Bakker Bedrijfswagens (Baker Commercialvehicles) is a group of truck dealerships with 20 locations in the Netherlands. Among the keep-on-trucking enthusiasts, they’re also known for their special, limited edtions of heavy DAF tractors, currently the XF/XG/XG+ series. The company’s latest specialties couldn’t be more opposite.
Bakker’s DAF XF 530 FT 4×2 ‘New Old Skool’ looks as if it would be in its element on a race track. Where the tricycle will become airborne, but that’s not important right now.
Some typical old-skool items are the fixed ladders and the roof rack. Back in the day, rolled-up tarps were often stored on such a rack. Nowadays there’s mostly a tongue-in-cheek beer crate on top. Today’s choice is Grolsch, as in Vakmanschap is Meesterschap.
Slammed & stanced DAF, this XF with a low roof. The tractor is powered by a 12.9 liter MX-13 engine, PACCAR’s biggest in-house turbodiesel.
Here we have the ancestor that inspired the Bakker crew, the F241-series 3300 and 3600 ATi from the eighties in the same color scheme.
And now for something completely different and also more realistic, a DAF XG+ 530 FTG 6×2/4 ‘High Performance’ in a specific shade of green we all know.
I assume it has an eight tonnes front axle, resulting in a GVWR of 27 tonnes (59,525 lbs). What a marvellous on-highway tractor, spot on!
Unlike the XF, the XG+ has a walk-through/jump-around cab with a flat floor. Actually, the XG+ has the largest factory tilt cab on the market.
Naturally, special editions are fully optioned and have air suspension on all axles, the cab and the seats (swivel seats, in this case). The standard transmission in heavy DAFs for the European market is a ZF TraXon AMT.
Let’s take that Green Machine outside the shed! And now I’ve got Kyuss inside my head.
Interior picture: courtesy of Bakker Bedrijfswagens/Lennard Laar/Speed Generation.
That cab looks like a mighty comfy environment? Don’t these tightly enclosed wheels make it difficult for a driver to inspect the tires for visible damage?
JP, these tractors can ‘sink’ to the ground thanks to their air suspended axles. They’re not sitting that low when driving.
As for the rear fenders, the parts on top are (easily) detachable.
Regarding comfort, keep in mind these vehicles are not commuters/grocery getters, they are workplaces. There’s a structural shortage of professional drivers, which will only get worse (due to retirements). Better come up with something really comfy, roomy and new/recent. Otherwise your truck will not hit the road.
We have the same situation here in the US, with the average driver being over 50 years old and lots of retirements around the corner. There is a big difference between trucks from the 90s and those from today, for just the reasons you say.
Nice, single screw tractor units are a bit of a novelty here tandem drive being the norm for both traction and load carrying, DAF auto shift are quite clever trucks but only in auto mode manual mode disables many features you really need. And yes JP very comfy trucks to drive something like a Cadillac pales in comparism
Tandem drive (as in two rear drive axles) only in on-/off road work and heavy haulage here. For the rest, ‘six wheelers’ are 6×2, 6×2/4 (like the article’s DAF) or 6×2*4.
Legally, a factory tandem is always rated at 19 tonnes, Regardless the drive and/or steering axle set-up of the rear duo of axles. It’s either 9.5 + 9.5 tonnes (for a 6×4) or 11.5 (the drive axle) + 7.5 tonnes (the tag or pusher axle) for the others I mentioned.