Daf Trucks celebrates 80 years of building trucks and trailers.Biglorryblog has the complete history of Daf and asks: "Where's my bit of cake then?"

And in the best tradtion of 'This is Your Life', Hub van Doorne, was born on 1 January 1900 in a small village in Limburg, in the Netherlands. The eldest son of a village black smith, in the mid nineteen twenties, he was foreman in the engineering works of Sjef Mandigers in Eindhoven. Enter one Mr Huenges, the owner of the Coolen brewery and ice factory who has a Stearns-Knight automobile with a sleeve-valve engine. Whenever it breaks down, Hub van Doorne proves to be the only one who can get it going again. Said Mr Huenges is so impressed by the technical capabilities of young Hub van Doorne that he offers help in setting up a business for him. And on 1 April 1928 Mr Huenges offers him the princely sum of 10,000 Gilders for the purpose.

Hub's engineering business begins with four employees in a small workshop in a corner of the brewery (now that's what I call a PROPER working environment). The activities focus on welding, engineering and forging work, in particular for the canal boats calling at Eindhoven and for Philips. Within a year, the business is already growing with 32 people on the payroll. However, the Great Depression in the nineteen thirties forces the young company, now co-managed by Hub's younger brother Wim, to look for new activities and the decision is made to start manufacturing trailers and semi-trailers.

In 1933, when electric welding of heavy load-bearing constructions is still in a very early stage, Hub van Doorne and his engineering assistant Mr Baghuis start fabricating complete chassis by welding. The result is a featherweight semi-trailer which attracts the attention of everyone in the trade.

By 1936 the company’s name has changed to 'Van Doorne’s AanhangwagenFabriek' ('Van Doorne's Trailer Factory'). A unique invention is ready for production: a system which has been specially developed for the loading and unloading of railway containers for intermodal rail-road transport. These containers are about 3 metres long and their laden weight is approximately 3.5 tonnes. With the special trailer, containers can quickly and easily be loaded onto and unloaded from railway wagons and also collected from and delivered to the customer. This makes Daf one of the very first manufacturers of container trailers in the world. And by 1935, the company employs about a hundred people, a number that would triple in the next five years.

During the Second World War, Daf prepares itself for the future with the design and production engineering for a new trailer while, more importantly, three prototypes of a real truck are built. In the post-war reconstruction years in the Netherlands there is a great demand for transport equipment. The series production of trailers and semi-trailer starts and the Engineering department works on the first buses, while serious preparations for an automobile factory take place. For the manufacturing of the truck chassis, the first part of a new factory is built on a site along the Geldropseweg, where the Daf factories are still situated today.

In September 1949, the production of commercial vehicles is started in earnest and just over six months later the new factory, with an area of 9,000 m2, begins operations. The range consists of three models: the three-tonne A30, the five-tonne A50 and the six-tonne A60. They are powered by Hercules petrol and Perkins diesel engines. Chassis, brake components and wheel hubs are manufactured in-house. Furthermore, at the RAI European Road Transport Show in 1950, the one-tonne A10 also van makes its debut. On the basis of this vehicle, a pick-up truck, the A107, is developed for export. The range of models expands rapidly. Special chassis for tippers and refuse vehicles are introduced and Daf also develops a complete range of military vehicles.

Then, in 1956, to guarantee the quality of the engines, the company decides to start manufacturing them itself. The engine factory is opened at the end of 1957 and it produces Leyland engines under licence. However, Daf soon develops its own versions. and it is one of the first manufacturers to use a turbocharger on diesel engines for trucks.

However, it doesn't only build its own engines. It builds its own cabs too which are developed continuously. Initially, when the production of trucks is started, Daf only supplies the chassis. The manufacturing of the cabs is left to bodybuilders. But in 1951, Daf launches its own cab, the first series being characterised by a grille with seven horizontal chrome strips; in 1956 the front is slightly modified and the number of strips reduced to six. On 3 May 1955, the 10,000th Daf chassis comes off the assembly line. Hub van Doorne uses the occasion to announce an order for 3,600 military vehicles and the start of the factory expansion.

In 1957, Daf introduces a new series of heavy trucks, the 2000 range, and in the same year a torpedo-fronted vehicle is launched for specific market segments. A year later in-house production of axles starts, for which a completely new factory is built in the mid sixties at Oevel, near Westerlo in Belgium, where cabs are also built.

In 1962, Daf presents its Eurotrailer, a semi-trailer with integral aluminium body. In the same year, the completely new Daf 2600 astounds the transport world. With a compact design for maximum load length, Daf succeeds in building a modern cab, which can also be supplied in sleeper cab version. The 2600 is nicknamed the ‘mother of international road transport'. This truck ensures the company's position as the market leader in driver comfort for years to come. In July 1964, the 50,000th truck chassis rolls off the assembly line. A year later, the company's founder, Hub van Doorne, retires from 'his' Daf, which has been awarded more than one hundred patents since its founding.

In a relatively short time, the company has gone from manufacturing chassis and buying in many of the components from third parties, to a factory making complete motor vehicles. And at the 1958 RAI European Road Transport Show, it even launches its first passenger car, the Daf 600, with a revolutionary fully-automatic drive called the Variomatic. This car is later followed by other models, including the 33, 44, 55 and 66, all of them featuring this special transmission. In 1972, Volvo takes a minority stake in Daf's passenger car division and some years later (in 1975) becomes the sole owner. In total, Daf produces some 820,000 passenger cars.

In 1970, Daf introduces a completely new truck generation with tilt cabs (F1600- F2200). This makes engine maintenance easier and less time-consuming. Three years later, a 20cm wider version of this tilt cab is used for the new 2800, one of the great successes in the history of the company. With its twin-bunk sleeper cab, full-size beds and its powerful 11.6-litre six-pot Daf engines, this is the successor to the illustrious 2600. Daf also becomes the first truck maker in the world to use a turbocharger in combination with 'intercooling', as a result of which the engines are able to deliver even more power and torque while fuel consumption stays low.

In 1975, Daf launches two entirely new trucks for distribution transport, the F700 and F900.
The internationalisation of road transport causes a growing need for service outside the country's borders. Therefore, at the beginning of the seventies, Daf set up ITS, its International Truck Service, which stranded drivers can call upon for fast roadside assistance.

In the mid-eighties, Daf starts intensive co-operation with British Leyland, which initially results in the supply of Leyland-developed distribution vehicles carrying the Daf logo: the 400 van, but also the 600, 800 and 1000 distribution trucks, later called the 45 Series. In 1987, Leyland is taken over by Daf. The success Daf had gained in the heavy-truck segment with the 2800 (the pictue above is from Ashley Coghill) and later with the 3300 and 3600 is given an extra boost when in the same year the Daf 95 is introduced. The cab of this vehicle had been developed in collaboration with the Spanish company Enasa (Pegaso). Just like its predecessors, the 2800, 3300 and 3600, the 95 could of course also be specified with the extra roomy SpaceCab. For ten years Daf is highly successful with this top-of-the-range model, the 'International Truck of the Year 1988'. In 1989, Daf is floated on the Amsterdam and London stock exchanges. Just like the 95 series, the lighter 65, 75 and 85 series launched in 1992 prove extremely successful.

In the early nineteen nineties, the commercial vehicle market collapses, in particular in Great Britain, the market on which Daf greatly depends. It proves impossible to keep the company afloat. But it doesn’t take long before there is a new Daf. Within a few weeks the new Daf Trucks N.V. is established with a very modern product range. In 1994, Daf presents the 95 Super SpaceCab with even more space and even greater driver comfort. In 1996, Daf is taken over by PACCAR, which gives certainty for the future. PACCAR is one of the world's biggest truck makers, the manufacturer of leading brands such as Kenworth and Peterbilt.

In 1997 Daf presents the new 95XF. It is the perfect truck for heavy and long-distance haulage. An international trade jury share this opinion and votes the 95XF ‘International Truck of the Year 1998'. The CF series is thoroughly rejuvenated and on 6 May 1999 Daf delivers its 500,000th truck.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Daf once again introduces important new products. In 2001, production of the new CF series for medium-heavy and heavy haulage and of the new LF series for distribution transport is started. The LF is elected ‘International Truck of the Year 2002’. In 2002, Daf presents the successor to the 95XF: the XF95 with a slightly modified exterior, a lighter chassis, disc brakes, and an optional AS-Tronic automatic gearbox.

At the beginning of 2006, Daf starts production of the XF105, the new flagship of the Dutch truck manufacturer. The new top model is characterised by an all-new exterior and interior design, a new chassis layout and the new 12.9-litre PACCAR MX engine, available as Euro 4, as well as Euro 5 versions. The XF105 sets new standards in quality, efficiency and transport performance, as well as in interior design, comfort, ergonomic and driving qualities and is named ‘International Truck of the Year 2007’.

Also in 2006, Daf launches the updated LF and CF series with a completely new programme of PACCAR engines with Daf SCR technology for Euro 4 and 5, an optimised chassis layout and renewed interior and exterior designs. Daf shows its completely updated model programme for the first time at the IAA Hannover in September 2006, where the company also presents a prototype of a hybrid truck based on the LF. The vehicle has a parallel diesel/electric hybrid system, whereby the truck is driven by the diesel engine, the electric motor, or a combination of both, resulting in a significant reduction of fuel consumption and emissions.

On 19th April 2007, Daf delivers its 750,000th Eindhoven-produced truck, a symbol of the company’s enormous success. Later that year, delivery of the extra clean EEV engines for use by public transport begins. By applying a soot filter to existing engines meeting Euro 5 emission standards for 2009, a further 50% reduction in the emission of soot particles is achieved. Emission values are thereby achieved that were only thought possible with gas engines. Daf once again underlines its leading position in the field of engine development. And to maintain and build on its position, a completely new engine test centre is opened at the end of 2007. Among the most modern in the world, the facility’s test capacity is doubled by adding 20 advanced test cells to 14 existing test units.

At the end of the eighties, around 18,000 trucks are produced in Eindhoven each year; at the end of the nineties this rises to around 25,000. In the first few years of the new millennium, production in Eindhoven reaches almost 31,000 vehicles in 2004 and in 2006 the 40,000 barrier is broken. The company is breaking record after record. In 2007, more than 42,500 medium and heavy trucks are produced in Eindhoven. Moreover, Leyland Trucks in the U.K. produces a further 11,500 LF series trucks and more than 6,000 CF and XF105 series trucks are assembled there, bringing the total production to almost 60,500. Who in 1928 could have foreseen that the basis had been laid for one of Europe’s most leading and successful truck manufacturers?