The ERF Stake Truck was in the Lesney range from 1956 to 1959. It is a nice little model of a once commonly seen general cargo lorry made in Sandbach in Cheshire where ERF stood at one end of the town and Fodens at the other, ERF stands for the initials of Edwin Richard Foden who was fired from Fodens by his step-mother because of an argument over steam power or diesel power for trucks, Edwin favoured diesel. His son Dennis set up a rival truck maker to Fodens naming it in memory of his father. Both companies have been bought out now and neither remains.
The Matchbox ERF was first made in light green, these are vanishingly rare and very valuable indeed. They are probably pre-production models. The first production models were maroon with gold trim. They were also made with silver trim and are also found in dark red. Most of them have metal wheels and some later models have grey plastic wheels.
Values are astronomical for pale green models. Of the rest the very earliest (maroon with gold trim) or the very last releases (plastic wheels) are the most sought after and best priced.
