Our Daf 33

How does someone catch the Daf Virus? In our case it started with a randomly bought copy of Practical Classics magazine which happened to carry a 2 page review of the Daf 33.

My partner was looking over my shoulder and simply fell in love. At least it was the "cuteness" that did it for her, rather than the stereotypical women's decision based on colour! As it happens, we were starting to think about finding something small and cheap for her to run round in once she passes her driving test.

For various reasons, automatic would be an advantage but I've always had a distrust of small autos. I also secretly liked the idea of a car with proper points and proper carburettor that could be home maintained. Finally, many of these cars were produced before 1973 which makes them exempt from road tax (here in the UK) - that's a very useful saving!

So, before laughing out loud at the idea of buying a 30-someting year old car with rubber band drive, I decided to find out more. The Practical Classics article had mentioned the Daf Owners Club so I started my search by joining their Daf Owners' Forum and asking. What a great bunch! Within 12 hours someone had posted that they knew of one close to us that we could see "to see what we think in the flesh".

We went to have a look and, before I realised what was happening, my partner had made an offer and we'd agreed to buy. I didn't even know the one we were looking at was for sale! But we both drove home with huge grins on our faces and a feeling that we'd just made a very good, if impromtu, decision.

Eight months later and our Daf is now fully road legal with MOT, tax (free as a historic vehicle - a nice bonus!) and insurance (not free but very cheap at £78 per year fully comp, including a "new" driver on the policy!)

Click the photos on the right for more about the work done / still to do on our car, or the link below to see where we've got to overall.

Current Progress