Founded in 1928 the Dutch manufacturer DAF started producing trailers for commercial vehicles. By 1950 DAF had begun building heavy goods vehicles and by 1958 the company was begging to diversify into passenger car manufacturing.

The DAF range of cars concentrated on small economy models using a unique belt-drive transmission system. In many ways these quirky, well engineered cars were misunderstood in the UK, where anything other than home grown products were viewed with suspicion. By 1975 a majority share in the company had been acquired by Swedish firm Volvo.