10-4 Magazine April 2024

Special Feature: By Norman Chapman Ralph trucks had a humble start in a rented corner of a truck body builders factory, located in the Steeldale area of Johannesburg, in South Africa. Young entrepreneur Ralph Lewis (photo #1) was aged 40 in 1967 and this saw the beginnings of his boyhood dream of building a genuine South African truck. Lewis was experienced in the trucking game, as he had worked for British brands, ERF South Africa, and Atkinson dealer, Lucas & Payne. The moving of freight at this time in South Africa (SA) was dominated by the huge State owned monopoly of South African Railways (SAR) on their rail network. The competition to truckers was also from the SAR, as they had a large fleet of trucks, too. However, there was always a role for private operators to carry freight from the 300 railheads to places of business. This activity, it has to be said, had its own unfair restrictions dictated by the SAR. Road haulers had to apply for a permit from the Road Transportation Board, who had close links (maybe too close) to the SAR. Road haulage vehicles in SA in those days ranged from British, German, American, Australian, Italian, Japanese, and Scandinavian trucks. Most of these trucks reached South Africa by sea as completely knocked down kits (CKD) and then were assembled under license. Lewis knew all this, and his motivation was clear – to build a genuine SA truck, or as much as possible. He had always liked the look of American products for their power, robustness, and reliability. So, his designs wouldn’t be too far from this style, which would be ideally suited for the road network of SA. It took around eight months to plan and develop his first vehicle, but it didn’t resemble anything from the USA. The normal control 6x4 tractor looked like a special heavy duty ERF or scaled down Atkinson Omega truck, of which a small number were built for African and Middle Eastern operations. Power came from a General Motors Detroit Diesel V8 engine with an Allison gearbox and Rockwell rear axles. Originally, Lewis wanted the power source to come from a Cummins motor, but he was unable to secure a single engine from them. The Cummins approach was to sell ten engines as a minimum order. But, not undaunted, he signed up with GM for the supply of eight more engines. When the first vehicle was finally finished and demonstrated, there was 58 10-4 Magazine / April 2024 REALIZING HIS DREAM interest from a few transport operators. Nicknamed “Red Bull” because of its original red paint job, the truck would actually be a one-off design (photo #2). Lewis decided at this point to name the company Rolway Enterprises and to find larger premises. The Rolway name was derived from a magazine ad Lewis had seen for Lipe Rollway clutches. His first name of choice (Republic Trucks) was turned down by the SA registrar of companies. A close friend persuaded Lewis to name the marque Ralph and #1 #2 #3 #4