There have been 11 automobile manufacturers in the Netherlands, dating back to Spyker in 1898.
Today we’ll look at DAF, a manufacturer rarely seen in North America. Probably the largest collection is at the Lane Motor Museum (visit lanemotormuseum.org).
I always thought the name DAF was a play on words and short for Daffodil, but I was wrong. DAF is an acronym for vanDoorne’s Automobile Fabriek.
Brothers Hub and Wim vanDoorne founded the company in the early 1930s, building trailers for commercial trucks. By 1949, they were producing the trucks to pull those trailers.
In 1954, the two brothers developed the CVT (continuous variable transmission) which is used by Nissan and a number of manufacturers today. That said, the modern CVT is not my favourite method of transferring power to the drive wheels.
The first DAF automobile was available in 1958, fitted with a 600-cc, air-cooled engine, and a CVT transmission driving the rear wheels using two V-belts.
The advertising campaign during the 1970s portrayed it as a simple car to drive: “Push the shift lever forward to go forwards and back to go back.” It really was that simple.
The 22-horsepower DAF 600 was not very fast. If you have driven a Briggs and Stratton powered go-kart at a fun fair, you will know the sensation.
The top speed was 91 km/h; pedal to the metal was the only way to drive one, a bit like driving a VW bus up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler! The zero-to-80 km/h time was a very sedate 41.5 seconds.
The trade-off was the fuel consumption, 7.59/5.88 litres/100 km (city/hwy) and the selling price of a mere $1,595.
VanDoorne’s Automobile Fabriek was sold to Volvo in 1975. The 1300-cc, DAF 77 Model became a rebadged Volvo 340 and was available until 1980.
DAF trucks are still produced today by PACCAR Inc., a Bellevue, Wash.-based truck manufacturer (paccar.com) that also produces Peterbilt and Freightliner trucks.
Nigel Matthews is the director of sales and marketing for Hagerty Canada, LLC. Hagerty is the world’s largest specialist provider of collector car insurance and provides many resources that support the classic car lifestyle. Contact him at nmatthews@hagerty.com or visit hagerty.ca.
