Building trailers, semi-trailers, and an eclectic variety of other, on-/off-road transport related products for both the civilian market and the military. That was DAF in a nutshell, especially in the thirties and second half of the forties. Founder Hub van Doorne (1900-1979) was a technical genius and a fervent collector of patents, you know.
Developing and manufacturing complete fuel tankers was one of those DAF jobs. An example is this post-war, military DAF YF-101 ‘sneltanker’ semi-trailer. It could fill up the Gloster Meteor jet fighters of the Dutch Army Aviation Brigade in three minutes, instead of the usual 20 minutes (at least).
The later YF-102, as used by the U.S. Air Force, went into production in the early fifties. Their pump capacity was 2,300 liters (608 US gallons) per minute. Later on, these tanker semi-trailers were also exported to other countries.
And in 1956, seven years after the start of their truck production, DAF introduced the ‘standaard tankauto’ for the civilian market. A medium-duty 4×2 truck with a uniform tanker body, made by the company’s trailer division.
Straight from the factory, a DAF turnkey tanker truck from the mid-sixties, based on the A 1600 DD 425 chassis-cab. Powered by the 120 SAE-hp, naturally aspirated DD 575 diesel engine. The number 425 in the model designation refers to the truck’s 425 cm wheelbase. The tanker body could hold 7,500 liters of fuel (1,981 US gallons).
A presentation of the tanker product assortment from the same era. On the left, from top to bottom, semi-trailers for transporting gasoline, milk, and propane gas. In the center a fuel oil hauler. On the right, at the top, a detachable tanker truck unit for heating oil delivery (extra tanks could be coupled to the main unit).
The 4×2 standard tanker trucks were designated FA 1675 and FA 1675 A with a 300 liters per minute and a 500 liters per minute pump capacity, respectively. The letter F stands for fuel.
DAF FA 1675 – 7,500 liters (illustration by Charles Burki)
In 1967, the volume capacity of the ‘standaard tankauto’ was enlarged to 9,000 liters (2,378 US gallons). Its tank was divided in three compartments.
And this is one of them, Van Kessel’s 1969 DAF FA 1690 A. In the second half of the sixties, such a 1600-series chassis was rated at a gross vehicle weight of 12,700 kg (28,000 lbs).
Frog DAFs, that’s the nickname for these cabovers with the trapezium-shaped grille, introduced in 1959. Definitely still an evolution and modernization of the ‘UrDAF’.
Cabover yes, tilt cab no. To get access to the engine, the dog house can be opened. It pivots on its rear side and hooks up to a small metal bracket, mounted against the rear cab panel (visible in the picture).
Very well done, although I must add that a Van Kessel tanker truck would never come in such a flashy livery in the late sixties. It’s an old tankauto alright, yet wearing a fancy new outfit.
By the way, did you know that Hubert Jozef van Doorne was born in America?
Nice tanker trucks, styling like that has gone by the wayside with modern tankers, its all about reducing tare weight for extra capacity, I drove a flagship magazine featured modern tanker shiny stainless steel cladding over the insulation it was hard to clean and the flash cladding meant it couldnt be fully loaded legally it went 54,000kg with a regular 30,000 litres of milk and less carting wine which was its primary role, minor thing those Frogs are forward control trucks not COE,the engine is inside the cab, handy in winter.
‘Forward control’ and COE are synonyms.
Some more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_over
I find a similarity with the DKW F89 van, leaving aside the size differences.
Nice truck!.
For me it shouts loudly: “My father was French.”
Maybe his name was Monsieuer Renault 208?
Compare it yourself:
What a good-looking machine. Reminds me of the Matchbox model I had as a kid, though I have a vague notion that that tanker was a Bedford. (Weren’t Matchboxes were just the best models ever made?)
Must say that I’m hanged if I can work out how that seat springing mechanism works. Because of the side-on shot, it looks for the world like someone put coilovers under their deck chair!
I see what you mean. Just looking at the photograph I think the movement in the seat is down and back, there’s a sight backwards rake in the seat suports and it would explain the angle of the coilover.
That’s the conclusion I came to, but then thought improbable – one big bump, and, down and back, “oh shit, I’ve lost contact with the pedals”!
I wouldn’t want to be sitting on that seat if the top spring hanger broke!
The thought behind it was to absorb both the vertical movements and the ‘kicks in the back’, the latter especially occurring when driving a truck/tractor with a short wheelbase.
All this in the very early days of paying attention to driver comfort (and health).
These days, even the most comfortable car seat is an all-wooden bar stool (the lowest model available) compared to the seats in big trucks.
My first thought was the Matchbox model as well, yes it was a Bedford, Matchbox made it as a tilt cab as well, which the Bedford TK didn’t have.
Bingo! And yes, it was tilt-cab. Used to annoy me during emergency braking (on the sofa) by falling forward. (Sad I can recall this: today, I quite often get the kid’s names wrong, but I digress, as whatsisname just old me).
My first thought was that it [the subject truck] looked like one of the HESS toy trucks that get sold around Christmastime. They vary from year to year, but I think they have done a heating oil delivery truck at one time or another over the years. The colors are close, that’s for sure.
Without a doubt – at least when you look at what was available in die cast.
What always bothered me a little about Matchbox was that the trucks were about the same size as the cars. Relatively speaking, clearly too small.
On the other hand, the trucks were of a size that they could be placed quite well on 00 / H0 scale model trains (if the demand for accuracy was not too high).
I already wrote it elsewhere: This BP color scheme just looks great. With the Van Kessel tanker even a little more than with the Matchbox Bedford.
Yes, the sizing was indeed a bit off. And yes, that BP color scheme is for sure a ripper (that’s Australian for “excellent”).
My preferred heavy truck supplier in the seventies was Siku. Fully on topic, my very first one was actually the Hanomag-Henschel tractor with a Schwelm semi-trailer as pictured below. Very detailed for a toy (1/60 scale), tilt cab and all. Perfect quality too.
I got it in the early seventies, it still had ‘correct’ tires and dual wheels. Later on, Siku trucks/big rigs came with those wide and hard-plastic super singles all around.
Wonderful, this Siku tank truck! But even back then (in the 70s) it wasn’t exactly cheap. A truck like this costs about 8 to 10 times more than a Matchbox car. Somthing for birthday or christmas in most cases.
Indeed! Us two brothers didn’t end up with a huge fleet…
We drove Hanomag-Henschel, Magirus-Deutz (cabovers), Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo (square-lined N-series conventionals), Siku only.
I saw what you did there! I visit North Brabant on business on occasion and last time noticed a village named America! Sure enough, that’s where Hub van Doorne was born.
Thanks for cluing me in to that – I had wondered about that comment!
I just had to look it up and see the “Welcome to America” sign:
Correct, America in the province of Limburg, bordering on Noord/North Brabant.