'A gear for every gradient'

One of the company's numerous inventions was the DAF demountable rail container system (1936). It was used by the Dutch and Belgian railways for the door-to-door transport of containers and can be seen as a forerunner of modern container haulage.

In 1937 Hub van Doorne and Colonel Van der Trappen designed the famous 'Trado-construction' that made it possible to convert standard 4x2 trucks into 6x4 ones. This transmission and axle configuration were also used in the "big DAF", the military 6x6 YA 328 model, which went into production in 1952. In 1959 the production of cars was started with the DAF 600. All these historical vehicles are on display in the museum and give an insight into the revolutionary developments at DAF.

It goes without saying that a great deal of attention is paid to one of the most spectacular constructions: the Variomatic transmission in the DAF cars, which were said to have 'a gear for every gradient'. The museum also shows cutaway models of the Transmatic. This unique transmission, produced by Van Doorne's Transmissie BV (VDT) of Tilburg, is meanwhile used by several European and Japanese car manufacturers.

DAF demountable rail container

YA 328

DAF 600