Two decades before becoming a member of the PACCAR trucking family, DAF had another American partner. Back in the seventies, the International Harvester Company owned one-third of the DAF shares. But the relationship just didn’t work out as intended. In hindsight, neither International Harvester nor DAF Trucks would really benefit from the cooperation.
And in the meantime, you’d already recognized the distinctive shape of an International Paystar 5000 series, despite the capital letters D-A-F above the grille (and the headlamps in the bumper).
The DAF N 2500 series was not a rebadged Paystar all the way, by the way. The conventionals were not powered by an American diesel, but by DAF’s own DKA 1160 engine, a naturally aspirated inline-six with 11.6 liter displacement and a maximum power output of 230 DIN-hp @ 2,200 rpm.
The transmission was the well-known and utterly durable 13-speed Fuller RTO 9513, which happens to be completely period correct from a DAF point of view. Back then, it was a widely used transmission in their heavy vehicles.
The restored DAF, equipped with a Belgian ATM dump body, originally worked at the Hoogovens steel mill in the Netherlands. It’s now owned by the DAF Museum in Eindhoven.
Besides the engine, another in-house DAF component was the truck’s 26 tonnes (57,320 lbs) tandem, type 2676T. The lighter, 20 tonnes 2255T was also offered.
The GVWR during its Hoogovens career was 32 tonnes (70,550 lbs). That kind of weight was not allowed on public roads, but the steel mill’s territory was more than big enough for the two-tone monster to live in.
In those days, comparable, rough & tough 6×4 conventionals (short-nosed included) in this on-/off-road segment were the Mercedes-Benz L-series, Magirus-Deutz Eckhauber, and the MAN Ponton Kurzhauber.
In the opposite direction, 20 DAF FT 2200 DU 4×2 cabover tractors were shipped to Baltimore in the US. Several hauling companies started testing them in the spring of 1973. The DAFs did very well, but then the currency exchange rates got in the way (…we’ve heard that before).
According to the information of the DAF Museum, just 22 International Paystar-based DAFs were built. Only a few have survived, so you can imagine what a Dutch treat it was to see an N 2500 in the metal. The chance I’ll ever come across another one is close to zero.
In 1983, IHC sold all of their DAF Trucks shares to some Dutch parties. Thirteen years later, PACCAR arrived at the Eindhoven HQ. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Interesting – I had been completely unaware of the IH/DAF tie-in.
Now what was IHC, Navistar, is part of TRATON (Volkswagen: MAN, Scania, Neoplan).
…rebranded ‘International’ recently.
https://www.international.com/
Interesting truck, I was unaware of these until I read mention of them in Fred Crismon’s book ‘International Trucks’. Unfortunately he didn’t go into any technical detail about the trucks or how many were built, but he did state that a joint venture medium duty conventional was also under consideration. Thanks for posting!
International’s 1983 DAF divestiture was followed by IH selling Seddon-Atkinson to Pegaso in 1984 and exiting European truck manufacturing.
When I read about some of these being shipped to Baltimore, a deeply recessed memory bubbled up; I remember reading about that at the time, when I was in Baltimore that year.
The 20 DAFs that were sent to Baltimore in early 1973 must have looked something like this, the FT 2200 (FT = cabover tractor with a 4×2 drivetrain). Pictured a right-hand drive FT 2200 with a day cab.
Paystars were relatively rare in Ontario construction and industrial sites. But the solid family resemblance to the S-Series, makes them immediately recognizable.
Tough-looking truck. Glad it was rescued and restored.
IIRC, DAF did try again later with the Magirus-Deutz Eckhauber cab, but again, sales were poor.
Our riposte was the Dodge/Karrier 50-series, an updated Commer Walk-Thru fitted with a Dodge Tradesman cab imported from the US as CKD…it ended up as a Renault.
Yes, the N 2800 series, introduced in 1980. Fully aimed at the super-extra-heavy-duty trucking markets in Africa and the Middle East. You never saw them in Europe or the UK. And now they’re classics, you suddenly see plenty of them.
Here they are:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/truck-stop-classic-1980-daf-n2800-series-van-doornes-last-conventional-a-tough-cookie/