Sold Proper 4 Sail thread for the DAF

[wuvvum]

On 10th November 1972, Mrs. Agnes Leverill gathered up her purse and bus pass and hobbled the short distance from her home in Holland-on-Sea to the nearest bus stop, where she caught the bus to Colchester.  After another short hobble she arrived at the local DAF dealer, F. M. Haward and Son, where she exchanged the grand sum of 1,225 of those newfangled decimal pounds for the keys to a shiny new DAF 66 estate, registration WHK673L.

 

After that the trail goes a bit cold.  She had it serviced at the supplying dealer at 673 miles on 30th March 1973, but there's no other service history in the paperwork which I got with the car.  There's a few old tax discs and a smoll photo of Mrs. Leverill herself at the wheel, which looks to have been taken some time in the '80s, but that's about it.  The car stayed in Mrs Leverill's name until 2000, when she either gave up driving or shuffled off this mortal coil and it was sold to Stondon museum, where it spent the next 15 years of its life.  Someone bought it in the Great Stondon Sell-off of 2015, got it transported to Wales and spent a fair bit getting it through an MOT (by a garage on fugging Anglesey), then did precisely sod all with it.  For some reason it was then once again dragged nearly the whole width of Great Britain (in the other direction) to be sold at the Kings Lynn classic auction, whence I bought it last year.

 

It has 34,000-odd miles on the clock, which as far as I can tell is genuine.  Mrs. Leverill appears to have used it sparingly, and it wouldn't have gone very far during its time at Stondon.  It did 143 miles between its last MOT in October 2015 and the one it just passed last week, and as far as I can ascertain pretty much all of that was done by me.  Mechanically it would seem to reflect the low mileage - the engine starts easily, sounds quiet for a Cléon engine and is happy to rev.  It's running a bit lean at the moment (which I think is partly because it has an aftermarket cone air filter, the hose between the original airbox and the carb having disappeared at some point over the years) so pulls better with the choke slightly out.  The main issue it has is a vacuum problem with the transmission - those who know these cars seem to agree that it's probably the diaphragms in the pulley assemblies that have perished.  The upshot is that the transmission now works much like that on a scooter - i.e. it will change up but only via the magic of centrifugal force, the vacuum "overdrive" being non-functional, so it revs higher than it normally would at a constant speed.  That said, the engine seems happy enough to buzz away (as it should given its low mileage) and I've done 70 in the car with no issues - in fact, even as it is, it's revving lower at 70 than the identically-engined Renault 6.

 

The bodywork is solid but has a variety of giffer-type dings (not sure whether Mrs. Leverill or Stondon were responsible for these).  Also the paint has cracked in places and there are a number of small rust scabs scattered over the body panels.  None of it is terminal and the car could easily be rubbed down and resprayed, but personally I think that'd be a shame as it's currently so original.  There was one advisory on theMOT for a bit of rust at the front of the nearside sill, which will need keeping an eye on.

 

The interior is black vinyl and not in bad nick, although there are a couple of minor splits and the driver's seat backrest is slightly wonky, although you don't notice this when sat in it.  The carpet appears to be offcuts from Mrs. Leverill's living room, and is, shall we say, "of its time".  The electrics all work, such as they are, although it does get two-speed wipers and a variable-speed fan.

 

It's an entertaining little thing to drive, feels well engineered and is surprisingly practical - I have had a full-sized pushbike in the back on a  few occasions with the rear seats folded down.

 

Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the bit of grot that was advised on at the MOT.

 

 

It now owes me £600 and I'd like to see that back for it.  In NE Norfolk, as always.

 

[purplebargeken]

Mr hairnet to the rubber belted phone!

[purplebargeken]

Px a lovely running Mk3 1.6CL 5 door Gulf and some cash?

[Fabergé Greggs]

Good god that is too lovely for words. Is it a big deal to do the vacuum diaphragms? 

[hairnet]

*shakes uncontrollably

[purplebargeken]

It's not too bad to do if you know the main folks for Daf fettling in the locality.

[Tamworthbay]

Ah crap, another Daf when I am in no place to do anything about it sure this will be gone in no time.

[Fabergé Greggs]

It's not too bad to do if you know the main folks for Daf fettling in the locality.

I remember you mentioning them before- where are they?

[eddyramrod]

Oh that's lovely!  GLWTS

[Uncle Jimmy]

Mrs. Agnes Leverill c1972 after a mild case of hobbling.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Good god that is too lovely for words. Is it a big deal to do the vacuum diaphragms?

 

There's a Dutch joke in there somewhere.

[egg]

Can I check the spelling of Leverill, as an Agnes Ida Leverell died in Colchester Essex in August 1999..? (Aged 86)

[wuvvum]

Well she's on the V5C as Leverell but on the bill of sale as Leverill.  Her middle name was Ida though, so it's a reasonable assumption that it was the same lady.

[egg]

Name: Agnes Ida Leverell

Event Type: Death Registration

Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep

Registration Year: 1999

Registration District: Colchester

County: Essex

Event Place: Colchester, Essex, England

Age (available after 1866):

Birth Date (available after June quarter 1969): 21 Oct 1912

Birth Year (Estimated):

Volume: 4691A

Page: A77C

Line Number:

 

 

 

Citing this Record:

"England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZX-PW2W : 4 September 2014), Agnes Ida Leverell, Aug 1999; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death Registration, Colchester, Essex, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

[purplebargeken]

Hopefully it's not a haunted Daf........

[purplebargeken]

jack, my mate lives in Colchester but the Daf Essex HQ is near somewhere else in Essex. The locale escapes me at the moment. Hmm. I just go there tbh.

[Felly Magic]

So when is the Kollekshunfred by someone?

[hairnet]

who made wuvs day

[Felly Magic]

I think Yello did a song about these as well, 'Rubberbandman'

[MarvinsMom]

shit....

 

i cannot believe that i've missed out on this!!

 

i hope it has gone to a good home, hopefully within the AS collective.

 

so much want, so much win, and i've just got paid some bonus money.... fuck!!

[purplebargeken]

Am sure it's gone to a reasonably mad Daf licker.

[trigger]

Where does it say it's sold? I was tempted by this but I don't really need it.

[Felly Magic]

The thread tags Triggs

[trigger]

Ah, they don't show when your looking via your phone on Tapatalk.

[trigger]

Actually now I've looked closer they do! Everyday is a school day.

 

[purplebargeken]

Very rarely does one actually need one of our cars on AS, sometimes, but only in very unique circumstances. 

[Shep Shepherd]

*Hums the theme to Van der Valk*

 

I really want to own a Variomatic Daf (or Volvo) one day

[BorniteIdentity]

*Hums the theme to Van der Valk*

 

I really want to own a Variomatic Daf (or Volvo) one day

 

If these are anything like the 343 vario that I had - and I think they're direct descendants - you need ear plugs above 40mph.  Mine gave my arse a headache.

[chaseracer]

I think Yello did a song about these as well, 'Rubberbandman'

 

OH YEAH.......

 

[Eddie Honda]

Misery spec:

 

Drums all round

No servo

Vinyl seats

No fake wood dash, plain grey paint instead.

 

bASe