Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Brand
Ah, the Daffodil; the only car I've ever driven that had me yearning for an A60!
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Now that’s a quote and a half!
Not sure if the DAF fulfills the brief of being ‘too clever for its own good’, but it’s got a lot of posts so let’s keep going....
I’d forgotten that the original Daffodil / 600 was a flat twin, but it’s all coming back to me now! Sweet.... Think the VDT was single belt as well? The transmission is mentioned elsewhere as being the first CVT, not sure how accurate that is, but must have been the first ‘mass produced’ installation. Maybe Clyno was first use. I’ve hated with anything ever driven that was fitted with a CVT, but I believe that some cars now use electronics to mimic gear changes (stepped?) so don’t just rev and not actually achieve anything! One of the mags tested the new Renault Koleos (Nissan X-Trail) SUV recently and really slagged off the CVT. Odd choice to fit.....
Some of the small Volvos (340 etc) also used the VDT, but think probably made in the DAF factory or based on a DAF anyway. So quite a long production run, and maybe therefore a success? I hope Hubert van Doorne received royalties, not sure if VDT was his company or was owned by DAF by then!
Oh, and apparently the first DAF’s fitted with Variomatic could go as fast backwards as forwards, not that that was very quick.