foden logo edwin foden 1841 1911 who lends his name to foden s motor works band too foden trucks was a british truck and bus manufacturing company which has its origins in sandbach cheshire in 1856 . paccar acquired the company in 1980 and ceased to use the marque name in 2006 . contents 1 history 1.1 collapse and takeover 2 marque retirement 3 notes 4 bibliography 5 external links history edit 1930 foden steam lorry foden f1 1931 diesel on display at the science museum london uk 1959 foden s20 dropside foden s21 tractor unit dax6 32 6x2 twin steer tractive unit jdn 672e 1967 foden s36 flatbed in 1856 edwin foden 1841 1911 became apprenticed to the agricultural equipment manufacturing company of plant & hancock . he left the company for an apprenticeship at crewe railway works but returned to plant & hancock at the age of 19 . shortly afterwards he became a partner in the company . on the retirement of george hancock in 1887 the company was renamed edwin foden sons & co. ltd. the company produced massive industrial engines as well as small stationary steam engines and from 1880 agricultural traction engines . experimental steam lorries were first produced shortly after the turn of the 20th century . in 1878 the legislation affecting agricultural use was eased and as a result foden produced a successful range of agricultural traction engines . the perfecting of the compound traction engine in 1887 gave a significant marketing advantage and later proved invaluable to the development of the steam lorry . in 1896 the restrictions affecting road transport were eased which permitted vehicles under 3 tons to travel at up to 12 mph 19 km h without a red flag . the time was right and foden produced a series of four prototype wagons . the experience gained from this enabled foden to build a 3 ton wagon for the war office 1901 self propelled lorry trial . 1 this design was consistently faster and more economical over the arduous road trials but was placed second overall as it was claimed that the thornycroft entry had better off road performance . foden s wagon was nevertheless regarded by most commentators as a clear winner the result was questioned in parliament by crewe s mp 2 . this model was the basis for a highly successful line of vehicles which were produced over the next 30 years . the great majority of foden steam lorries were overtype but undertypes were also produced including the unsuccessful e type and the o type speed 6 and speed 12 which was a much more modern vehicle . by 1930 edwin s son edwin richard 1870 1950 known to everyone as simply e.r. could see the future lay in diesel power . in late 1932 he resigned from the board of directors following several years of bitter wranglings and subsequently retired ; he was 62 and ready for retirement having spent his entire working life at foden s. his son dennis could not afford to resign but was not prepared to let things ride ; however with financial input from across the immediate family a new company was set up to design and produce diesel lorries . george faulkener related to dennis by marriage became works manager and ernest sherratt both ex foden employees helped to design a new diesel wagon . edwin richard foden was persuaded to come out of retirement and head the new company which became known as erf . in the early 1930s however foden realised that the future was diesel and changed their production almost immediately 3 though the production of steam vehicles continued in diminishing numbers until 1934 . their first diesel vehicle was the foden f1 introduced in 1931 and regarded as the first commercially successful type of diesel lorry . 4 post war initially saw the re introduction of the old models with few improvements though foden entered the bus chassis market in 1946 a number of prototypes including a double decker had been built in the 1930s by 1950 they had developed a rear engined model predating leyland s atlantean model by 7 years . although the foden pvr was a high framed single decker the cruciform chassis bracing foden used made an underfloor engine location as in the competitive aec regal iv leyland royal tiger or daimler freeline a non starter . the completely new fe and fg lorry ranges were introduced in 1948 along with the new foden fd6 two stroke diesel engine which became the standard engine for certain foden heavy lorry models such as the s18 fe6 15 rigid eight wheeler the optional gardner 6lw engined version was the s18 fg6 15 . the s18 designation refers to the new cab that was produced for the new range . the fd6 two stroke engine along with gardner engines was also fitted in foden motorcoaches and buses . only one foden pvd double decker had the foden engine but it was popular in the pvs and pvr single deckers especially in coaching applications because it was a much higher revving than the gardner 5lw or 6lw . bus and coach production ceased in 1956 but the last chassis only left the works in 1959 when it was registered 367cka and received an early plaxton panorama body . 1958 saw the introduction of lightweight glass reinforced plastic grp used in cab production and this led to the manufacture of the first british built mass produced tilting cab in 1962 . the first foden grp cab was the distinctively styled s21 model . the s21 was initially nicknamed both spaceship and sputnik by the commercial vehicle press although it was briefly known as the sabrina in the early 1960s while other people gave it the mickey mouse nickname . the more traditional metal and wood s20 cab introduced in 1956 was still fitted to many foden lorries until at least 1963 after which it was just fitted to special vehicles until 1968 . the aforementioned grp tilt cab introduced in 1962 was designated s24 the sabrina nickname returned because the s24 and the later versions s34 s36 and s39 are all collectively known as sabrina and this time the name has stuck s21 cab production continued until 1969 . the foden family outside the elworth factory c. 1961 . from l to r. 1 james edwin foden son of william foden . 2 william foden son of the founder edwin foden . 3 reginal gordon foden son of william foden . 4 david colville foden son of james edwin foden . 5 hugh foden son of david colville foden . the vehicle is the pride of edwin a 5 ton compound engined that now held by the science museum in their wroughton store . in 1964 a change in the construction & use regulations favoured articulated vehicles over the older rigid designs and a new model was introduced to compete in the 32 ton market . more than 75 % of heavy chassis sold in britain in the following years were tractor units . collapse and takeover edit a massive new production facility was developed in the early 1970s on a green field site adjacent to the foden works . the new plant was designed for an annual capacity of 6 000 trucks based on an expectation of a continued boom in truck sales and exports . instead the market collapsed . 5 the expenditure and the economic downturn of the period saw foden s run into financial difficulty in december 1974 . it was given support by harold wilson s labour government . foden s struggled as its home market continued to be depressed . it was 1977 78 before foden returned to reasonable profitability . large mod contracts to supply military vehicles helped with this recovery . 6 the military required fibreglass cabs strengthened for military use meaning that civilian foden trucks were constructed in the same way . after a period in receivership in 1980 the company was acquired by the american firm paccar 7 and is now a division of that company . by 1986 foden employed a workforce of 450 as compared to around 3 000 at the high point . 5 foden specialised in highly customisable trucks offering any paint any drivetrain available and even a split windscreen . 5 kenworth c500 oilfield trucks were also built in small numbers at the sandbach plant . 8 after the takeover of leyland trucks by paccar in 1998 independent foden production ceased and was replaced by models of daf trucks rebadged as fodens daf trucks having been acquired by paccar in 1996 . these vehicles have had the option of either cat detroit diesel or cummins isme engines . marque retirement edit 2004 foden alpha 3000 in 2005 it was announced by paccar that foden production was likely to cease in 2006 . the reason given was that foden production would be terminated to release manufacturing capacity at leyland trucks to allow for increased volume of daf brand trucks . 9 the last foden was produced in july 2006 putting an end to 150 years of foden truck manufacturing . 10 the final vehicle to roll off the production line at the factory in leyland was an 8x4 rigid which was delivered to the nearby british commercial vehicle museum . notes edit history of foden trucks classic motor history self propelled lorries kelly maurice a. 1975 . the undertype steam road waggon . cambridge goose and son . isbn 0 900404 16 7 . quotation from display annotation at science museum london ; date seen 23 january 2015 a b c barden paul december 1986 . foden a family affair . truck . london uk ff publishing ltd 40 . k. bhaskar the future of the uk motor industry london kogan page 1979 p. 248 253 284 townsend edward 15 october 1980 . fodens to restart under united states control pdf . the times . retrieved 2010 04 13 . dead link barden pp. 42 43 foden the end . transport news network . 2005 06 13 . sob ... gulp . . blubber ... the last foden to come off the production line . transport news network . 2006 07 24 . bibliography edit wobbe reitsma foden special vehicles roundoak 2012 . isbn 978 187156555 3 pat kennett foden story from farm machinery to diesel trucks patrick stephens ltd. isbn 978 085059300 6 peter davies foden a pictoral history roundoak 2005 . e.l. cornwell foden trucks in camera ian allan . harold nancollis foden my life with the company venture publications 1996 . isbn 978 189843214 2 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to foden vehicles . official foden website a paccar website the foden society foden s brass band v t e paccar inc. marques current kenworth peterbilt daf trucks leyland trucks former foden trucks services winch paclease paccar parts paccar winch paccar financial corp paccar international paccar itd information technology division dynacraft paccar technical center geographic paccar europe paccar australia paccar brazil joint ventures and shareholdings tatra 19 % vdl bus chassis 19 % v t e automotive industry in the united kingdom manufacturing in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom companies and marques commercial vehicle producers current alexander dennis plaxton dennis eagle ibc vehicles jcb leyland trucks the london taxi company optare smith electric vehicles stevens wrightbus former albion aec bedford bristol clough smith commer daimler erf foden ford southampton plant guy jensen karrier ldv modec scammell seddon atkinson 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