On behalf of the Sarens family, Garage De Plecker-Pauwels in Steenhuffel restored a historic NATE 2826 DKS DAF tractor. The rolling heritage will soon get a second life as a unique eye-catcher along the A12 motorway on the Sarens site in Wolvertem.
‘Nothing too heavy, nothing too high’ is the slogan of Belgian transport icon Sarens. The crane specialist is a world-renowned player in heavy lifting. Even before Sarens became an international player, the late Eddy De Plecker took his first professional steps at Sarens as a mechanic. In 1964, he and his wife Yvonne Pauwels took the plunge and started their own business. This year, Garage De Plecker-Pauwels, where the third generation is now at work, celebrates its 60th anniversary as a DAF dealer and has been a loyal customer of Sarens for just as long.
Hendrik Sarens, a member of the third generation, who was responsible for the commercial part at the well-known family business for many years, agrees. “Everything once started with DAF passenger cars. These were used to accompany orders for exceptional transport. Later, the heavier vehicles followed,” he says.
Sentimental value
So it is not surprising that the Sarens family came knocking on the De Plecker family’s door three years ago asking to restore DAF’s historic NAT 2826 DKS export tractor(pictured below) to its former glory. The moving heritage vehicle was an active part of Sarens’ fleet in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “We used this vehicle for assignments for various clients in the energy sector, among others, such as the construction of the Doel nuclear power plant. Later it also served for assignments in Mexico, until our brother Jan was killed (Flemish businessman Jan Sarens led Sarens’ operations in Mexico and was shot dead in 2013 with a single bullet in broad daylight at a shopping centre in Acapulco ed.). The vehicle has strong sentimental value for our family for that reason,” Hendrik Sarens says.
“For that reason, we had it brought back to Belgium to be restored,” clarifies Marc Sarens, Jan’s younger brother, who lends his expertise to Sarens’ fleet management in various purchase files. “By the way, we still come from an era when we knew all the vehicles in our fleet by heart. Today, our crane fleet consists of some 1,500 to 1,600 units. That is no longer feasible.”
Powerhouse
Besides its sentimental value, the DAF export tractor – which was initially produced for the purpose of forest exploitation in Africa – also symbolises Sarens’ success story and pioneering work. Thus, the powerful tractor was completely converted to serve the heavy haulage specialist’s operations. Equipping it by GINAF with a powered front axle, lengthening and strengthening the chassis and installing an automatic gearbox, are just some of the interventions.
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Stef De Plecker, a member of the third generation on board today at Garage De Plecker-Pauwels, co-led the restoration. “Hours of tinkering were spent restoring the vehicle to its former glory. Given the long-standing loyal and good relationship with Sarens, we did this with pleasure and free of charge,” he says.
Over the past five years, we have added 41 DAF vehicles to our fleet
During the restoration process, Stef was impressed by the quality and robustness. “The Sarens family adapted the vehicles in the best possible way for the jobs they had to do with them, and they were clearly masters of that.” It’s a feat they wouldn’t pull off today. “Those vehicles wouldn’t get homologated today,” says Marc. “The strength of DAF vehicles is the rear axle. To my knowledge, in all the decades we have been buying vehicles from DAF, we have never had a defective hub reduction,” he stresses.
Even today, Sarens is still a loyal buyer from DAF Trucks. “Over the past five years, we have added 41 DAF vehicles to our fleet for operations in Belgium, the Netherlands and France,” says Carl Sarens, a member of the fourth generation to lead the family business. As director global operations, technical solutions and engineering, he manages projects in heavy lift and heavy transport worldwide for the family-owned company, which today operates in 64 countries. “In recent years, we brought one of the biggest projects in our history to a successful conclusion: an order for TCO in Kazakhstan,” he says. For the construction of a new refinery, we transported cargo weighing between 1,000 and 2,000 tonnes on constructed roads over a distance of 50 kilometres. The preparation took two years, the execution three years.”
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The DAF Museum in Eindhoven will open its doors for the ‘Heart for DAF Days’ on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October 2024. The event will mark the start of a temporary exhibition ’75 years of DAF Truck production’. The special DAF tractor unit will be one of the eye-catchers.
More info can be found here.
