Javillac
Nowadays DAF is known for produce trucks, but an important part of the manufacturer's history was its production of cheap and popular cars, a sector in which the Netherlands has never had a strong presence with self-developed vehicles.
El first car mass-produced by the brand would arrive in 1958, DAF 600, a small two-door family sedan that featured a two cylinders type boxer refrigerated by a government-protected.
Up to this point the car may seem like any other in its category on the European automobile scene of the late 50s, but the truly ingenious little DAF was his innovator transmission, the "Variomatic".
This peculiar system eliminated components such as the differential and using others as tapered pulleys y centrifugal clutches, to result in one of the most peculiar automatic transmissions ever seen in Europe, causing the vehicle to increase its transmission ratio as the accelerator was pressed.
La Variomatic continued to evolve with each new model introduced by DAF during the decades of the 60s and 70s, enjoying great popularity in the Netherlands, and going on to use the cars of the brand motors type "Sierra" or "Cleon Fonte” of Renault origin.
This success caught the attention of Volvo, which absorbed DAF and that as of 1975 it would begin to manufacture the DAF 66 as Volvo 66, a model that would be manufactured until 1980 when it was replaced by the Volvo 343, which inherited the transmission Variomatic.
But what made the cars of DAF was an amazing feature, and that is that the continuously variable transmission system Variomatic allowed these cars achieve the same forward speed which march ago, reaching maxims close to the 130 kilometers per hour.
Soon people echoed this peculiar ability of the DAF and they began to celebrate competitions, which most closely resembled demolition derbies than a conventional race, but they gave a real show on the circuits. The unstable driving reversing at high speeds caused the shocks, overturns and spinning tops were a constant in these frenetic events.
Unfortunately, each time the date of one of these events approached, dozens of these small DAF disappeared from the streets, making today very few units survive of these cars that were so popular at the time, and that many saw their end in this peculiar Dutch pastime that is as dangerous as it is entertaining.
There are several videos on YouTube dedicated to these races, but the video attached below barely two minutes long serves as a perfect sample button.
Photographs: DAF, Anefo, Javier Ramiro
