Now here's a blast from the past. Flicking through a copy of Commercial Motor from November 1998 I was struck by this advert from ERF. Fortunately, further on in the issue I found the story which reminded me what it was all about. Back then operators were in a right old quandry over which artic to buy and the possible penalty of high VED rates for running a 4x2 tractor as part of a 40-tonne 2+3 combination. After having negotiatied a 10-year derogation from the EU 40-tonne European harmonised weight limit for artics the DfT clearly didn't want them (citing high road wear) preferring to encourage the use of more 'road-friendly' 3+3 rigs at 41-tonnes. The trouble was, back in Nov '98 nobody knew how hard 4x2 tractors were going to be hit on excise duty in the April 1999 Budget. So ERF came up with a clever solution..and click through here to find out what it was...
The deal was that you could by a 3.84m wheelbase EC 4x2 tractor which was all-ready pre-drilled to be converted into a 6x2 (if the aforementioned VED rates for 4x2s turned out to be horrific) by adding a Hendrickson thrid axle at the local dealership. The operator would then simply pay the difference between the purchase cost of a two-axle tractor and a 6x2---at a the price agreed at the time of buying the 4x2. And back in 1998 the difference in list price between the 4x2 EC and 6x2 was around £5,000.
At the time it struck me as a clever marketing ploy and a neat way for operators to have their cake and eat it...and what else would you do with cake asks Biglorryblog?
Comments (1)
Back down new model truck range "Memory Lane"i go,and i,m pretty damn certain that i took a photo of 1 of the very 1st ERF EC,s,just as it was being backed into a bay at a coachpainters!!It,s grill had been removed, but i knew it wasn,t another E-series that were regularly sprayed at the coachpainters,as i,d taken loads of photo,s of new E-series there(including a 6x4 E14-450 UNIT,destined for export to South Africa!!)Not too long after,the 1st batch of EC-series demonsrator units were all done by the same coachpainters too just before the official launch!!At the local dealer,s EC "ride+drive"day,s however,all the EC,s there had an all-White livery,with the "band"round the cabs just below the windscreen(a blue/pale orange design)BUT those at the coachpainters had a metallic blue cab livery,plus full sets of alloy wheels,and more besides,which had me thinking they were destined for the N.E.C.show!!
I,m currently having a collection room"redecoration/re-design",which,ll take awhile to finish,but after my photo,s,like everything else,will be "accessible"in my w/chair(Heaven at last!!)so there will be a few pie,s to be given out Brian!!
(and you could be sending me 1 very soon,as there,s a scan of something all anorak,s will like to see,me thinks,so look out for my email very soon,ok?)
Posted by Andy Davis | July 28, 2008 6:16 PM
Posted on July 28, 2008 18:16