On the 1st of October I visited the 2016 DAF Museum Days in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Inspired by Jim Brophy’s numerous and excellent bus articles I decided to focus on the classic buses and coaches that day. Every year a number of these old -but still fit- people movers is used to transport the visitors from the DAF factory to the DAF Museum, and vice versa.
The first in the series is a 1970 DAF-Jonckheere coach, a Belgian body on a Dutch chassis. The Netherlands -and also Belgium- have a rich history of independent coachbuilders and bus manufacturers. A truck maker, like DAF, developed and built a complete, rolling bus chassis and one of the many bus manufacturers built the body.
One of those bus manufacturers was Jonckheere. The company from Roeselare, Belgium, was founded by Henri Jonckheere (1851-1910) in the year 1881. In 1994 the company was taken over by the Dutch Berkhof Group. Berkhof, another renowned name in this line of business. Only 4 years later the -also Dutch- VDL Group (the Van der Leegte family) took over the Berkhof Group. Since 2010 the bus builder is known as VDL Bus & Coach.
The Jonckheere body is mounted on a DAF SB 1602 rear engine bus chassis with a 6.05 m (19’10”) wheelbase. The other wheelbase choices for this chassis were 4.70 and 5.30 m.
The coach is powered by a DAF DS 575 turbocharged diesel engine. An inline-6 engine, 5.75 liter displacement, 165 (SAE) hp. The naturally aspirated DD 575 was DAF’s first own engine, yet fully based on the Leyland O.350 diesel. DAF started to build their own engines and rear axles in, respectively, 1957 and 1958.
The DS 575, introduced in 1959, was DAF’s first turbocharged diesel engine (Photo courtesy of DAF Trucks).
The overall length is 11.27 m (36’12”), width 2.50 m (8’2”). The DAF-Jonckheere weighs 8,840 kg (19,490 lbs) and its GVM is 14,000 kg (30,865 lbs). There are seats for 50 passengers.
And here’s the driver’s workplace. Look, a 2002 Ford Mondeo wagon is just passing by.
A light and airy interior, big windows all around.
The shiny metal objects, with a lid, are called ashtrays.
The fully adjustable air blowers/hair dryers.
As mentioned above, a Belgian body on a Dutch chassis. The coach is registered as a DAF SB1602DS605. The SB 1602 bus chassis with a DS 575 engine and a 605 cm wheelbase.
There it goes, a classic in motion, driving from the museum to the factory. Some more bus stories will follow.
The famous bus ashtrays. Used by a lot of people for everything except being ashtrays. I hated so much when I got in the coach and saw the tray with bubble gum stuck in there. Fortunately, coach operators started bolting them shut.
And finally, euro bus stop classics. Been loving Jim’s articles, and have been waiting to see euro buses here for a long time! JD, is VDL Dutch or Belgian? That always leaves me confused.
As mentioned in the article, VDL is Dutch. The Van der Leegte family business, also operating from the Eindhoven-area.
They build much more than buses. And they own the former DAF-Volvo-Mitsubishi-Smart ForFour car factory. (MINI production these days)
Here’s another VDL branch, for example:
http://www.vdlcontainersystemen.com/
Thanks, JD. I didn’t realize I had skipped the part where you said VDL is Dutch π Their current Futura bus is not imported to Portugal, so everytime I see one it is quite an impact…
Futura, you said ? That model dates back to the 1982 Bova Futura. Bova (Bots Valkenswaard) was another independent bus and coach manufacturer. And, again, from the Eindhoven-area. And also integrated into VDL Bus & Coach (Photo courtesy of the ROVM website).
That’s quite a lot of companies for an area (Eindhoven)!!! The first gen Futura has quite an impressive run for a long distance bus. I assume it made it to the 2010’s, right?… The second gen was the one I was talking about. Seeing one (foreign plates) in the middle of a jungle of Irizar PB’s was something I clearly wasn’t expecting that day…
As a matter of fact, 5 years ago the Eindhoven-area was proclaimed “World’s Smartest Region”…
There’s not only Automotive (DAF and VDL, mainly) but also the ICT sector (ASML, tech university), and Philips originates from Eindhoven.
The whole region is a center of industry and innovation, with a long history of manufacturing and engineering.
And that’s why in forums and a lot of websites there are a lot of Dutch people full of knowledge and speaking English like if it was their mother language.
If I owned a Volvo S/V40, I’d proudly stick a Dutch flag next to the Swedish one π
If one is old enough, like me, you can remember a time when the ashtrays were actually used for their intended purpose. Nothing says a good time like a long-distance bus ride with half of the passengers puffing away on cigarettes. One of the many reasons I always felt like taking a shower after riding the “Long Dog”. The only thing worse was when they still allowed smoking on commercial airplanes; at least the bus makes periodic stops where one can get off and breathe some fresh(er) air for a few minutes.
Another reason for me applauding the decision of bus operators: bolting the ashtrays shut. And recent buses don’t even have them. It would be like hell if smoking was allowed in a bus nowadays
“Riding the Long Dog” = “taking a Greyhound”, right? I ROFL’ed so badly when I started learning American highway slang…
Don’t be DAF! I’ve seen DAF trucks and buses when I was in England. My cousin used to drive trucks like them. π
Nice looking bus, and what a great way to link the museum to the factory for the open day. Keep it up Johannes!
Beautiful bus. Reminds me so much of all the buses that hauled tourists into Innsbruck when I was back there the summer of 1969. These European buses have such a different feel than American buses; so much airier, which works in northern climates and when folks wanted to see the sights.
5.75 Liters; that’s pretty small for a diesel; smaller than the ones that go into American pickups nowadays.
Nice-looking bus; love the big windows all around.
Wonderful post! Thank you Johannes for sharing some of these magnificent European buses with our non-European readers. This is a very nicely designed and styled coach – as Paul mentioned, much more airy with larger windows than a North American coach. And this is a beautifully restored model. Great pictures too – eagerly anticipating next post. Jim.
I know this is not a truck but I couldn’t resist.
Insert your CB radio slang line as a reply to this comment.
That is a beauty, but with 165 Hp it would be a slow ride.
That is a nice bus. I remember buses mostly from school excursions. Traditionally classes took one one-day excursion per year.
I noticed that the rear window is the same as the windshield.
Hi friends!
nice to learn you posts
well. i need find any pictures for my dad
he have 89 years old
and he reemember too much you bus
add picture
any information
we `ll have very very grateful to yours.
Oscar and Family