Although this gnarly 6×4 tractor says DAF on the grille, only its frame, front axle and tilt cab can be traced back to the truck maker’s Dutch and Belgian origins.
Somewhere in the second half of the eighties, it was assembled by Western Star Trucks in Australia and it’s now powered by a Cummins engine. Then there’s an Eaton-Fuller transmission and last but not least, it has Rockwell drive axles with Hendrickson suspension.
On the European market, all powertrain components but the transmission would have been in-house products. DAF has never built transmissions for their heavy vehicles, unlike Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scania.
The 3600 was introduced in 1985, in those days it was DAF’s flagship model, most certainly when it had the F241-series Space Cab with its raised roof. These taller cabs offered much more interior space and storage solutions, convenient for long distance trucking.
Trilex rims all around, still very common on heavy Australian trucks and tractors.
Down Under is written all over the set-up and appearance of this tractor prime mover. The dog on the left doesn’t seem too keen on facing the old beast.
Such a decal is always a nice touch.
The DAF in its glory days, 32 years ago, as featured in a trucker magazine. It used to have an extra fuel tank, mounted on top of the tractor’s frame, behind the cab.
Back then it had the original 11.6 liter DAF engine with 360 hp; by no means overpowered. Have a look on BIGtruck online magazine for many more pictures, two other former Australian DAFs and a video.
That rig has a very stout and cool looking cow pusher 💪
Well, I’ll be blowed!*
Mr Holland, mate, how the blazes** did this ugly bastard ever get itself from Shitter’s Ditch*** in Queensland to your joint?***** I don’t want to be rude to the owner, but mate, it’s coals-to-Newcastle****** if ever I saw it. Why send the big bugger back to where it came from? A warranty claim? Jeez!******Me old mate down the road coulda fixed the old pile of shit for stuff-all.*******
It’s odd, because I know virtually nothing about trucks – save the plenty I’ve learnt right here – but I suspect I could pick this rig as one from Orstraya******** in a second. The type of bullbar (brushbar US), those wheels, the wire windscreen protector, the shade above the screen. The only doubt would be the color: here, way down south, maybe, but up far north in the State of Queensland, a place literally three times bigger than Texas, there’s so much possibility for huge outback heat that an ’80’s buyer just wouldn’t. But the magazine extract shows I’m wrong on that. Bloke probably voted for Sir Jo.*********
Respectively:
*amazed, astounded
**hell
***a general name for an undesirable place to live
****home, or of necessary, country
*****like sending more politicians to Washington: it already makes them
******Jesus
*******a very reasonable amount, and likely less than DAF in The Netherlands
********how Australians actually say the name of their own country: literally no exaggeration
*********Sir Jo Bjelke Peterson was the hugely corrupt Premier (read US Governor) of Queensland for about 30 years, popular there despite his obvious shenanigans, but also sustained by gigantic gerrymandering till enough was enough for enough. Also, horror though he was, very entertaining in a pure performance sense, and thus likely to appeal to the buyer of this black truck
1. A few phone calls, NL to AU;
2. Money transfer;
3. About two months later, the creature arrived in the Port of Amsterdam.
The previous owner was an Aussie senior citizen, the DAF hadn’t run for the last decade or so.
I thought Sir Joh was hilarious,a loveable old rogue and scallywag.
And his catchphrase “Don’t you worry about that!”
if I saw that in my rear view mirror I’d definitely move over..
The first thought I immediately had upon seeing the lead photo was “Mad Max!” 🙂
Mad Max-worthy for sure!
Fairly unremarkable down here, except for the colour, and the fact that it’s a DAF. While there are some around, they’re uncommon enough to raise eyebrows.
Not exactly on Volvo level -oh understatement- but last year’s market share in Australia was 5.2%, that’s the 6th position overall (heavy-duty vehicles).
https://bigrigs.com.au/index.php/2022/02/01/record-result-for-daf-trucks-australia-in-challenging-year/
I live in Ottawa, Canada, site of the now infamous trucker protest back in January. Walking around, I saw some similarly brawny-looking trucks. More common to the Western Canadian provinces, than Ontario.
Great-looking truck, and I do like the irony of a Dutch truck being exported 10,000 miles to Australia, and then making its way back to the Netherlands many years later in full Australian livery.
And that bullbar sure looks like it means business!
DAFs arrive here via Straya where they remove the shit ZF gearbag and install a proper Roadranger crash box,
So this one was nailed together by Western Star, I dont remember seeing very many DAFs in OZ and they got the newer models long after they had become popular in NZ, they remain the only Euro truck that can pull hard at low RPM.
Around 30 years ago, WSTA (Western Star Trucks Australia) introduced the 1064-series, using the frame and cab of the DAF 95-series. An example below.
There’s a Kenworth & DAF assembly plant in Bayswater, AU. But as far as I know, they only build the mid-size CF-series there.
And as an aside, I did not know that that factory was there, which it apparently has been for 50 years. That’s interesting personally, because I’m 53, and grew up in the very next suburb to Bayswater. We used to ride our bikes as far as the industrial estate where that factory is, maybe 7 kms or so.
And I find out only today, from some dude literally 10,200 miles away, that there was always a cool truck factory there.
This site!
Too late to the ” conversation “? This is the first time that I have ever seen a large truck of any kind with mudflaps (?) IN FRONT OF the steering wheels…or have I just not paid close enough attention on other posts here?
I can’t pinpoint the era when and where it started, but it’s actually very common here too. See example below, a Volvo FH 6×2/4 tractor, caught at a show a few years ago.
Father owned it late 80’s early 90’s
Brisbane to Sydney weekly for Natures Own and Pan Pharmaceuticals
Thanks Warren for chiming in!
Hi Warren, i’m the proud owner of this evil beast. could i have your e-mail adress to get more information about the truck? i hope your father is still among us to tell stories about it… greetings Twan Peters, Holland
Hi Twan
Email is warrenm@internode.on.net
Cheers
This is march 2020 wen it arrived at the port of Amsterdam
@ Warren, I’ve sent you an email.