Walking down a street in Stockholm in August, I noticed an old-looking small car that I did not recognize parked at a curb. The badge on the grill said DAF, which I recognized as a Dutch manufacturer of trucks. An unremarkable European small car from a company that abandoned the car business years ago, although perhaps interesting as a survivor, I thought.
A look at the badges on the rear of this DAF told me that it was actually quite remarkable. It was a DAF 66, produced from 1972 to 1975, continuing until 1980 as the Volvo 66 after Volvo acquired DAF’s passenger car business in 1975. The badge on the bumper announced the car’s claim to fame: the Variomatic transmission, a pioneering continuously variable transmission (CVT) first sold to the public in 1958. It was the first commercially successful CVT, preceding any other use of a CVT in a car by a quarter century. (Some tractors and ATVs used CVTs as early as the 1960s.) The CVT is currently far more popular than when the Variomatic was the only one in cars, with Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Audi, BMW (Mini), and Chrysler (Dodge and Jeep SUVs) all offering CVTs.
The basic principle behind the Variomatic CVT was simple. It used two V-shaped pulleys connected by a drive belt, and it varied the gear ratio by moving the belt along the V’s of the pulleys. DAF used a rubber belt in the Variomatic, which limited the transmission’s strength but was adequate for the power output and weight of a 1960’s four cylinder economy car. More recent CVTs use steel belts for the greater strength needed for more powerful and heavier cars.
(Editor’s addition: Here’s a nice video of it in action, from underneath a 66.)
The Variomatic used a separate belt and pulley mechanism for each drive wheel. It served in effect as a CVT with a limited slip differential. This photo, of the transmission and rear axle assembly of a preceding DAF model, shows how DAF used swing axles with coil springs in its early Variomatic-equipped cars, giving them the unpredictable handling expected of swing axles.
DAF gave the 66 an entirely new rear suspension setup using a sophisticated De Dion axle with leaf springs. Usually found in expensive high performance cars such as Aston Martins, Lancias, and Maseratis, the De Dion axle avoided the camber changes of the swing axles and dramatically improved the handling of the 66 compared to its predecessors. 
DAF cars with the Variomatic had a reputation for good traction in snow and other slippery conditions, and they had some success in rallying.
A significant disadvantage of the Variomatic in a compact car application is evident in this photo of a complete drivetrain. Observant viewers of the earlier color photo of the Variomatic may have noticed that the driveshaft connection is set up for a front engine/rear drive arrangement. This photo shows how much space the drivetrain occupied in a Variomatic-equipped DAF. The north-south engine, driveshaft, and Variomatic in the rear occupied a significant amount of volume, not a good feature in a family car with small dimensions. The rear wheel drive Variomatic would be an evolutionary dead end, phased out when the Volvo 66 ended production in 1980. The successor to the DAF/Volvo 66, the DAF-designed Volvo 343, dropped the Variomatic in favor of a rear-mounted conventional gearbox. Volvo went with front wheel drive in the next generation, the 440 of 1987, following the industry trend toward front wheel drive and its space efficiency in the compact car segment
Ironically, this DAF 66 had its interior crammed full of household items, making it one of the world’s least capacious automotive shipping containers. Still used like a pack mule after four decades, this car is remarkable for surviving since the early 1970’s apparently free of rust or major damage, and moreover for the unique drivetrain used by its manufacturer from 1958 to 1980. It is a survivor of an era when the international automobile market had a diverse variety of independent manufacturers, which produced many unusual designs before the automobile industry developed the basic formulas used in today’s cars.
The rubber band car,not seen one for a long time!There were a lot of these about in the 70s occasionally there was a horror story of one setting off at top speed until it hit something.
These Variomatics have always fascinated me. With today’s materials, this sort of CVT works well. With rubber belts, well it’s a good thing Holland is so flat.
The other major advantage of the variomatic was that that top speed was the same in reverse, which meant the DAF was well suited to backwards racing. They also had a brief experiment in F2 I believe.
Being of stubborn Dutch extraction myself, I love the story of the van Doorne brothers and DAF, stubborn Dutch guys going against the grain and more or less succeeding.
I read an article once where Wim van Doorne explained the lukewarm acceptance of DAF cars with “People are stupid”.
Yes, I must have read the same article. Fascinating story, and not one likely to play out again. Of course, there’s Tesla.
“well suited to backwards racing”
There wouldn’t be such a thing as backwards racing if it wasn’t for the Daf!
Any other make of car competing in the uniquely Dutch sport was purely incidental, as they turned axles over or crownwheels around to be able to join in.
These cars are quite fast and can beat any other car… as long as all of them are running in REVERSE gear!… this CVT works in both directions, so the car is theoretically equal fast both forward and reverse! I don’t remember the title anymore, but there was a nice german movie with a guy who had a DAF with a sunroof which didn’t close (especially in rainy days) and who liked to race in reverse gear… great movie indeed!
Now where can more Nice German Movies be found? Very little of their liberal art penetrates far in the New World; the exceptions can be counted on one hand, it seems. Is it a cultural mismatch or something else? Even French, Italian, & Chinese productions are more easily found, so it’s not just about language.
I don’t think it’s only a modern phenomenon, either: French, Anglo-Americans, & even Russians dominate in classic works of fiction.
Congratulations on finding the first Daf CC. I’ve had a fascination with these cars since first reading about them as a kid when they appeared. The first model was called “Daffodil” no less.
If only I had known about the “Daffodil,” the title of this CC about a yellow DAF would have been different! I was too focused on explaining the CVT to enjoy the flowers, you could say.
This concept has always intrigued me. It seems that the problem with modern CVTs is that they have taken a very simple concept and in order to make it work with heavier, more powerful vehicles, made it quite complex. Now, instead of going and buying a couple of V belts, you have to remove and disassemble the unit and deal with expensive parts which are sometimes (as in the case of the Ford units) made of unobtanium.
Of course, conventional automatics have become more complex too, and even manuals seem to have been cheapened to the point where they are no longer the simple, durable assemblies of our younger years.
Considering how transmission gears have practically doubled in quantity since we were young, little wonder CVTs are in vogue now. They’re the logical ending point.
So was there some sort of guard or shield for the belts and pulleys? It seems like road debris, gravel ect could cause excessive wear on the belt. Water, snow and ice would also cause slippage it seems.
Definitely an idea well ahead of it’s time.
No; it’s exposed. I just added a video of the Variomatic in action shot from underneath a 66 on a lift.
The shot from the side does reveal a pair of U nuts in the back of the frame rail that appear are to hold the front of some sort of belly pan/splash shield.
The CVT is pretty well enclosed, in the video the cover has been removed.
In standard configuration there is a huge 2-part plastik cover (one part forming the sidewalls, one part is the bottom cover) protecting the entire CVT. Only the rear side is open – well behind the drivbelts – to let the Air pass through. The cooling airflow for the drivebelt gear comes through Air ducts from the grills below the front bumper, leading to the front of the gearbox (they are very well visible in the video). I made some 200.000 km with several DAF 66 cars, belt wear was no issue. I had to change them only once.
The exposed belt drives of Harley-Davidsons and some other motorcycles do not have problems with dirt, stones, water, etc. in on-road usage, although they are quite different, being toothed rather than smooth, and using Kevlar and other modern synthetic materials.
Official Dutch nickname: “Truttenschudder met jarretel aandrijving”.
To my best knowledge, in English: “Old-cow shaker with garter transmission”.
For many elderly people in the Netherlands a DAF was the very first car they ever bought, since it was very easy to drive and cheap to buy. Therefore its “senior citizens image”.
In the fifties Mr. Van Doorne really loved his Buick with its automatic gearbox, but he knew that the gearbox was way too big and heavy for a small car. So, that was actually the starting point of the Variomatic.
Most of you will know that DAF Trucks is a member of the Paccar Group since 1997.
Experienced diesel engine builders, turbo intercooling since 1973.
I can recommend a visit to the DAF Museum if you are in the Netherlands.
http://www.dafmuseum.nl/EN/Pages/Museum_homepage.aspx
Better yet, the automatic-only driving licence was nicknamed DAF licence for years. They were not even considered real cars!
I didn’t know they sold their car business to Volvo. A generation later Volvo would exit the car business to focus on Trucks and Heavy Equipment.
I knew they were the European arm of PACCAR. Someday soon when EU emissions regs catch up to US ones we may see a KW or Pete branded DAF Cabover tractor.
The cabs of the light Peterbilt 210 and Kenworth K270 trucks are DAF cabs.
Well, sort of….The small steel cab itself comes from Renault.
(the bigger cabs in Europe and elsewhere are “true” DAFs)
And Renault Trucks is owned by Volvo, just like Mack.
(It’s all about globalisation you know)
Back in 1997 DAF introduced a brand new 12.9 ltr. diesel engine.
That’s the engine we now know as Paccar MX.
Off-road specialist Tatra also uses DAF cabs and DAF~Paccar engines.
Do the car need to be shifted into neutral when you are stopped? I don’t see a torque converter. Do they use centrifugal clutches?
The car does not have to be shifted to Neutral when stopping. At idle speed the two pulleys move close enough to one another that the belt is no longer being driven. However most manufacturers design CVT’s so that there will be some tension on the belt even at idle, this is to replicate the “feel” of an automatic transmission. In other words, taking your foot off the brake of a Nissan (for example) with a CVT will allow the car to gradually creep forward.
Thanks for the answer. I do understand the basic operation of CVT transmissions using the belts and pulleys but I have always been confused by how the engine is connected to the transmission, meaning if CVTs use a torque converter or not.
If I am not mistaken, I think that many of the modern cvts use highly engenered metal “belts” that actualy stack up their links and push the “Variomatic?” slave pully rather than pulling purely using friction as the DAF system did.
Have not seen a DAf car in years trucks yes they are quite popuilar Paccar produce them Fodens share a cab with some DAF models the only difference being a step on exhaust brake instead of proper Jacobs but what do flat country people know about mountain driving, absolutely nothing and it shows thru.
My first car was a terrible Volvo 343, and that had the CVT along with a Renault engine. So it seems that at least some of them carried the CVT over.
It was appallingly slow and drank petrol like it had a V8. I hated it.
Yes indeed the 340 was offered with the 1.4 and the Variomatic well into its life. In 2006 I bought one for a mate that had that combination and I think it was an ’88 F registration. It never went wrong, but yes it was thirstier than a 240, and slow. Small engine plus automatic plus VERY heavy bodywork do not an economy car make. Regardless, the seats were every bit as good as in the bigger Volvos- except the rear. There was no legroom to be found thanks to that transmission.
This is the military “garter jeep” DAF YA 66
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DAF_YA-66,_Bridgehead_2011_pic2.JPG
Actually from its introduction in 1975 until 1979 CVT was the only game in 3xx town. I also distinctly remember driving a 340 with the CVT years ago. Volvo did adopt the 2xx series gearbox for use in the daf/volvo 3xx in 1979.
the dutch make cars?
Yes, Spyker and Donkervoort. Well, not exactly cars, “exotics” is a better word.
Back in the days, my weird science teacher in junior high had a DAF. That’s when I first heard of them. He had a Daffodil, and considering his rather odd personality overall, we felt sorry for him for driving a car named after a gay flower. But like everything else about him, he made me aware of Dutch automobiles.
I was raised on the south side of Chicago, near South Holland, and Dutch culture was a apart of my life as a consequence. Then I attended college near the Netherlands and visited often. A society as advanced as the Dutch shouldn’t surprise as having a home based car culture. If Sweden could have a couple, so could the Dutch.
There are many international corporations based in the Netherlands, so having DAF is really rather logical.
Actually, the 300 series volvo was still offered as variomatic and rear wheel drive. However, the gearbox was moved to the rear of the car, explaining the massive transmission tunnel.
I had a couple of Daf 44s, which were a delight to drive when set up right and awful when wrong. Their horizontally opposed twin engine could drag the thing to 70, without too much difficulty, but was the sort of thing where I, having tried for months to get it set up right ended up taking it to a garage who made it worse. A second garage who made it worse still, and then a third garage who made it about as bad when I’d done it.
When I sold it on to a guy who’d had them for years, and collected ’em, he got in, started it, listened for a second, popped his head under the bonnet and 30 seconds later it was running like a dream.
And we won’t even discuss the clutch that the garage fitted (the one I did, that was fine, the one they did, they swapped lots of bolts around and it ended up gouging chunks out of the clutch drum).
Still though, I’d have another. They’re great fun to drive.
Re: “DAF cars with the Variomatic had a reputation for good traction in snow”
That only applied to the original swing-axle models without a differential (up to Daf 44 and 55) .. Each belt driving its own wheel and relying on each side finding its own ratio on corners.
For the Daf 66 (and twin cylinder version 46) the rear end was redesigned with both belts sharing feed to a differential, and the swing axles replaced by a DeDion tube axle and double-jointed driveshafts. Cornering was much improved but traction on slippery surfaces was reduced to ‘normal car’ levels.
The video in the post shows the later DeDion axle (Daf 46/66) and the blue-painted still pic below it is the older swing axle (Daf 33/44/55) .. The line drawing below that is the later DeDion axle again. (as carried on into the Volvo 340)
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Snowmobiles use–or at least, used to use–the same sort of V-belt-and-movable pulley system. Ski-Doo, and Arctic Cat, and Polaris, and…well…everyone else had the same system. I suppose they all bought the assembly from some other OEM supplier, but I don’t know that for sure. There were springs and weights that would govern the engagement of the adjustable pulleys. Tuning the system was expected for any kind of performance application.
I never owned a snowmobile, but I had friends that owned and worked on them. This belt-and-pulley system was what they called a “Torque Converter”. When the system was at the limit of travel for high-vehicle-speed, it was said to be “fully converted”.
My friends burned up a lot of belts–but I don’t think that was unusual for modified engines run hard.
EDIT: Go-Karts, too.
https://www.mfgsupply.com/gomini/gominiclutch/gominiclutchtorq.html
Do any notable examples exist of rear-engined CVT cars either as experimental prototypes or production cars.