I had a DAF 55 myself (I can't tell if the one in the museum is a 55, 44 or 33 - likely a 33). In the winter of 1979 to 1980, to spare my Triumph Spitfire MK4 from the road salts. I bought it for about $250 and drove it all winter. One day, when doing my paper route, I banged it into a lamp post due to gliding on black ice. The front end was quite damaged, but the light pole was completely unharmed. My dad used a puller from his factory's shop to pull the front-end back to semi-straight and I managed to locate another DAF that had a good front end but was heading for the crusher. Paid $25 for that, and found it had more gasoline worth than that in the tank. So now I had a driving DAF 55 that was yellow, except the front which was dark green.
One Saturday morning, I was awoken by two policemen who told me my DAF had been smashed into by a VW Beetle that night. Two young guys had been seen by a taxi driver in that VW, sliding on its side, into my car. The lads got out, pushed the Beetle back on its wheels, and took off. The police officers assured me that they would catch the hit-and-runners as they had a description from the taxi driver.
The next morning, I found a note from the perpetrators under my windshield wipers, apologizing for the damage done (now to the rear of the car) and offering to compensate me. You see, 99% of these DAFs were driven by old people, since they were just about the only affordable automatic cars available at the time (CVT transmisison) so they really felt bad. Once they learned I was 19, they still upheld their commitment. They explained that, because neither of them had a driver's license, when they crashed they panicked and took off, worried about the consequences. I warned them that the police were searching for them, suggested they turn themselves in, and offered to go with them to confirm they had manned up to do the right thing. That seemed like a good idea, and we went to the police station where an officer took theirs and my statements.
We then agreed they would buy the DAF off me, for what I had paid, because that seemed like the best solution. However, when they came to pick up the car, hand me the $250, and take it to the scrap yard, I warned them not to drive it even the 5 or so kms that it would take. They said, small risk, it's only 5 kms and off they went. About 15 minutes later, my best friend arrived on his bicycle (his mother owned a green DAF 33 by the way), quite animated, to tell me he had seen my car with two strange guys and the police on the side of the road. I jumped on my bike and we went to the scene of this crime.
As it turned out, the police man who had taken our statements, was conducting traffic and spotted the two unlucky boys .....
Back to Mr Haynes, from that entry fee it seems like he is still earning from his investments.
