DAF 55

Last updated
DAF 55
White 1968 DAF 55.jpg
Overview
Manufacturer DAF
Production19671972 [1]
164,231 produced
Assembly Born, Netherlands (DAF Born)
Designer Giovanni Michelotti
Body and chassis
Class Small family car (C)
Body style 2-door Saloon
3-door Station wagon
2-door Coupé
Layout FR layout
Powertrain
Engine 1.1 L (1108 cc) B110 I4
Transmission Variomatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase 2,250 mm (88.6 in) [1]
Length3,880 mm (152.8 in) [1]
Width1,540 mm (60.6 in) [1]
Height1,445 mm (56.9 in) [2]
Curb weight 765 kg (1,687 lb) [1]
Chronology
Successor DAF 66
DAF 55 Coupe DAF 55 Coupe 45PS 1.jpg
DAF 55 Coupe

The DAF 55 is a small family car produced by the Dutch company DAF from December 1967 to September 1972. At that time it was replaced with the DAF 66. [2]

Contents

All 55s featured the unique Variomatic belt-driven continuously variable transmission, [3] with no manual transmission available. This feature of all DAF cars was very unusual for its class at the time.

The 55 was available as a 2-door saloon, a 3-door estate, and a 2-door coupé.

In total 164,231 DAF 55s were built. [4]

Origins

The 55 was developed to be a more powerful version of the 1966 DAF 44. The redesign was extensive, and featured the following major changes:

The rest of the car featured detail trim changes to set it apart from the lesser 44. All this heightened performance to a 136 km/h top speed, and made for a more practical car.

Model chronology

The saloon was launched at the end of 1967, [2] with the coupe version launched three months later, in March 1968. The coupe was overall more elegant than the saloon, featuring a lower and gently sloping roof line, pillarless doors and a more upscale interior featuring reclining seats, carpet instead of the saloon's rubber mats and fake wood on the dashboard. Although the roof line turned it from a 4-seater into a 2+2, the coupe was a very successful model; 1 in 8 sold DAF 55s was a coupe. [6]

In September 1968 the estate version became available. In August 1969 there was a minor facelift of the whole model range and a delivery version became available, essentially a 55 estate without a rear seat. After the success of the DAF 55 in the London-Sydney Marathon, the dealer option 'Marathon' package was introduced. The multi-tier package meant that the dealer could fit an optical package with alloy wheels and interior parts, an uprated suspension, parts to upgrade the B110 engine to 65 bhp (48 kW), or all of the above.

In 1971 the factory version of this package was introduced, simply called the 55 Marathon. This did not feature an upgraded suspension, and had a 63 bhp (47 kW) 1108 cc engine, the BR110. This raised the top speed to 145 km/h. The 55 Marathon featured wider steel wheels, exterior striping and a brake booster was added for safety and comfort. The Marathon was available as a saloon or a coupe.

In 1971 the coupe received normal doors with pillars, since the earlier pillarless design proved to be leaky and noisy at speed.

Motorsport

The DAF factory was very involved in motorsport, to show the world that the Variomatic transmission was reliable as well as sporty. The 55 relieved the 44 in the works rally program, and had various successes. A 55 won the 1968 Alpine Rally, and in late 1968 Rob Slotemaker finished 17th out of 100 contestants in the grueling 16500 km London-Sydney Marathon. This remarkable success inspired the later 'Marathon' range offered by DAF. Because of the Variomatic and its function as a limited slip differential it was also popular witgh many privateers in the rally world. Jan de Rooy, of Paris Dakar fame, built his own 4-wheel drive version, with a mid mounted Ford BDA engine coupled to a special Variomatic and campaigned it with great success on the international rallycross theatre throughout the early 1970s. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DAF Trucks</span> Dutch truck manufacturing company

DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar. DAF originally stood for van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vauxhall Viva</span> Motor vehicle

The Vauxhall Viva is a small family car that was produced by Vauxhall in a succession of three versions between 1963 and 1979. These were designated the HA, HB and HC series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo 66</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo 66 is an automobile developed from the DAF 66, which was originally styled by Giovanni Michelotti. The compact car was introduced in August 1975, almost exactly a year after Volvo bought DAF, and before production of the Volvo 300 Series began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peugeot 504</span> Motor vehicle

The Peugeot 504 is a mid-size, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive automobile manufactured and marketed by Peugeot from 1968 to 1983 over a single generation, primarily in four-door sedan and wagon configurations – but also as twin two-door coupé and cabriolet configurations as well as pickup truck variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rootes Arrow</span> Motor vehicle

Rootes Arrow was the manufacturer's name for a range of cars produced under several badge-engineered marques by the Rootes Group from 1966 to 1979 in Europe, and continuing on until 2005 in Iran. It is amongst the last Rootes designs, developed with no influence from future owner Chrysler. The range is almost always referred to by the name of the most prolific model, the Hillman Hunter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audi 80</span> Motor vehicle

The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the Audi subdivision of the Volkswagen Group across four generations from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon, and station wagon — the latter marketed by Audi as the Avant. The coupé and convertible models were not badged as members of the range, but used a derivative of the same platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Zephyr</span> Executive car model produced by Ford (1951-1972)

The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their replacement by the Consul and Granada models in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Consul</span> Car model by Ford (1951-1975)

The Ford Consul is a car that was manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1951 until 1962. The name was later revived for a model produced by Ford in both the UK and in Germany from 1972 until 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nissan Sunny</span> Car model produced by Nissan

The Nissan Sunny is an automobile built by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1966 till 2004. In the early 1980s, the brand changed from Datsun to Nissan in line with other models by the company. Although production of the Sunny in Japan ended in 2004, the name remains in use in China and GCC countries for a rebadged version of the Nissan Almera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peugeot 404</span> Motor vehicle

The Peugeot 404 is a large family car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot from 1960 to 1975. A truck body style variant was marketed until 1988. Styled by Pininfarina, the 404 was offered initially as a saloon, estate, and pickup. A convertible was added in 1962, and a coupé in 1963. The 404 was fitted with a 1.6 litre petrol engine, with either a Solex carburetor or Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection or a 1.9 litre diesel engine available as options. Introduced at the Paris Motor Show as an option was the inclusion of a 3-speed ZF automatic transmission, similar to the unit already offered on certain BMW models, as an alternative to the standard column-mounted manual unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triumph Herald</span> Motor vehicle

The Triumph Herald is a small two-door car introduced by Standard-Triumph of Coventry in 1959 and made through to 1971. The body design was by the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, estate and van models, with the latter marketed as the Triumph Courier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMC ADO16</span> Motor vehicle

The BMC ADO16 is a range of small family cars built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and, later, British Leyland. Launched in 1962, it was Britain's best-selling car from 1963 to 1966 and from 1968 to 1971. The ADO16 was marketed under various make and model names; however, the Austin 1100 and Morris 1100 were the most prolific of all the ADO16 variants. The car's ubiquity at the height of its popularity led to it simply being known as the 1100 (eleven-hundred) in its home market. Also made with a 1275cc engine, it was then typically called 1300.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vauxhall Victor</span> Motor vehicle

The Vauxhall Victor is a large family car produced by Vauxhall from 1957 until 1976. The Victor was introduced to replace the outgoing Wyvern model. It was renamed Vauxhall VX Series in 1976 and continued in production until 1978, by which time it had grown significantly and was viewed, at least in its home market, as a larger-than-average family car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat 125</span> Motor vehicle

The Fiat 125 is a large family car manufactured and marketed by Italian company Fiat from 1967 to 1972. Derivatives were built under license outside Italy until the 1990s. As launched the car was unusual in blending saloon car passenger accommodation with sports car performance, a combination which would be more widely adopted by the European volume auto-makers in the decade ahead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat 130</span> Motor vehicle

The Fiat 130 is a large six cylinder executive car produced by Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1969 to 1977. It was available as a 4-door saloon and as a 2-door coupé.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DAF 66</span> Motor vehicle

The DAF 66 is a small family car produced by the Dutch company DAF from September 1972 to 1976. It was the successor of the DAF 55 and was itself superseded by the reworked Volvo 66. The DAF 66 was the last four-cylinder car to feature the DAF name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bond Equipe</span> Motor vehicle

The Bond Equipe is an English 2+2 sports car, manufactured by Bond Cars Ltd from 1963 to 1970. It was the first 4-wheeled vehicle from Bond Cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DAF 44</span> Motor vehicle

The DAF 44 is a small family car that was introduced in September 1966 by the Dutch company DAF. It was the first car to be built at the company's new plant at Born in Limburg. Styled by Michelotti, it represented a cautious move upmarket for the company which hitherto had produced, for the passenger car market, only the smaller, slower Daffodil model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunbeam-Talbot 90</span> Motor vehicle

The Sunbeam-Talbot 90 is an automobile which was produced and built by Sunbeam-Talbot from 1948 to 1954 and continued as the Sunbeam Mk III from 1954 to 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opel Kadett B</span> Motor vehicle

The Opel Kadett B is a car that was launched by Opel at the Frankfurt Motor Show in late summer 1965. The Kadett B was larger all-round than the Kadett A: 5% longer both overall and in terms of the wheelbase, 7% wider and 9% heavier, albeit 10 mm (0.39 in) lower in basic standard "Limousine" (sedan/saloon) form. Production ended in July 1973, with the successor model introduced a month later following the summer shut-down, in August. Unlike its predecessor, it bore no relation to the Vauxhall Viva, which had moved to its own platform for its corresponding second generation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "55". Models. Classic Daf. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  2. 1 2 3 "4 way selecting second hand". Autocar . 143 (nbr 4105): 44. 12 July 1975.
  3. UK2.NET. "The UK's original and leading source of info about DAF Variomatics". DAF Owners Club. Retrieved 2012-05-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. "Daf". catalogusprijs.nl. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  5. "Autocar Road Test: DAF 55 1,108 c.c.". Autocar . 128 (3759): 27–32. 29 February 1968.
  6. "Daf Club Nederland 2012". Dafclub-oud.nl. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  7. "Welkom in het CMB Fotoboek (Daf's in autosport)". Rallydaf.nl. Retrieved 2012-05-06.