It was a great opportunity to ride old-fashioned old Dafjes again. Auto Motor Klassiek joined a team day in Paasloo, where a number of Daf 33 types and a Daf 32 were driven. It was a day with a smile.
We drove three copies. A Daf 32 Daffodil from 1965, a Daf 33 from 1972 and a Daf 33 Standard from 1968. The Daffodil was the best moving car of the three. In addition, Grandpa had driven the least number of kilometers. And that, while he was the oldest of the Dafs group, who had a large number of people available this afternoon. For cars in this age category - which are also often used for rental by Hollands Dafje from (www.hollandsdafje-uit.nl) it is also logical that the state of maintenance and the technical condition differ.
The youngest, the best and the favorite
The Daf 33 from 1972 was technically just a little less fresh than the Daf 32 from 1965. The latter showed remarkable fitness. Moreover, he felt stiffer than the youngest car we drove in. The third car of the day was a Daf 33 Standard, we wrote about it extensively online earlier. Everything that once shone no longer shines now, the rubber around the original Steel glass is mossy, and the operation of this Daf with the patinated Azulo color turned out to be unmanageable. The handling is best described as a link. But this Daf - since it was delivered new in 1968 - a lot of PKs lost our heart, more typically life experience and a car type can hardly be united. The owner did not want to get rid of the car under any circumstances. And we understood that - while we regretted returning the keys to him - all too well.
Surprise and smile
Not only us, but also the large group of team day participants walked around with a smile in the sun-drenched Weerribben. At the same time there was the surprise. Because the Dafjes showed that the basis of driving in the past was different in several respects. Good for slowing down, good for the lack of brake assistance and steering assistance, good for a striking practical layout, good for easy operation. Dutch glory from a bygone era symbolized pleasantness then happiness was still a normal feeling.
Smart technology, easy operation
The Dafjes, childishly easy to operate, naturally had the Variomatic technology, that ingenious system that works with a centrifugal clutch, drive shaft, primary discs, secondary discs, belts, centrifugal force, squeezing force, belt pull force and vacuum control in the inner and outer fixed disc chambers. And that interaction ensures that the correct or, if you prefer, optimal gear is always selected for the different driving conditions. We already said it: operation is simple, the technology is extremely ingenious, and can be operated with a simple movement of the accelerator.
Sixteen years of Daf a-body
The Variomatic made an important contribution to the success of the Daf A-body type. That debuted in February 1958 at the Auto RAI and retired as Daf 33 in 1974. Fortunately, enough of these trolleys have been preserved. They are still great fun, and we noticed that on a sunny day in September 2019. A day that was the introduction to a seven-page report.
DAF 33, what a beautiful memory of 1974
We had friends in Oulu-Finland who invited us for Christmas.
However, we had no transport and no money.
Our neighbor offered help, we could buy his very old 33 for 150 guilders.
A few days later, the now fully loaded DAF was waiting for departure in the driveway.
Four o'clock in the morning on the way to Northern Germany.
The beetle ran like clockwork and we were on time for the boat to Helsinki.
In Finland it was now minus 20 and the windscreen froze due to poor heating.
Days later we arrived in Oulu scraping ice.
We got through Christmas with a lot of drinks and sauna use.
Back it went wrong, the centrifugal clutch was stuck.
With snow on the road, no problem.
Start in neutral and ram the lever forward… .beng ..!
We ended up coming home this way.
Beautiful memory ..
Hello,
Je recherche un fournisseur de pièces the r anges pour une DAF 33 de 1969 que je dois remettre
and march prochainement. Dont 1 feu arrière !! Je sais qu'il existe en Hollande !!
Avezvous une piste ??
thank you for your reply
cordially
Philippe
Talk about Dafjes. We used to drive at KPN Telecom. (That was then called PTT Technical Service) Also in Dafjes Gray with sometimes a hood on it. But at the Post, those things were driving 1 on 3 No one understood why. But what was the case? In the Noordoostpolder where we lived, the farms stood a long way off the road. The postman drove up the driveway put the post in the bus and back with the same rot aisle back to the road. And that was therefore not registered by the counter hence the high consumption. Later the post box arrived and the Dafjes became a lot more economical. Ha ha