BVB (Bas van Buuren) Substrates is a producer of growing media. The company recreated one of their heavy DAF trucks from the eighties, in a period correct livery and all. A roll-off chain hoist system for transporting an open top container completes the picture. By the way, the truck seems to have a leaky tire.
That’s an in-house, planetary drive axle for sure. With the tag axle up, the turning radius is the same as if this were a 4×2 chassis with an equal wheelbase.
The 25 tonnes (55,115 lbs), 288 DIN-hp truck is powered by an 11.6 liter inline-six from the DAF 1160-family of diesel engines that sprouted from the Leyland O.680, back in the late sixties. The transmission must be a synchronized ZF 16-speed with a double-H shifting pattern.
The chain hoist system is mounted on a tilting frame and can also put a container on and off a full trailer, towed by the truck. One trip, two containers.
Some wonderful BVB-DAF pictures, taken around 35 to 40 years ago, I guess. A DAF 2800 Turbo Intercooling from the early eighties and a somewhat younger, more powerful 3300 Turbo Intercooling at work (photo courtesy of Kekkilä-BVB/Menno van Leeuwen).
Even without the brand name and model designation, anyone with a low level of truck enthusiasm will immediately recognize the DAF F241 (sleeper) cab.
It was introduced at the end of 1973 as a wider and taller version of the truck maker’s F218 tilt cab. Initially marketed as the 2800-series, replacing the good ol’ 2600, these heavy trucks and tractors really got DAF going on the European market for heavy on-highway vehicles, the UK included.
Worth mentioning is that it was also powered by the first turbocharged and intercooled truck diesel.
In the eighties, the 2800 was accompanied by the 3300 and later on the 3600, the latter with a maximum power output of 373 DIN-hp. By then, the F241 options were a day cab, a day cab with a top sleeper, a sleeper cab and the Space Cab sleeper cab with a raised roof.
The F241 cab was updated in 1980. On the outside, the brand name moved over to the left side of the grille and the model designation appeared on the right side (courtesy of Dutch Model Truck Club).
After the introduction of the brand new and rather generic looking 95-series in 1987, the whole F241 family was kept in production to offer a cheaper alternative to the new generation of heavy DAF vehicles. One last, minor cab update followed in 1990 and the F241 lived on for a few more years, marketed as the DAF 2900 and 3200.
I doubt if the 95-series will ever reach the same top-cult-status as the distinctive 2800/3300/3600. There is an exception though!
Here it is, caught in the same lot, a 1994 DAF FT 95.500 Super Space Cab, powered by a 14 liter Cummins engine. Cult status guaranteed!
I love the design of this 80’s DAF. Also like the color combination of the truck in the photo, I think every truck should have a touch of yellow.
What catches my attention the most is the interior, quite modern for the time (looks more like the 90’s), if we compare it with other trucks.
The 1973-1980 interior, obviously nothing changed drastically.
You always find the coolest trucks!
It’s extremely attractive, and of course oh-so-blocky, except for the lights whose roundness really accentuate everything else and still somehow makes it all work together. And then a color combination that seems like it shouldn’t work but in fact does so extremely well.
A lovely truck, and the period pictures are the icing on the cake, an excellent find.