At the DAF Museum, some 200 volunteers care for thousands of miniatures, artifacts, archival documents, restored vehicles, and rare prototypes. Each object has its own unique story. But preserving those stories depends on more than just the volunteers’ dedication. Sometimes it also depends on the right key…
There it stands, gleaming in the middle of the museum, in the very spot where Van Doorne’s Automobile Factory began nearly a century ago: a gray-blue bus from the late 1940s. “Our museum’s ‘Nachtwacht,’” says Jan de Zwaan, who, after a distinguished career at DAF, now works as a volunteer at the Eindhoven museum.
“It’s a semi-trailer bus, so it doesn’t have a driver’s cab,” he explains. “It was once found in deplorable condition on the grounds of a construction company. In its glory days, the bus transported DAF staff. And later, it served as a mobile site office for the construction company, complete with a wood-burning stove and a chimney running right through the roof.”
It took the museum’s volunteers four years to restore the bus. But now it stands at the heart of the collection, a silent witness to what DAF stands for. And it tells one of the many stories housed at the DAF Museum: the industrial heritage of a brand that made the Netherlands great.
A New Look for the Miniatures
Around 2018–2019, the museum expanded significantly. The collection of miniatures and artifacts—hundreds of DAF models, unique trinkets, and items of both material and immaterial value—was scattered among homemade cabinets in a basement-like room.
“Those items deserved much more attention,” says Jan. “That’s why we got new display cases—professionally made and delivered by SDB.” It marked the beginning of a wonderful collaboration, as the museum’s collection of display cases grew in several locations in the years that followed. There are now more than thirty SDB display cases—much to the satisfaction of Jan and his colleagues.
“They had replaced all the locks in half a day”
One Key for Everything
“Technically speaking, we’re probably not that special to SDB. But what matters to us is that they’re there when you need them.” As an example, he cites the issue with the keys that came up a while back.
“We felt that there were more keys in circulation than we’d like—to put it mildly. And since those display cases contain objects that are sometimes very valuable, that was a real risk.” Jan brought the problem to SDB’s attention.
“When we need them, they’re there.”
The solution was as simple as it was effective: new locks on all display cases, a single universal key for the museum, and everything properly secured and monitored. “All the locks were replaced in half a day.
What had initially seemed like a ‘huge undertaking’ turned out to be a piece of
Proud of Their Heritage
The fact that SDB responds just as quickly to small questions as it does to large projects is exactly what the museum needs. “Of course, we don’t call them every day. But when we do need them, they’re there. And at those moments, I see a certain pride in them.
Take the photographer, for example: he came to photograph the display cases, but I think he ended up taking way more pictures of the cars, haha! It’s great to see that level of commitment. Because that’s exactly what we as a museum want to convey.”
If you’d like to see all this for yourself, check out the DAF Museum’s website.
