PART TWO
We could have been transported back to the Nottingham Goose Fair or the Newcastle Town Moor, as centre stage in this French field sat an ERF eight-legger, its box body pumping out very loud organ music from a period Gavioli organ. La Loco isn’t the first place you would look for a Gardner-engined exhibit, but here was an ERF 68GX with the famous KV cab and, under the driver’s seat, a well-lubricated 6LW lump, the eightwheeler being attached to a four-wheel showman’s living van. Searching out the owners, we realised that we had met this outfit and its crew, Brian and Christine Wells, four years before at La Loco, on its very first visit.
In conversation, they recalled that, six months before their first big trip to this Paris event, the ERF had been looking the worse for wear. Brian had taken the decision to remake the front end, so the whole cab structure had come off the eight-wheeler for a rebuild. Lots of late nights and early morning work had her up and running and ready, with just one day to spare, for the long-haul across to France.
Just to make life interesting, within minutes of rolling off the ferry, and perhaps in
