Realizing His Dream

Ralph trucks had a humble start in a rented corner of a truck body builder’s 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.

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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 6×4 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 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 soon afterwards, he found a new facility at Ophirton in South Johannesburg.

The second chassis built was a special for the South African Defense Force.  It was a huge 10×10 twin steer tractor unit which was powered by a Detroit Diesel V12 with Allison gearbox and Clark axles.  The role of the 105-ton gross weight combination was to move 66-ton Centurion tanks at the quite rapid speed of 40 mph.  This no. 2 tractor was later sold to a company called Trojan Transport (photo #3).

The tank transporter proved to be a bit of a diversion for Lewis, as he was really interested in building chassis for the SA commercial marketplace.  As mentioned, Lewis was a big fan of American design and, just like the US approach, “There is no such thing as a standard truck,” he thought.  Custom building would be the way forward.  To satisfy all potential customers, he decided on two styles of conventional and COE types.  The next few orders included four-axle conventional tractors. Also, the South African Railways (SAR) transport division wanted four heavy duty 6×4 tractors for moving abnormal loads.  These were fitted with the GM Detroit Diesel V8 engines and Allison gearboxes.  After completion, Lewis now put more emphasis on giving the trucks model numbers, and the SAR tractors were known as the G8A3 (photo #4).

The pace quickened and 1970 marked the completion of the twelfth chassis.  The old problem of unsuitable premises re-emerged for Lewis, and he set out to look for better ones.  Alrode, Alberton became the setting for the latest facility.  At this time, Cummins now recognized Lewis as a legitimate truck manufacturer and, consequently, would supply engines to Ralph.  Also, at this juncture, the first forward COE of an American design was introduced and two were ordered by Rio Rita Tankers of Randfontein, SA.  The conventional design also changed to a more Stateside look.  The nice wrap-around windshield design gave way to an unsophisticated, flat, two screen front panel, and the twin headlights were now integrated into the front fenders (photo #5).

The next chapter started with a request from Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) of South West Africa, to see if Ralph could help with some of their transportation problems.  CDM needed a large, heavy duty, articulated vehicle to carry diamond-ferrous ore from their open cast mines to the processing plant. The 50-ton capacity articulated tipper would have to be capable of speeds of 50 mph.  Lewis came up with a 6×4 normal control design which would be powered by a Cummins VT1710, a 500 horsepower V12 diesel engine, coupled to a Clark 8-speed torque converter transmission, and a Clark rear bogie.

Seeing the proposed specifications, the engineers at CDM were unsure of the vehicle’s potential.  They decided to visit the USA to see firsthand a large and comparably spec’d Kenworth truck, working in forestry logging.  On their return to SA, they gave the thumbs up to what would become the Ralph C12C3. A second C12C3 was produced, but this was powered by a Detroit Diesel V12 motor.  After testing and suitability in operation, another two tractor units were ordered.  The CDM decision to employ Ralph trucks for their transport needs was no doubt based on using a truck builder on their doorstep and all the benefits that go with it (photo #6).

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.