Square Wheels. A double reunion at the DAF Museum

The booklet Square Wheels was published ten years ago. With the cooperation of AutoWeek, the compilation included a diverse series of car stories. These were all written in the context of the MyWeblog contest, which was held once every two weeks and always had a different theme. One of the stories was written by me, which is why I was invited to a reunion at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven.

A number of authors participated. Soon the beloved subject came up: the car. Just like ten years ago, when the collection of Square Wheels received its official baptism of fire in the headquarters of Sanoma, the publisher of AutoWeek. I was looking forward to catching up after ten years. About developments in the car world. About the booklet. In the meantime my gaze was filled by display cabinets full of beautiful DAF scale models. And the Tatras already beckoned in the distance.

You know it: the DAF museum houses until the end of March 2023 the temporary exhibition on Tatras. A beautiful brand with a special history. That Tatra history is beautifully and completely depicted in Eindhoven, including advertising and miniatures made available temporarily. The history of the special manufacturer - which today, just like DAF, still builds trucks and collaborates with DAF - blended very nicely with the permanent DAF collection within that beautiful decor. And not in a fixed place, but in several places within the Eindhoven history room. It is ideal for a beautiful and appealing arrangement. I enjoyed that, just as I enjoyed sharing interesting facts about (especially) the DAF history and the collection.

The reunion was a twofold reunion. Because at the end of 2019 I was also in the Eindhoven museum. The entire passenger car series, the DAF sports history, a cut-away DAF 55 Coupé, a working Variomatic: I saw it all again. And that also applied to the prototypes, studies of beautiful DAF coupé models (Siluro, GT), impressive trucks from DAF, tilting cabs, DAF DOs, special fire and army vehicles, the Eurocabin, a 55 Combi and so on. And all that was mixed with beautiful passenger cars and sturdy trucks from Tatra. So there is quite a bit in Eindhoven, and much of it has a pioneering character. And all this in a very, very fine setting.

The ten years between the launch of the booklet and now flew by. And unconsciously marked the changed automotive zeitgeist, which took on a different color in ten years. But the current old-timer scheme was not even complete when Square Wheels came out. And it is hard to imagine that at that time addition percentages of 14% were still levied on economical lease diesels with low emissions. That downsizing with turbo was the norm. That diesels would be in the dark corner. That the A segment was clipped. That there would be talk of a ban on new diesel and petrol passenger cars. And that electric driving, solar panels, range and related would become a permanent part of the conversation in relation to driving.

Cars change. Car manufacturers change. Drivers change. Also on a small scale, because half of the group of authors in Eindhoven now drive electrically. And because so much is changing, every museum is invaluable. Yes. A collection that sometimes changes. But it does house deep-rooted technological and cosmetic history whose origins can never be rewritten. Just like the first edition of a book cannot be rewritten. And that double realization made my reunion in the beautiful Eindhoven museum very special.