DAF’s 2600, unveiled in 1962, had been a game-changer for heavy truck production, the first factory-built heavy truck with a sleeper cab available in Europe. It opened up new business opportunities for hauliers and was continually upgraded over the years, with new DAF engines to help it keep ahead of the ever growing competition from Sweden and Germany.
But the 2600 wasn’t the biggest cab even though it had twin bunks, but DAF’s engineers were already working on designing a new – and bigger – cab that would prove to be an instant hit.
That new cab was the F241, in reference to the fact it was 241cm wide and it broke cover in 1973, badged as the 2800. It featured a single-piece, full-width black plastic grille with DAF displayed across it. Like the 2600 it had twin headlights.
The development of the cab started with a heavily rebuilt version of a 2600 cab with rectangular headlights. Other ideas in the developmental stage were a fairly futuristic cab with a separate cab roof with raised edges and this cab had a flat floor, which would have been unheard of back in the early 1970s for a long-haul truck. It had triple headlights!
