Collection items starting with D

D.A.F. is a Dutch company that began in the late 1920s as a garage. After WWII, the company started manufacturing commercial vehicles. The economical situation and the success of D.A.F. trucks made it possible for Hub Van Doorne to realize his dream of producing a luxury car. 

Created as a light delivery vehicle for tight spaces, the Midget was originally introduced in 1957 as a three-wheeled truck and enjoyed huge popularity among small businesses and delivery services all over Asia. This version, the Midget II, debuted in 1996 to meet modern standards for the same design ideals.

To truly appreciate the character of this 1969 Daihatsu Trimobile you have to understand the character of its ownership lineage.

In the early 1920’s, Gaston Daix, a highly-skilled piano maker with a factory in Pessac, near Bordeaux in the south of France, made this unusual ark-like pedal car with a craftsmanship that embodies the timelessness of an elegant musical instrument.

Charismatic used cars salesman Glen Gordon “Gary” Davis moved from Indiana to Southern California filled with optimism and dreams. On the streets of Los Angeles, he saw an aerospace-styled three-wheeled vehicle called the “Californian” and was struck by its uniqueness.

Derny is a term that has become synonymous with small pacing vehicles for bicycle racing, but the company itself was more than just jargon. Born out of a French craze for motorized bicycles during the 1930s, Derny debuted its first model, the “Entraineur” in 1938, to pace the Bordeaux-Paris race.