Buzzer
Bewick:
dave docwra:
Kempston:
Is this you Dennis?1
Looks to me like the geezer out of the ‘Brothers’ TV series.
It was my younger Brother Richard he’d be 19 when that shot was taken this is a shot of me ! a couple of years earlier IIRC.
0
Nice photo and info Dennis
Kempston:
Bewick:
dave docwra:
Kempston:
Is this you Dennis?1
Looks to me like the geezer out of the ‘Brothers’ TV series.
It was my younger Brother Richard he’d be 19 when that shot was taken this is a shot of me ! a couple of years earlier IIRC.
0Nice photo and info Dennis
What age were you when you started the businesses Dennis.
What were the GRP cab ERFs (LV) like from a driver’s point of view? They looked modern and stylish in their day.
Thanks to Buzzer for the photos, goin’ like a good un 
Oily
Bordertowns big Mack, credit to Jacob 34 for the photo.
0
I was standing up when I took this photo, 
, Larry
essexpete:
What were the GRP cab ERFs (LV) like from a driver’s point of view? They looked modern and stylish in their day.
Not sure what the GRP cab is, but I’ve driven the LV’s with Gardner 180’s and thought they were decent enough. Had to use the right hand to bash the gear lever in to the engine cover on some to get reverse with the DB 6 speed box. But that’s probably cos the linkage was knackered.
The LV ERF cab compared with the Atkinson mark one.
Cold in winter hot in summer, draughty and noisy. Cramped in the ERF with the cab dominated by the slightly higher engine cover; the Atkinson felt more roomy since you sat slightly further away from the windscreen. There were gaps around the doors and pedals in both - the Atki being worse. The floor was level in the ERF, you stepped down into the Atkinson from the doorsill. You shared the cab with the air cleaner in the Atki. You shared it with the batteries in both. The switches in both were an afterthought, apart from the indicators which were on a stalk the Atki’s were on a panel down by your right leg, they were scattered along the dash in the ERF. The gear lever was better positioned and slightly longer in the Atkinson.
Both shook you to pieces when empty since the springs were so hard. Of the two the ERF had a much better seating position, the Atkinson was just plain uncomfortable, you had to tilt your head slightly to one side to see out under the header rail and around the wiper motor, also you couldn’t sit quite straight, having to angle yourself slightly to the nearside since the steering wheel and column was offset that way by a few inches. To reach the clutch pedal you had to curl your left leg around the column, Driving in rain was worse still since the tiny wiper didn’t clear much of the screen and the unswept bit directly under the motor was the bit you had to look through. The screens soon misted up, the left one completely. It was rather comical on first encounter seeing steam coming off the external radiator in the wet.Both leapt up and down as you let the clutch in to pull away. The ERF definitely had the better brakes, Atkinson stuck with lock actuators to the bitter end, ERF had Spring brakes from way back.
Both Improved the cab over time especially with power steering, Atkinson notably better with the Mark Two version (imitation plastic external radiator) which was so much bigger and level, its main drawback being that the windscreens would fall out and nothing had been done about the offset steering column.
ERF in cab pictures. I Can’t find equivalent Mark one Atkinson pictures.
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It was said that you could tell an Atkinson driver in a cafe as his plate would be a couple of inches to the left of him! 
Having said that I had trouble with the clutch pedal in Foden cabs pre S80 as the steering wheel was set low down and with having long legs I had to bend my left leg around the wheel.
Pete.
cav551:
The LV ERF cab compared with the Atkinson mark one.
Makes you wonder why most of us thought of them as the bees’ knees, the pinnacle of seniority and cool for professional drivers back in those days. I remember really well climbing into a Mark1 as a comparative newbie from my LAD Albion and marvelling at it all with only one thing in mind, to get one for myself.
I remember the offset in the Atki but much of the rest of your criticisms must have passed me by, blinded by fame. 
I don’t recall a problem with the wipers other than those American ideas that caused them to go slower the faster you drove. I say American, because I had the same problem with my '39 Packard. 
ERF was one I had only fleetingly, it had a ratchet handbrake which released itself when it felt like it. I should have learned as I walked away in a moonscape cafe park and heard a click followed, as I turned to look, by the ERF settling itself comfortably in a large puddle. But I didn’t, and later that day it happened again while I was on the trailer unloading. It rolled away very slowly, mounted the kerb opposite and demolished a wall which, fortunately, stopped it from plunging down a steep slope to attack the factory situated there. 
Buzzer:
Buzzer
Brings back memories. I had a “Fussie” in the mid 70s. Wish i kept it, they are worth a small fortune now.
Buzzer:
Buzzer
Tanami Transport based Alice Springs
Dig
