The E.R.F brand is named after Edwin Richard Foden. Foden was a pioneer, and he influenced future truck design in the early 1900s’ by designing the first steam wagon with steel tyre wheels – so this was the first truck with solid rubber wheels! Foden passed away in 1950, but his name has lived on in the E.R.F brand.
E.R.F trucks can be found all over the world – especially older, rarer models – with the brand benefiting from increased sea freight trade from 1960-1980. In fact, one of their most commercially successful products, the E-Series tractor, was released in 1986 and this helped the brand grow considerably, registering a whopping 3,740 trucks in the UK alone.
In 1996 E.R.F was taken over by Western Star Trucks Holdings. This surprised the industry because it let a Canadian business in on British engineering. However, people’s surprise soon turned to praise when the company continued to churn out highly-rated trucks. The company was sold to MAN in the year 2000, who quickly had E.R.F launch the ECS and ECX wagons. These were the first wagons to offer a steel cabin to customers. Sadly, E.R.F’s British factory was closed down in 2002, and the marque was discontinued by MAN in 2007.
And so, there are no E.R.F trucks manufactured after 2007. So if you are in the market for a new E.R.F, you’re out of luck. The good news is that there are estimated to be well over a thousand E.R.F trucks still in operation worldwide – with some models dating back as far as the 80s’, although most are later versions manufactured between 2000-2007. So if you have an E.R.F truck yourself, there are E.R.F truck parts on the market, should you need them.
It’s a pity the marque was discontinued, because E.R.F trucks were widely known for their excellent durability and reliability in trucking circles. And this was well before the buyout by MAN, who moved truck production to their factory in Munich, Germany.
So yes – E.R.F trucks are reliable. However the marque has been discontinued.
