Kalmar DAF

The Kalmar-DAF (mainly known in Sweden as Tjorven or Kalmar KVD440 / 441 ) was a delivery van manufactured by the Swedish company Kalmar Verkstad in cooperation with DAF .

The Tjorven was originally developed for the Swedish Post and appeared as a production model in 1968. Prototypes from 1965 and 1966 still had a DAF 33 engine, but in series production an air-cooled two-cylinder boxer engine with 850 cm³ from the DAF 44 was used with the DAF Variomatic . The floor pan and the front also came from the DAF 44, while the rear part of the body is made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic . The dashboard largely corresponds to that of the DAF 44, but as a commercial model it has always been built as a right-hand drive . The deliverers were able to reach the mailboxes on the street without getting out. Because of the lack of heating in the interior in winter through the air-cooled boxer engine, numerous copies with a heater from Eberspächer retrofitted.

Side view

Originally there was only a right sliding door and a driver's seat, but after a year of construction there was also a version called a station wagon with an additional passenger seat for the private market. Some vehicles were also built as pick-ups and used at airports . Other variants were a model for the transport of the handicapped and some were equipped with an electric motor .

In 1970 a prototype was built that was intended as a family car. This five-seater has the water-cooled four-cylinder petrol engine with 1100 cm² from the DAF 55 , more powerful brakes and a horizontally split tailgate. The Tjorven was way ahead of its time with many details such as sliding or folding doors behind the seats to increase loading capacity and make it more accessible, or the split tailgate, solutions that other car manufacturers only introduced in the 1980s.

The Tjorven was built in 2170 units, of which 1195 were for postal services, 588 for general customers in Sweden and 368 were exported. Only 50 ended up as Kalmar DAF in the Netherlands . Production stopped in 1971. The unusual shape of the body, the sliding doors and the development especially for the needs of a postal service are reminiscent of the VW Fridolin, which was built around the same time .

Web links

Commons : Tjorven - collection of images