Stumbled over quite an interesting archive on rare DAF’s (pickups and vans) introduced in 1953.
Types were A-10 (van), A-107 (pickup) and A-117 (closed pickup) with Hercules petrol engines.
To give some apetite herewith some pictures and more is following
I only know of the DAF van and cars from the 60/70s .Belt drive i think Veriomatic or something working along the lines of an automatic
A small correction on the start of this thread…not 1953 as introduction-year but
1950 as then the A-10 chassis/van was introduced on the RAI in Amsterdam. From
23rd March till 1st April visitors could see that DAF also had solutions for the small
commercial vehicles.Powered with Hercules (petrol) engine, type IXB (4 cyl. 2.18ltr.)
providing 46 HP with a load capacity of 1.100kgs. Options were a chassis or a complete
bodied van. Till about 1955 some 500 were produced and sold to mainly the Dutch Post,
Van Gend & Loos, Etos bakeries and for municipal purposes like ambulance, fire brigade
and police.
See several pictures
So my question is “What went wrong?” I have never heard of this vehicle. So I imagine it was not a success. Was it so bad? Was it over-priced?
ianto:
I only know of the DAF van and cars from the 60/70s .Belt drive i think Veriomatic or something working along the lines of an automatic
I once spent a very wet and cold Saturday morning struggling to replace a pair of drive belts on a Daf variomatic van. Not an experience I would want to repeat but I was young and desperate for the tenner I got!
Dipster:
So my question is “What went wrong?” I have never heard of this vehicle. So I imagine it was not a success. Was it so bad? Was it over-priced?
Good point and history (later) beats back…
No idea on quality (Hercules was not bad at all) nor price, but competition on vans etc became strong
with Volkswagen and others…and to my humble opinion DAF ‘struggled’ with choices as since 1928 (the
year Van Doorne Brothers started their activities) many inventions were production-ready on the shelves
but at a certain moment (DAF started production/introduction of lorries in 1949) lorries (read military purposes) and busses became high in demand. Production of trailers was separate and also the demand for
cars was planned in the begin of the fifties. So…in fact choices of allocation of workforce, production-facilities etc.
The pick-up was nicknamed project 300 and 400, later (1980-1990) to be continued with the 500 and 600 as we all recall the Leyland Sherpa in DAF-jacket.
From type A-107 and A-117 370 chassis were made, with and without standard cab and/or body.
The Batavian Oil Company (founded in 1908 with HQ in The Hague and 60% Dutch, 40% British and
now part of Shell) bought 200 chassis for oil-exploration in Venezuela and Curacao. Also the Dutch
army used these pick-ups in New Guinea. Powered by a Hercules JXE 4.01litres (6cyl.) giving 91hp.
Two examples have been rescued and one is originally restored and exposed in the DAF museum.
In the atmosphere of the oil-fields a publicity drawn by Charles Burki.
Also a more general picture with a lady on the hood.
In the good old days…(1950-1960) Etos used quite some A-10-vans for the distribution
of bakery-products. Etos was formed by Philips to ensure employees (and their families)
were able to buy food at reasonable prices. Etos also had also bucher-shops, drugstores
and general shops for daily needs. Etos was later absorbed into Albert Heijn.
A long time…I had to search thoroughly where the thread now was…quite some pages away.
An A-10 used for egg-transport, poultry etc. The owner especially praised the spring/suspension
The cabbed-version of the A-107 pick-up was made by “Carrosseriefabriek Trapman” from Utrecht.
