One of the commercial vehicle stars of the 2022 Abbey Hill Rally was a 1979 ERF B Series owned by Steve Waters. This Rolls Royce Eagle 265 powered model, plated at 38-tons gross was supplied by Cossington Commercials of Leicester to Cowan Transport of Milton Keynes on 1 October 1979. I was greatly impressed by the fresh-looking Waters’ colour scheme, but also fascinated by an intriguing array of optional extras.
These were wired for fog lights, a 24v accessory socket, cigarette lighter, suspended passenger seat with head and arm rests, twin bunk and my personal favourite, a snake-like map reading light.
These superb features enhanced an already notable 4x2 tractor unit, but the restoration had a deeper significance, by painting in Steve’s father’s company colours and in the process acting as a catalyst for his own sense of well-being.
“Firstly, having an old lorry and painting it in my dad’s colours to honour him was something I’ve thought of doing for a few years since his passing in 2013,” explained Steve. “We were very close with running theSome of my best memories are of dad’s lorries and as a result I have quite a fondness for ERF as well. One of my favourites was the ERF A series he bought new in 1974 with the Cummins 220 and Fuller Roadranger nine-speed gearbox. This was sold to dad’s mate John Coakes after having a new cab fitted for the second time following two accidents. In 1976, dad acquired a D series 24-ton artic with the Perkins V8, followed by a 1973 Leyland Mastiff 28-ton artic with the bigger Perkins V8 540 regularly loaded with paper from Witchampton paper mill. This was run alongside a pair of Dodge K100 24-ton artics, again loaded with paper.
