A loooooooong overdue update on the 66 Coupe from across the pond.
The car has held up really well. This time last year was pretty hectic. In June I had accepted a job about 175 miles from home and was a month out of college. Lots of changes pretty quickly. The DAF was pretty idle for the year of 2015, only going to the Manchester, VT car show in June.
I moved in July, 2015, and left the coupe home, returning to retrieve it in November, 2015, and trekking to a friend's barn 45 minutes north of my new town, where it stayed, protected from the weather, until March or April of this year. I returned to start it up twice in the winter, which was fairly mild, and it ran fine. It only gave me a little trouble when it was right at 32F (0.0C) but it started up and purred like a kitten.
I did drive back to my hometown, 3 hours away, to the Rhinebeck, NY car show in May, which is always a great show.
In June I have gotten the car detailed inside and out professionally!
Highlights:
Before and after shot:
Just some of the waste from the carpet extraction:
The final product of the carpets. He said it still could even use some more:
The glass had some NASTY oil on it that for
YEARS I couldn't get off. He was able to with some very aggressive citrus cleaner, that required it's own cleaner to get that off even. Crazy shit. Before and after shot:
Under the bonnet beauty shots:
Finally, a beauty shot. Rainy day in Manchester, VT for the show that June weekend. 3-4 hour drive each way!
I did buy a new car cover for it, which is turning out to be a very worthwhile investment. The smallest size was a bit big, but fits pretty well for being generic.
Wednesday last week I installed all new rubber hangers for the exhaust, which thankfully turned out to go very smoothly, as it was very hot that day. Hopefully that and a bit more exhaust goop on the failing gasket between the manifold and the rest of the pipe. Not sure what's happened there, but replacing the gasket and nuts did not work. I think it is warped. Maybe some day I will get my spare resurfaced, blasted, and exhaust painted. No pictures of this job.
I've been bringing it to the local cruise-in regularly, which on a good day actually turns out about 80 cars. It's drawn pretty good attention, actually! A local guy with a BMW Baur loved it and
posted on his blog about it. I even got featured by the radio show that puts the show on and spoke about it on the air because they thought it was so unique! Definitely one of the rarer cars at the show!
Next on the agenda is an oil change and valve cover gasket/repaint. Secondary is fluid flush of brake and cooling systems and to replace the water pump.
Bear / Matt, do either of you have a spare plastic bolt for the grille? One of my corner ones is missing and since it's loose it makes the glass for the headlight rattle and rotate.
I definitely am missing the Essex Weekender event from a few years ago, now. Attending again is definitely on my agenda!
Cheers!
