New at the DAF Museum: Land Rover
Since the third week of March, a special Land Rover has been temporarily added to the DAF Museum collection.
It concerns the original 1985 V8 Land Rover that served as a fast assistance vehicle for the DAF Turbo Twin Team during the 1986 Paris–Dakar Rally.
The crew consisted of Theo van de Rijt as driver/mechanic and Kees van Loevezijn as navigator/mechanic.
In 1988, the vehicle was used as a press car for the magazines Truckstar and 4WD during the rally. The current owner, Geert de Jong, rediscovered the car in 2015 in a very poor condition. His goal was to restore the vehicle and return it fully to its original state.
With the help of photographic material, documentation, and the expertise of Theo van de Rijt (who works as a volunteer at the DAF Museum), ten years were spent restoring the vehicle, allowing it to look exactly as it did in 1986.
The Land Rover is parked between two of the Paris–Dakar mastodons.