An iconic special saloon from the early 1970s is set to return to racing this season in the Historic Sports Car Club’s Historic Modsports and Special Saloons Series.
The V8-engined DAF 55 first built in 1973 by Tony Hazlewood is ready for a racing return in the hands of current owner Andy Wilson, and he sees the new HSCC series as the ideal place for this famous car, 50 years on from its debut season.
Initially, Hazlewood raced it with success before handing it over to Alan Minshaw, who continued the story of the racing DAF. Eventually, it fell into disuse and Hazlewood acquired it back in the early 2000s and spent around 10 years working on a restoration from a bare shell. It then raced just once in the hands of Mike Wilds at Mallory Park but still needed more work.
Wilson then took the project over and spent a lot of time getting it back to its original weight and making sure that engine, suspension and brakes were all period correct.
Wilson said: “It’s got a good 5-litre V8 engine with all the right bits on it. We’ve re-done all the brakes and put proper Historic F1 shock absorbers on it, like it had in period.
“It had three different colour schemes and I’ve put it into the Demon Tweeks livery from when Alan Minshaw had it and I think it now looks a lot better than it ever did. We were all ready to race it at Brands Hatch last year but the engine dropped a valve seat while we were putting it on the trailer. It’ll be ready for the new season in the HSCC Historic Modsports and Special Saloon series.”