44 with a 66 nose?

[Patrick]

I've often wondered why it didn't happen? Even perhaps on the last run out of the "46"'s? Would it have been so difficult to have given the 44 the smooth make over for the last few years? Do you think it would have boosted sales at all? - Even given the quirky image of the car - the next village along from me had a DAF garage, and as a result there were quite a few in the surrounding area - given peoples penchant for buying locally "for convenience" back then. Saying that though, twenty years later I lived down the road from a Fiat/Lancia/Citroen dealer and you couldn't move for Uno's, Visas, CX's, Deltas and Themas in the streets roundabout.

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

Or, how about a 44 coupé?!...

[stefan]

would love to build a 44 coupe it is the one car i think i have wanted since paul (dafdaffer) got his first daf about 10 years ago just need a rusty 55 coupe anybody

[graham]

hey everybody ive been in france for a few months so havent been online.

so stefan loving the 44 coupe and happen to have a rusty 55 coupe (although not as rusty as when i bought it) considered the option of turning it into 44 coupe style but only have two pics does anyone have any more. also appart from the rear end, bonnet and front what else substantial would be required??

graham

[stefan]

Only front panel would need changing rest of the 55 panels are the same, change engine and trans and front suspension , dash rear lights and that is just about it, then put all the 55 parts into the 44 donor shell and you have a 55 saloon and 44 coupe

[graham]

hey stefan i think we had crossed wires i had slightly more ambitious plans of copying the 44 coupe prototype



does anyone have any more pictures

graham

[stefan]

Sorry did not know you had the prototype model in mind. I thought you ment a 44 like a 55 coupe. Copying that would be alot more work but possible you would need the make a body plug of plaster wood and foam then mould a body of that. Then all the outer panels would need to be taken of the donor car and the new shell droped on top.
It would be no harder to start with a saloon more comon and less vauble. then you could give me your coupe for my 44 conversion.
Alot of work is required to do this, especialy the body you would need to go and see the car and take lots of photos and mesurments or get a model of it for mesurments. I know of books on this subject you could read.
I like this one on the 55 beter

[graham]

hi stefan

i have to admit i like the 44 prototype, my problem with the 44 is that it seems the winderscreen is set back further than normal otherwise the more you look at it (and believe me ive looked long and hard) its a basic 44/ 55 with a few mods. i thought the 55 coupe was a good place to start due to the roof line.

again has anyone got any more 44 coupe pics or knows where to find them?

as for my 55 coupe being more valuable than a saloon you havent seen it

graham

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

This is getting interesting!

To confirm, the real DAF 44/46 and DAF 55 have identical bodyshells, apart from the front panel between the headlights, which is a plain metal panel on the 44/46, and a grille on the 55. The bonnet and wings are shared. The rear lights are different with the 55 having built-in reversing lights, but the metal cut-out for the light units is the same, so people have been known to fit 55 light units onto 44/46. (For some bizarre reason, when the 66 replaced the 55, DAF used rear lights without reversing lights, which I personally think was a retro step)

These bodies (known as the B-body) were designed by Michelotti, who along with the DAF engineers, produced the first mock-ups as far back as 1965. The 44 was launched in 1967 and the 55 in 1968 with body designs near identical to the 1965 mock-ups.

Somewhere in my loft, I have the master pages of the English version of Mr van der Brugghen's (DAF Cars chief design engineer) memoirs that I produced with him in 1996. One of the pages shows photos of the design mock-ups personally signed by Michelotti. The rear lights were also the ones used on production DAF 44 and 46s.

The "almost Porsche-like" orange prototype shown above, has been on display in the DAF Museum for many years. It, along with some of the other prototypes on display, belongs to the van Doorne family, who have loaned the cars to the museum. What a cool design that is - if only it had made it into production... There are some more pics around which I'll try and find. (Filing is an art!)

The sporty 55 prototype that Stefan shows above, is the "DAF Siluro" which was a one-off design study based on the then-new 55 coupe in 1968, created by Michelotti. This appeared at the 1968 Amsterdam Motor Show to help mark the launch of the 55 coupe. A sort of "look what we might make in a few years" type of thing. (If only)

This prototype remained in the Michelotti family but sadly fell into disrepair, and was "discovered" a few years ago, and subsequently restored by staff and volunteers at the DAF Museum. It, along with some other pristine DAFs, appeared at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 2005 to mark the 25th anniversary of our associate club, DAF Club Nederland.

Crumbs, I'm going on a bit here!

I'll try and find the pics and get them on here, which might be challenging.

Hope this is of some interest.

Richard B

[graham]

pics of the 44 coupe would be nce if you can find them

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

I've just had a go at scanning a couple of pics in from the actual book, so quality is a bit low and in black and white. Also, I don't really know what I'm doing re scanning and editing pics, and the pics are massive on here.

This is the "44 prototype" with the Siluro beneath and below are the Michelotti early B-Body prototype pics. (Note the 44 tail lights on the coupe, along with a different rear bumper with the wider wrap around. (You can also just make out Michelotti's signature alongside the pics on the left hand side)

[stefan]

Nice find Richard nice to hear from you.
If you look at the styling model the gap between the front wheels and the doors is alot bigger than a standard b body but the gap between the doors and the rear wheels looks about the same. the rear overhang is also smaller than standard.
The screen looks like a normal saloon screen and i would think it is as no production coupe was being made at the time of the design.
The above leeds me to think you would have to strip a donor saloon of all its outer panels roof b and c pillers leaving just the front screen pillers, then move the front wheels forward about 3 or 4" and trim the rear over hang 3 or 4".
What you need is some photos of the car square on the side front and rear, the top to if possible but would be hard then you can start making formers for the new body using mesurements and the photos I will try and find some pictures of what i mean.
When you have a body shell then worry about moding the donor car as the shell would be the hardest bit.

[graham]

thanks for the pics if anyone has any more i would still be interested

liking the 44 prototype even more now ive seen the plan drawings however probably beyond my expertise and a 55 coupe probably isnt any better than a saloon as a donor but i still like the idea

graham

[stefan]

You need to read a book called How to Build Fiberglass Hot Rods, Customs and Kit Cars (Tex Smith's) it will show you how to go about creating a body for what you want to do and is a good read.
you can then sell me the 55 coupe nice and cheep

[Patrick]

To "resize" on these boards just do the following (quote message to see): - I've halved the actual pixels.

Really pretty car! - Fiat did well with their baby (850) coupés - I'm surprised they didn't go further with these designs. BUT! Would they have had the variomatic? - and if so would they have been able to maintain the low ride height?

Oct 17, 2008 23:17:01 GMT Richard DAF Webmeister said:

I don't really know what I'm doing re scanning and editing pics, and the pics are massive on here.

[graham]

cheers stefan i will put the book on my christmas list although it seems quite expensive

if i decide to get rid of my 55 coupe i will give you first refusal as im considering moving to france next year, the state its in though youd probably be better off chopping the roof and putting it on a 44 donor (the roof is good it gets worse the lower you go)

graham

[stefan]

No problem graham it has been an intresting thread, think it may have got hijacked a little.
The book is available from Amazon I got my copy from them
If you give me first refusal on the 55 coupe that would be good.
If you go back to the first post on this thead if you put a 66 nose on a 44/46 the grill would be in the wrong place the air would go over the engine not round it so they would have had to design and make pressing tools for a new front valence with a gril in and a new blanking plate were the normal gril is. I think this would have been to much money considering the amount of air cooled cars they were selling at that time.

[stefan]

How to Build Fiberglass Hot Rods, Customs and Kit Cars (Tex Smith)
It is available on www.amazon.com
Type in tex smith and it brings up all his books i think it is on page 3 of his listings.
Most of his books are on american engines and hot rods thats how i found out about him.

[graham]

just to hijack this thread even further i also like this camper conversion



graham

[stefan]

Try finding a 33 van. Then you will have to take a jigsaw to the sides to cut the window out, that would not be nice.
Me and Dafdaffer had the chancw to buy a 33 van about 6 years ago but he wanted £600 for it and we wondered if we could even move it in one piece it was that bad. Still probably should of had it as it went for scrap not long after.
I also like the little caravan behind it would love to make something like that one day