Hello Pete etc.,
The best breakdown which I had in the Daf was when the nut holding the belt wheel thingy came off late at night in Knightsbridge at the peak of the IRA troubles. When I rolled to the side of the road an army chap came up and told me that "you can't leave that here". Anyway I did. The bad news was that I had TWO instruments with me (one cello size) and a box of musicwhich I was not prepared to leave in the car. I only got as far as Monument on the last tube. I finally got home thanks to a rather expensive taxi ride to Hornchurch!
Owning the Daf did make me join the AA fortunately. After a week in Durham it would not start. The AA man discovered that the Petrol tank was empty though the gauge said half full.
My brother had a Daf 66 (and earlier a few different Micros.
On the good side my Goggo was not as bad as some as far as rust because it was an import from New Zealand. It also came with a sack full of spares, many of which I needed, as a moron seemed to have been "working" on it. I am quite surprised how much attention in attracts down here when I am out and about.
Maurice
Ah, the vagaries of DAF gauges! Yes, I've been caught out by my 33 like that, as soon as it enters reserve it's in fact dry as a bone. When you get a new DAF you have to run out of petrol only once to learn how accurate the gauge is. Worst of all is the high temperature warning light on the water cooled models which only comes on
after you've cooked your cylinder head!

I could share many stories about my DAFs. I had had a belt brake on the A12 and the resultant tank slapper saw me on the hard shoulder which turned out to be a ditch full of pebbles. The nearside was buried up the the axle and had no traction, the offside was on Tarmac but had no belt to help drive me out...
DAFs were cheap cars at the time and for a reason - they were built down to a price. Let's see how the average Perodua is looking in 40 years time. On the plus side DAFs enabled many elderly drivers a longer driving life than they would have otherwise had but sadly that also meant that they did get their fair share of abuse and that's partly the reason for their decline. I like to think of mine as a collectors' car because I run around behind it collecting the parts that fall off...frequently.

There is always a sense of trepidation upon starting a journey, especially long ones, that there is a strong possibility that I might not make it without something breaking, hence my boot is always full of spare parts and tools just in case and then the adventure begins! To my mind, that's all part if the fun!
