History
Established in 1933 by Dennis Foden, whose father, Edwin Richard Foden had lately been fired from Fodens Ltd by his step mother. ERF Ltd, was founded by Dennis Foden but named in honour of his father. There was no squabble over steam versus diesel; all that is a fabrication. One founder's son, Billy, went to live in Australia in 1924 and the other son, Edwin Richard retired after being fired and went to live in Blackpool. Based in Sandbach, Cheshire, the company made their own chassis and cabs, originally with engines from Gardner, but later also Cummins, Perkins, Detroit Diesel and Caterpillar Inc..
ERFs used to be marketed under the Western Star badge in some countries such as Australia. It also built a specialist fire engine chassis, with a body built on by in-house company JH Jennings, later Cheshire Fire Engineering. However, when recession came in the early 1980s and production fell from a total output of 4,000 chassis per annum, CFE was sold to management to eventually become Saxon Sanbec.
The company was bought by Canadian truck maker Western Star in 1996. However, after PACCAR's purchase of Foden, DAF Trucks and Leyland Trucks increased competitive pressure, and Western Star was approached by Freightliner Trucks corporation, the decision was made to sell ERF.
Read more about this topic: ERF (lorry Manufacturer)
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