[ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ] People of Note - Obituaries GenealogyBuff.com - Hubert van Doorne, Auto manufacturer – DAF Posted By: GenealogyBuff.com Date: Sunday, 4 September 2016, at 6:37 p.m. System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC! Hubert van Doorne, Auto manufacturer – DAF Born in the Netherlands in 1900, Hubert van Doorne started what would later become the D.A.F company. In 1928, Hubert and his brother, Wim Van Doorne started a small mechanical workshop in Eindhoven, in the southern part of the Netherlands. In 1930, the brothers founded the Van Doorne Trailer Company. D.A.F. is the abbreviation for Van Doorne's Automobielfabrik in Dutch. In 1936 they started making military armed vehicles for the Dutch army. This led to the production of large commercial trucks. Another interesting product was the "TRADO-drive" - a sort of conversion kit which converted a commercial 4 x 2 truck into a 6 x 4 truck. This drive was invented in the mid 1930´s with a world war building up, and not sufficient fundings to purchase the necessary all-wheel drive trucks for the Dutch armed forces. DAF Trucks started production at Eindhoven in 1949 with the model A-30 which was build in small numbers. The first trucks were assembled from parts from other manufacturers: engines came from Hercules or Perkins, axles from Timken and gearboxes from Fuller. A third of the DAF company´s shares was bought by International Harvester Group in 1972. An agreement about joint development of cabs was signed with Volvo, Saviem and Magirus-Deutz in 1974. This project was known as "The club of Four". In 1987 DAF merged with the British Rover Group, and parts of the production was moved to Great Britain. Production was labeled as Leyland DAF in Great Britain and DAF elsewhere. The company went bankrupt in 1992, but was reconstructed in 1993 with the Dutch and Belgian Government and Dutch banks as investors. DAF was taken over by PACCAR Inc., known for production of Kenworth, Peterbilt and Foden, in 1996. Hubert van Doorne died May 23, 1979, at age 79. USA Yearbooks by State and County [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ] People of Note - Obituaries is maintained by GenealogyBuff with WebBBS 5.12.

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