As always, click on images to see the full-size versions.
Paul Nieuwenhuis's DAF 55 Coupe
It's been a while since we sent out a newsletter, but I'm going to forego the usual introductory paragraph and let Paul (who resides in Cardiff, WALES, UK) tell you about his car:
"Hi,
Now here is one I bet you have not seen before. Today I fixed a set of your 1/4" rim stripes in reflective white to my 1971 DAF 55 Coupe. These cars were made by a Dutch truck manufacturer now owned by Paccar.
The tricky thing on this car is that while the front wheels run freely once off the ground, making the fitting of the stripes using your tool relatively straight-forward, the rear wheels are driven by rubber belts (part of a novel early form of continuously variable automatic transmission, called 'Variomatic' - unique to these cars) and do not turn freely as you have to move the whole of the transmission as well. I therefore fitted the rear wheels to the front hubs to fit the stripes. Must admit, it was a bit trickier than I thought, but I reckon I got it right on the last wheel.
They are fitted on original British Minilite wheels, as fitted to many rally cars in the 1960s and 1970s. I chose the white to link in with the body colour, of course. Something different for the gallery."
That's definitely something we've never heard of! Wait a second, a rubber belt drive? No way! That's like the go-kart Ryan had when he was 12. We had to learn more about this strange Dutch car, and asked Paul for more photos, and some more info about it.
"DAFs are quite rare over here in the UK; there are probably around 100 left of all types and perhaps a dozen or so of the 55 Coupe (the most expensive model in its day). Worldwide, there are probably around 150 of the 55 Coupes left with most of them in the Netherlands and Belgium with a few in France and Italy. I know of a couple of guys in the US who have DAFs, there is one in Hackensack NJ with a few, although he was selling them off, and a guy in Vermont has a few. They made cars for 15 years in several different models, but only 2 basic platforms. Then they went back to making trucks and Volvo bought the DAF car division and put its last design into production as the Volvo 340. The rubber belt CVT system was last used on a Volvo 340 made in 1992, but it gave birth to the steel belt CVTs you get on a lot of Japanese cars like the Prius.
As you can see from the interior shot, I have set it up for classic rallying with a tripmeter, Ridgard bucket seats (as favoured by Stirling Moss) and a Nardi steering wheel (the 55 was designed by Michelotti in Turin, so I think an Italian steering wheel is fine!). I also have full harness 4-point seatbelts and a rear roll-cage.
The engine bay shows the 4-cylinder 1400cc Renault engine (DAF made a 2 cylinder air-cooled engine for its smaller cars, but these larger models used Renault engines of 1100 or 1300 cc; mine is an upgrade), which I have fitted with a Weber DCOE 40 carburettor and K&N filter. This has increased the power from around 50bhp to around 80-85bhp. Not much by US standards, I know, but the thing weighs next to nothing, so it is now quite 'nippy'. The yellow hoses (black from the factory, but I color-coded them) are for the vacuum system, which runs the Variomatic transmission; drawing from the engine vacuum. Suspension strut brace is from a military version (the Dutch army use DAFs) Apologies for the sideways view!
I hope that in this picture you can make out the rear of both belts on the rear (driven) pulleys which then drive the rear wheels via reduction gears. Each wheel is driven by a belt, there is no diff, so it is like a limited slip differential. The system also gives traction control, as it adjusts to how much grip you have. Works very well, but takes up a lot of space. The front pulleys are then driven from a centrifugal clutch and a short propshaft. They contain vacuum chambers that can change the effective diameter of the front pulleys. There is probably a description on the internet somewhere if you want more info. I note there is some rust to tackle this summer - the UK climate is not kind to cars!
Yes, my name is Dutch. I was born a couple of miles from the DAF factory, hence the interest."
We really thank Paul for the cool pics and interesting background history on a very unique car. Definitely DAF!
That's it for this week!
As always, Tapeworks welcomes your photos of your bike or car! Just a couple things - please tell us what your bike is and what you put on it, and send a few high-resolution photos of closeups as well as wide shots of the whole vehicle to info@tapeworks.com.
And if you've got some sort of testimonial, send it on over, whether it's good or bad!
Tapeworks Graphics/Stripe-It-All
1-800-232-8273 |
