We car geeks tend to either disdain or ignore continuously variable transmissions today, but it’s worth remembering that there was a time when they were downright revolutionary. And the vanguard of that revolution was a little Dutch carmaker called DAF, who were the first to mass-produce any sort of continuously-variable transmission, their belt-driven Variomatic system.
Remember, back in the day, small, inexpensive cars just didn’t have any sort of automatic option. You got a clutch and some gears, often three, four if you were lucky, and you liked it, dammit. So the idea of a small car with the decadent, one-legged luxury of an automatic transmission was a very big deal.
Most DAF brochures, like this 1964 one for the American market, tended to focus on that automatic transmission, because that was the big differentiator for the DAF versus, say, a Volkswagen. But I like how this one also notes that it’s “fast.”
“Fast,” of course, can mean different things to different people, and compared to, say, a mule or an end table, the Daffodil was very fast. Compared to other cars, maybe less so. That little air-cooled flat-twin you see up there was 750cc and made a decent-for-the-displacement-in-that-era 30 horsepower, enough to launch it at speeds of up to 65 mph, though getting there would take you over 30 seconds.
That engine cutaway is a little unusual in that it’s showing the engine from the back, which wasn’t usually the case. There’s also a great diagram of the Variomatic transaxle there, with its two big belts.
This brochure is really charming in a mid-’60s way, where everything seems to have been shot in a studio and scenes were just sort of “suggested,” allowing for some real cost savings as wildly rare and expensive items like a volleyball and an awning could just be portrayed by drawings instead of having to source the real things.
These sort of minimalist community theater stage set like environments also gave distorted views of what is acceptable parking-wise, as I’m pretty sure no zoo lets you just park right in the middle of it, between the lone parrot and the monkeys, which you can let your kids just feed bananas by shoving them through the bars.
I like how big a deal this brochure makes out of the Daffodil’s trunk, which is, to be fair, pretty good-sized for what was a little car, and that picture there is a fantastic example of one of those well-packed trunk pictures I fetishize.
I also like the caption on the lower photo, “Everyone enjoys the superb view in all directions” which really just means “this car has windows.”
Look at this smug fella, proudly admiring that his Daffodil not only has an opening door – the same way to access the inside of the car that Rolls-Royces use – but also has a seat for when you do finally decide to go inside. Pretty swank!
Also, let’s appreciate these fine DAF taillights; I really like the (barely?) amber indicator section in that little chrome-trimmed boxy section in the middle, like a belt or necklace around the overall tapered-lozenge form of the lamp. They also appear to be the same on both sides, smart from a manufacturing standpoint.
One last thing about the DAF Daffodil – the advertising tagline “New Fast Automatic Daffodil” was taken by a UK-based band I’d previously not heard of in the late ’80s/early ’90s as their name.
Here, listen:
Who knew?
While efficiently packed, that trunk likely wouldn’t accommodate today’s wheeled Pullmans. With a fire extinguisher and a set of jumper cables, my car’s decently sized trunk can’t swallow more than two of those and some soft carry-ons.
How long did a VW of that era take to get to 65? And what did they top out at, stock?
For some reason I expected the Daffodil’s styling to be a bit more bulbous.
Fast they say, when it could be outstripped by a contemporary Beetle. Although I kind of see what they were getting at with that. There probably was a sensation of speed when you had no gears to change, especially if you’d never encountered that before. That’s the best defense of their “fast” marketing I can give!
No stories of DAFs rolling into canals? Apparently there was a time when it was a daily occurrence in Amsterdam. To quote Autoweek 4/30/2000:
“The centrifugal clutch, however, wouldn’t hold a DAF left “in gear” from rolling, and this resulted in DAFs, popular as airport rentals, floating in Dutch canals after drivers forgot to set the handbrake.”
https://www.autoweek.com/news/a2125301/1963-daf-daffodil-dutch-uncle-swedish-immigrant/
It kind of looks like something you’d pick up at Crazy Vaclav’s Palace of Automobiles.
Put it in H!
She’ll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.
What country is this car from?
It no longer exists, but take her for a test drive and you’ll agree… ‘Zagreb ebnom zlotdik diev’.
That 2nd picture with the fake awning/soccer ball: Early use of the ‘angry eyes’ front end.
I dream of a car this simple these days.
This car should be forever remembered. A true pioneer in transmission technology.
The DAF Variomatic walked so the Jatco Xtronic could run.
As long as by “run,” you don’t mean “operate.”
Too bad Nissan didn’t copy DAF’s drive belt layout. Two of them for system redundancy and they’re external for service accessibility.
I found the New FAD album at a used cd store back in the early ’90’s and still listen to it occasionally. I had no idea this was where the name came from. This article feels like worlds colliding.
That transaxle looks like a pretty neat idea: if I’m interpreting the image correctly, it looks like a combined differential / dual CVT / transaxle with two CVTs on one driving shaft, able to drive the two half shafts at different ratios.
Yes, and it seems like there’s a torque converter on the back of the engine separate from the rest of the transaxle? Not sure why you would want two CVTs unless it’s meant to steer like a ZTR lawn mower.
GM had partnership with DAF making mid-70s low power rustbucket recall magnets that they called DGAF.
When they pull their fingers out of the dike, those Dutch folk are pretty clever.
“[…] but also has a seat for when you do finally decide to go inside. Pretty swank!”
Locally there was a massive bank failure involving a regional chain of banks owned and run by a family, the Butchers, with Jake being the most prominent and visible member, so he was the de facto face of the whole catastrophe (in fact, at the time, it was the fourth largest bank failure in U.S. history. Needless to say, it had a very substantial impact on the region.)
As this happened in 1983 the recent bailout of Chrysler was still very much in mind so there was a grimly popular joke that went something like this:
“Did you see the news that Chrysler is in trouble again and they’re going to appoint Jake Butcher to run it?”
“No, what’ll he make?”
“Jake Butcher is going to make cars without seats and without steering wheels.”
“Why would he make cars like that?”
“They’ll be for people who have lost their asses and don’t know where to turn.”
Can we get more articles that end with Melodica solo music? That was a thing.
100 Klicks or so would be fast enough to get you in trouble in Tulip Land.
Don’t know about the DAF, but once drove a CVT-equipped Subaru Justy. The thing would scream its lungs out until the belts tightened. “Acceleration” was relative, best described as Vespa-like.
“Everyone enjoys the superb view in all directions”
Looks more like everyone desperately wants to escape, but OK.
On a hot day, it’s a veritable Dutch Oven!
/works for both culinary and flatulent interpretations
No crotch vent?
I believe there was a quirk in the transmission that would allow you to go just as fast in reverse and you would going forwards.
Indeed – and they would be raced in that direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyHleTJyONk&t=18s
You beat me to it…!
So in at least one respect DAFs were actually the fastest cars in the world.
“Smug guy” in the picture looks like he’s about to turn to the person out of frame and say, “I don’t think it’s going to fit. I told you it wouldn’t.”
There’s a certain beloved commentator who’s going to be quite pleased to see this article