On September 8, this DAF from Flanders hit the two million kilometer mark (1,243,000 miles). It’s safe to assume its engine is broken-in by now. The tractor was driven to the ‘Heart For DAF Days’ in Eindhoven, held on October 5 and 6. An appropriate occasion for sure.
The Thys hauling company was founded in 1960 by Eugeen Thys and is now led by his two sons. Currently, the fleet consists of 12 DAF vehicles. All paid with their own money, bank loans and lease contracts are not in the brothers’ vocabulary.
The XF 95 series of heavy trucks and tractors was introduced in 2002, still using the cab structure of the 1987 DAF 95 and the subsequent 95 XF, unveiled in 1997.
Disc brakes were standard and the vehicles were all powered by the turbocharged and intercooled XE engine, a 12.6 liter inline-six with 24 valves. The DAF XE was the predecessor to the 2004 PACCAR MX-13 engine with a displacement of 12.9 liter.
Performing preventive maintenance is high on the owners’ priority list. For example, if one air bag goes kaputt (or kapot), the others are replaced too. Or a new turbocharger every 500,000 km, regardless. And spot the owner/operator in the picture.
The suspension of the drive axle comes with four air bags, the duo on the right side is clearly visible in the picture, thanks to the bright early October sun.
The torque rods on top of the axle housing, forming a triangle. A proven recipe since decades.
The tractor was ordered with the widely used, synchronized ZF 16-speed manual transmission. The ZF AS Tronic automated manual transmission was optional. Note that the latest generation of heavy DAFs isn’t even offered with a manual in Europe. ZF TraXon AMT in each and every one.
Credit goes to the DAF Museum and DAF Trucks BeLux for their articles (with photos), highlighting Thys Eugeen & zonen.
For the trivia buffs: in Belgium, it’s good usage to write -and say- a person’s last name first and the first name last. Hugo Victor, for example. Or Marvin Lee and Lee Bruce.
Is it the case that the brothers would have had to constantly keep on top of rust over so many k’s in your climate, or are truck chassis so massive it doesn’t really come up, beyond a cursory bit of cleaning?
I ask this because on videos or mags of UK classic cars, I’m often a bit gobsmacked as to how crusty a really decent-seeming, low-mileage car looks under the bonnet, let alone underneath.
There was the usual surface chassis rust, see rear axle housing, for example. Very common, certainly after 21 years of use. Absolutely nothing to worry about either. Heavy truck and tractor chassis are massive and ‘beefy’, indeed.
The orange paint on the cab has faded somewhat, but there was no sheet metal rust.
According to the information on the doors, the tractor’s daily job is driving from Belgium to Holland and vice versa. On main roads and freeways, it’s clearly a dedicated ‘on-asphalt’ tractor. That also helps (a lot).
Apart from this, I bet the brothers (and their family members and employees) are very careful drivers -as in how they treat their equipment- and that dirt, mud, and road salt are removed from the vehicles ASAP.
Excellent find and pics! Always interesting, and impressed, to learn of the high mileage on any specific auto, or truck. They are so often consistently well-maintained, from new. Learned a lot about this, from how my dad maintained his cars. He was not obsessive about maintenance, just used good common sense. Any vehicle, can last indefinitely.
Clearly, trucking has always been a way of life for these guys and their crew. Always involving DAFs, since 1960. With a handful of exceptions during that period of almost 65 years.
Very impressive! It appears immaculate. Wonderful to see. Thank you for sharing this DAF, and its story.
You’re welcome! FYI, there are some nice pictures in the links at the bottom of the article (text in Dutch, but the photos speak for themselves).
The owners look very proud. It is a very nice-looking fleet. It is great, they are honoured like this. Looks good on everyone!
Great find, and story to go along with it! I always enjoy your truck show pictures, and this past weekend, I went to truck show here in Virginia. It’s the first time I’ve ever attended a truck show, and I had a great time. Probably about 200 or so tractor trailers, and I even found one that interested me enough to write up – hopefully I will someday soon. Anyway, thanks for all these articles from over the years.
Also, I didn’t know that about the Belgian Last Name / First Name order. I’d thought Hungary was the only European country that put last names first. Learned something new today.
Please write it up, 703Eric!
I intend to – the truck that interested me most was a 1980s Ford LTL 9000… very rare to see them even here in the US these days.
The show was fun – most of the trucks appeared to be 1990s or early 2000s, with a good helping of 1980s examples as well. Not too many from before 1980. It was a Show & Shine event (i.e., not judged), and the cleanliness of the trucks and trailers amazed me. It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon.
Here’s a picture of the show:
Here’s the Ford – hauling a tank trailer. From what I can tell it’s still very much a working truck. Looks like a great rig.
Still looking fresh, those heavy Ford Louisville conventionals.
No truly full-size Fords in the US any longer, but over here they’re becoming more and more common. Spotted last September:
Fancy!
Wonderful! And mind you, with a Kenworth and International cabover in that line-up! (the conventional/cabover ratio would be exactly the other way around here…)
Here’s a close-up of the International. That was another one that caught my eye at that show.
That’s a nice-looking F-Max. I’ve wondered how they’ve been selling in Europe. From the little I’ve read about them, I’ve had the impression that the F-Max is going after the more utilitarian end of the big-rig market in Europe, so it’s interesting to see a fancy version. (Of course, my impression may be completely off-base.)
Eric, Ford Otosan (Turkey) is very serious about selling them across the whole continent. The company mentioned on the tractor’s ‘license plate’ has become a Dutch importer quite recently.