Where the facts come from
Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.
How we checked
Each fact was written in our own words alongside its source. Our build script stores the text of every source and, for each fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 176 of 176 checks passed when this site was last built (10 November 2026). Where we couldn’t find a named source saying something, we left it out. Where good sources disagree, we say so and give both.
Where sources differ
- The unveiling. Martijn Lak: Friday 7 February 1958 at the RAI in Amsterdam. AutoWeek: 13 February 1958. The DAF Museum’s own page: May 1958. Hemmings calls the 1958 car the “DAF Daffodil”; the DAF Club, Lak and every other source we checked say it was the 600, with the Daffodil name from 1961.
- Shown and sold. Shown in 1958; production from 1959, with the first car handed over on 23 March 1959 (Lak).
- Weight of the 600. 575 kg (Lak) or 676 kg (Bill Vance).
- Ratios. 20:1 to 4.4:1 for the 600 (Vance); 14.22:1 to 3.60:1 for a later range (Hemmings); 3.60:1 to 28.83:1 across all models (DAF Club).
- Belt life. Tested to at least 80,000 km (50,000 miles) at launch (via Driven to Write); over 20,000 miles on average before replacement (DAF, quoted by Commercial Motor in 1966).
- Reverse speed. “In theory” or “technically” as fast as forwards (Autocar, Hagerty UK, Driven to Write); exactly the same, up to 80 mph (Goodwood); almost 100 km/h (AutoGids).
- Reverse racing. From the 1970s, with a second edition in 1979 (Youngtimer); from the early 1980s (DAF-Club Deutschland); faded out in the late 1980s (Goodwood).
- US sales. Just over 1,600 (Hagerty) or a few hundred (Lak).
- DAF 600 production. 30,150 (DAF Club) or 30,591 (DAF Owners Club table, via Driven to Write).
- Total DAF cars. About 820,000 (Lak), 815,646 from 1959 to 1976 (DAF Owners Club, via Driven to Write), more than 800,000 with a Variomatic (DAF Museum).
- DAF 44 launch. 1966 (DAF Club) or 1967 (Hagerty UK).
- Volvo 66 production. 106,137 (Volvo Owners Club) or 113,431 (Driven to Write).
- Manual Volvo 343. 1979 (DAF Club) or 1978 (Driven to Write).
- Birthplace. America, Limburg (Lak) or Horst, Limburg (BHIC).
- Van Doorne’s Transmissie. Hemmings has Hub opening it after retiring in 1965; Bosch, NRC and Aftersales Magazine date the company and its factory to 1972. BHIC dates the work on the improved belt from 1965.
- Steel belt construction. 320 V-shaped links (Motor Sport, Fiesta CTX) or 300 blocks (Commercial Motor, Fiat Uno Selecta): two different cars.
- Which Ford. Motor Sport reports the Fiesta CTX of 1987; Hemmings names the Ford Festiva.
- Volvo 343 CVT count. The DAF Club gives “about 235,000” with CVT for both the 343 and the 340/360 ranges. The repeated figure may be a copying slip, so we only use it for the 343.
- “The first CVT”. The DAF Club’s history page says the first car CVT ever to enter production, but its Variomatic page traces belt-and-cone drives to 1897 and a production drive to 1900. We say the first modern production-car CVT.
- Who invented it. Every source we could check credits Hub van Doorne. Some online references also name a DAF engineer, Christoffel Sellenraad, but we found no checkable source for that, so we leave it out.
- “Can’t stall”. Widely repeated, but we found no source that tests it; see the myths page.
All sources (35)
- Historisch Nieuwsblad: Martijn Lak, Opkomst en ondergang van de DAF-personenauto (in Dutch) (25 facts)
- Driven to Write: Variomatic for the people (April 2021) (17 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: Origin and operation of the Variomatic transmission (15 facts)
- Times Colonist: Bill Vance, DAF made its mark with Variamatic transmission (August 2021) (12 facts)
- Hagerty UK: John-Joe Vollans, DAF: a potted history of the Dutch innovators (August 2025) (9 facts)
- BHIC (Brabant historical archive): Mijnheer Hub tilt DAF van de grond (in Dutch) (7 facts)
- Commercial Motor: Split the torque with a belt (1 April 1966) (7 facts)
- Hemmings: Jim Donnelly, Hub van Doorne (September 2018) (6 facts)
- NRC Handelsblad: Ben Greif on Bosch and Van Doorne’s Transmissie (24 May 1995, in Dutch) (6 facts)
- AutoWeek: Freek van Leeuwen, 60 jaar Daf 600 (2018, in Dutch; archived copy) (5 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 600 (5 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: History of DAF cars (5 facts)
- AutoGids: Alain Devos, Wist je nog? DAF Variomatic (2020, in Dutch) (4 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: Volvo 343 and 345 (4 facts)
- Aftersales Magazine: Van duwbanden naar nieuwe toekomst (May 2024, in Dutch) (3 facts)
- AutoRAI: Het pientere pookje van DAF is 60 jaar (2018, in Dutch) (3 facts)
- Autocar: The 18 different car gearbox types (3 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 55 (3 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 66 (3 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: Volvo 340 and 360 (3 facts)
- Motor Sport: Jeremy Walton, Industry insight, on the Ford and Fiat CTX (July 1987) (3 facts)
- Museum.nl: DAF Museum, DAF 600, de grote kleine auto (in Dutch) (3 facts)
- Volvo Cars: Volvo Cars 1927–2007 (archived copy) (3 facts)
- Youngtimer Magazine: Achteruitrijden is terug, voor even (in Dutch) (3 facts)
- Bosch in the Netherlands: the Tilburg plant (2 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 33 (2 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 44 (2 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 46 (2 facts)
- DAF Club Nederland: DAF 750 (2 facts)
- Goodwood Road & Racing: Gary Axon, the four weirdest motorsport series you’ve never seen (2019) (2 facts)
- Hagerty: Mike Bumbeck, Keeping the DAF belts spinning (2016) (2 facts)
- Volvo Owners Club: Volvo 300 series and 66 information (2 facts)
- Commercial Motor: CVT box of tricks (25 June 1987) (1 fact)
- DAF-Club Deutschland: Achteruit rijden (in German) (1 fact)
- Subaru Canada: Subaru history (1 fact)