A blacksmith’s son, a trailer firm and a car built round a gearbox
Hub van Doorne left school early, built trailers, lorries and wartime oddities, and then helped design a whole car so that his transmission had something to go in.
The transmission and its cars, not DAF Trucks. This site is about the Variomatic and the DAF and Volvo cars that used it from 1958 to 1991. See the home page for what it leaves out.
A smithy in Limburg
Hub van Doorne was born on 1 January 1900 in America, a village in Limburg, where his father had a small smithy. Martijn Lak
His father Martinus died in 1912, aged 41, and Hub was too young to take over the business. Martijn Lak His entire schooling came to no more than four years of primary school. BHIC
Where was he born? Sources differ
- Hub van Doorne was born on 1 January 1900 in America, a village in Limburg, where his father had a small smithy. Martijn Lak
- The Brabant archive BHIC gives his birthplace as Horst, in Limburg. BHIC
Both put him in Limburg on the same day. We have not seen a birth record that settles which place name is more exact.
From trailers to lorries
In 1928 Hub and Wim set up a small workshop in Eindhoven, with 10,000 guilders of capital and a room four metres by four. Martijn Lak
By 1930 they were building trailers and semi-trailers, and Hub’s light designs could carry 50 per cent more payload. BHIC The business became Van Doorne’s Aanhangwagen Fabriek (trailer factory), shortened to DAF. Hagerty UK
The name later changed to Van Doorne’s Automobiel Fabriek, and DAF’s first lorries appeared in 1949. AutoWeek
Hub took out about 130 patents. BHIC In 1953 Delft’s technical university gave him an honorary doctorate for his inventiveness. BHIC
During the war he built a tiny one-seat car only 75 cm wide, later nicknamed the ‘driving raincoat’. It never went into production, and Hub gave it to a circus clown. Martijn Lak
An invention looking for a car
According to the DAF Club, DAF decided in 1953 to build cars as well, so that it could actually use the Variomatic. DAF Club: history
BHIC dates the invention of the Variomatic to the early 1950s. BHIC
AutoGids says Hub bought a Buick with a Dynaflow automatic in the 1950s, and adds that stories differ on where his inspiration came from; one points to the rubber belts driving machines in his own factory. AutoGids
Belts and cones were not new. The DAF Club traces the idea to the American H. C. Spaulding in 1897, and says a French drive by Fouillaron went into dozens of cars from 1900. DAF Club: Variomatic Hub, says the club, rescued Spaulding’s idea from oblivion. DAF Club: Variomatic
Designing the 600
AutoWeek says the car work began in earnest in 1955. Hub first pictured a two-seat minicar with a 250 cc engine in the back; Wim, the business mind, insisted it had to be a proper four-seater. AutoWeek
DAF had never made a car engine. It bought engines from other makers and took them apart, then settled on its own air-cooled 590 cc four-stroke flat twin. AutoWeek
DAF’s new engine was a conventional four-stroke; engines.motoring.im explains how a four-stroke engine works.
The body was drawn in-house by Willem van den Brink, who had worked at Fokker; no Italian styling house was involved. AutoWeek
One requirement, says the DAF Club, was that passengers could sit in it wearing a hat. DAF Club: 600
February 1958
Martijn Lak dates the unveiling to Friday 7 February 1958, at a packed RAI hall in Amsterdam. Martijn Lak
The slogan was ‘DAF Variomatic automatisch de beste’: automatically the best. Martijn Lak
By the end of that first show, DAF had 4,000 orders. Martijn Lak
When was it unveiled? Sources differ
- Martijn Lak dates the unveiling to Friday 7 February 1958, at a packed RAI hall in Amsterdam. Martijn Lak
- AutoWeek gives the date as 13 February 1958. AutoWeek
- The DAF Museum’s own page says the 600 was first seen at the RAI in May 1958. DAF Museum
- Hemmings says the Variomatic first appeared in the ‘DAF Daffodil’ at the 1958 Amsterdam show. Hemmings
We could not find a show programme to settle the February date. The May date on the museum page stands alone. Hemmings calls the 1958 car the Daffodil; every other source we checked says it was the 600, and the Daffodil name arrived in 1961.
On sale
Production began in 1959, and the 600 was sold until 1963. DAF Club: 600
It was the first Dutch car since Spyker stopped production in 1925. Bill Vance
The chairman of the Royal Dutch Automobile Club took delivery of the first 600 on 23 March 1959. Martijn Lak
It cost 3,980 guilders, or 4,380 for the de luxe. Martijn Lak
Lak gives the 600 22 hp, a top speed of 90 km/h, a weight of only 575 kg and 17 km to the litre. Martijn Lak
How heavy was the 600? Sources differ
- Lak gives the 600 22 hp, a top speed of 90 km/h, a weight of only 575 kg and 17 km to the litre. Martijn Lak
- Bill Vance gives the weight as 676 kg. Bill Vance
A hit at home
DAF built about 700 cars in 1959, 16,000 in 1961 and more than 23,000 in 1962, and the 100,000th came off the line in 1964. Martijn Lak
Even Queen Juliana used one in her spare time. Martijn Lak People called it the car with the ‘pientere pookje’, the clever little gear lever. Martijn Lak
In December 1966 Wim announced a new car factory at Born, in Limburg’s closing mining district. About 900 former miners went to work there, and it opened on 27 June 1968. Martijn Lak
How many 600s? Sources differ
- The DAF Club counts 30,150 DAF 600s built from 1959 to 1963. DAF Club: 600
- The DAF Owners Club table, via Driven to Write, says 30,591. Driven to Write
The image problem
The automatic was a strength and a weakness: most drivers who had learned to change gear found it childish, and DAF never shook off its image as a car for the elderly and for women. Martijn Lak
Wim van Doorne admitted they never saw that coming: they had simply thought the idea was wonderful. Martijn Lak
AutoGids says buyers outside the Netherlands did not trust a belt drive. AutoGids
America
DAF had a US dealer network from 1960 to 1967 and sold just over 1,600 cars there, stopping partly because of federal regulations. Hagerty
How many were sold in the US? Sources differ
- DAF had a US dealer network from 1960 to 1967 and sold just over 1,600 cars there, stopping partly because of federal regulations. Hagerty
- Lak says strict American rules held DAF to a few hundred sales there. Martijn Lak
The brothers
Hub stepped down in 1965, with a gift of a million guilders for the staff. Martijn Lak
Wim died on 3 May 1978 and Hub on 23 May 1979. Martijn Lak
DAF came to cars late, after the big car-making countries; history.motoring.im tells the story of cars around the world.
Timeline
- 1 Jan 1900 Hub van Doorne was born on 1 January 1900 in America, a village in Limburg, where his father had a small smithy. Martijn Lak
- 1928 In 1928 Hub and Wim set up a small workshop in Eindhoven, with 10,000 guilders of capital and a room four metres by four. Martijn Lak
- 1949 The name later changed to Van Doorne’s Automobiel Fabriek, and DAF’s first lorries appeared in 1949. AutoWeek
- 1953 According to the DAF Club, DAF decided in 1953 to build cars as well, so that it could actually use the Variomatic. DAF Club: history In 1953 Delft’s technical university gave him an honorary doctorate for his inventiveness. BHIC
- 1955 AutoWeek says the car work began in earnest in 1955. Hub first pictured a two-seat minicar with a 250 cc engine in the back; Wim, the business mind, insisted it had to be a proper four-seater. AutoWeek
- Feb 1958 Martijn Lak dates the unveiling to Friday 7 February 1958, at a packed RAI hall in Amsterdam. Martijn Lak By the end of that first show, DAF had 4,000 orders. Martijn Lak
- 23 Mar 1959 The chairman of the Royal Dutch Automobile Club took delivery of the first 600 on 23 March 1959. Martijn Lak
- 1961 The 750 of September 1961 had a 746 cc fan-cooled twin of 30 hp, 8 more than the early 600s, and a top speed of 105 km/h. DAF Club: 750
- 1964 DAF built about 700 cars in 1959, 16,000 in 1961 and more than 23,000 in 1962, and the 100,000th came off the line in 1964. Martijn Lak
- 1965 Hub stepped down in 1965, with a gift of a million guilders for the staff. Martijn Lak
- 27 Jun 1968 In December 1966 Wim announced a new car factory at Born, in Limburg’s closing mining district. About 900 former miners went to work there, and it opened on 27 June 1968. Martijn Lak
- 1972 Wanting a smaller model, Volvo bought a 33 per cent stake in DAF’s car division in 1972. Volvo Cars
- 1975 In 1975 DAF’s car division became Volvo Car BV. Volvo Cars
- 1978 and 1979 Wim died on 3 May 1978 and Hub on 23 May 1979. Martijn Lak
- 1991 Volvo kept building belt-driven cars until 1991, and the very last car of the 340 range was fitted with the CVT as a nod to its DAF roots. DAF Club: Volvo 340