10-4 Magazine April 2024

60 10-4 Magazine / April 2024 The year was 1971, and the old problem of finding suitable premises for manufacture raised its head, yet again. A different site was found at Alrode in the Alberton area of South Johannesburg which was 2.5 acres in size. After a few short years of giving the customer a bespoke product, Lewis changed his strategy of building standard models, but both these changes required more money. Additional finance was found from the South African Forest Investments, for a 28% share of the business. Also, the Industrial Development Corp. (IDC) bought into the company to the tune of a 51% controlling stake. This meant that although Lewis was still the managing director, the IDC criteria dictated a board of four more officials, with three being directors. The added boost of finance saw the completion of the 17th truck, which was an order for Fowler Tar Sprayers of Johannesburg (photo #7). Now available with a Cummins engine, this conventional tractor was purchased by African Oxygen (photo #8). Transvaal Transport bought chassis no. 28, and the profile shot seen here shows the winch behind the cab and the Neway second pusher axle (photo #9). This white and blue truck is thought to be chassis no. 32, which was operated by National Tractor (photo #10). Kirtons Transport of Pietersburg bought some of Rio Rita’s tractors on the secondhand market (photo #11). The order book looked healthy and included another five tractors needed by CDM, however, these would never be built. There was a bittersweet element to the IDC presence at Rolway. Sweet, because of the added finance, but bitter because the production staff was tripled from thirty to ninety. Also, the office and administration staff was increased, and for a small manufacturer, Lewis looked at this as unjustified, and he was losing control of things through bureaucracy. April 1971 saw Ralph Lewis doing some traveling overseas. Termed as a fact finding exercise with some PR thrown in, he visited the USA, the UK, Germany, Israel, and Australia. It seemed the only positive to come out of this was some interest from the Israeli Military. On his return home, Lewis was confronted by bad financial news, created by problems in the late delivery of completed vehicles. It got worse, and at a hurriedly called Rolway board meeting, the conclusion was drawn that more financial support was needed, but none could be found. This dire situation meant that production would stop. As Lewis looked at other ways to secure finance, news emerged in the SA press of the IDC losing a bunch of public money which became a scandal. Lewis did manage to find interest from two sources, but at the end of the day, these would amount to nothing and no help was available. Rolway Enterprises faced liquidation and, in September 1971, was closed down. The company had built forty two trucks and there were three chassis on the assembly line, unfinished. These, together with the stock of spares and extra components, were sold off at a liquidation sale in April 1972. The SA press continued to report on the IDC failures in general, and also specifically, their involvement with Rolway. Lewis goes down in transport history as fulfilling his dream of making authentic South African trucks. His initial ambitious aim was to build forty trucks a month on a four year timeline. He wanted these to be of 100% South African content, but he could only muster an 80% content, since the powertrains were imported components. However, life went on, and Ralph Lewis decided to work as a transport consultant in the industry he loved. In 1977, he and his family moved to the USA. n #8 #9 #10 #11 EDITOR’S NOTE: Big thanks to Henk Veldkamp and Richard Stanier for providing some of the photos here.