Post by Richard DAF Webmeister on Sept 27, 2006 12:40:18 GMT
Thank you for letting us know John. This is sad.
I met Mr van der Brugghen first in 1993 along with his wife (who died a few years ago). He was a true gentleman and he and I got on extremely well - he was so thrilled when we published extracts of his comprehensive memoirs in English in 1996.
I had the privilige of visiting his home and meeting him at the DAF Museum on a few occasions. To sit and talk to him in his study where there were many diagrams, engineering drawings and models (not just of DAFs and cars) was quite an amazing experience.
One of my happiest memories is visiting him and his wife again, along with Steve and Maggie, to present him with the first copies of his English language memoirs. He was so happy and grateful (because he feared that the history of DAF/Variomatic would be lost in non-Dutch language territories) that he took us to dine at a very exclusive restaurant near his home.
In recent years, he has been frail (the loss of his wife had a very deep effect) but he still had his interest in DAFs and engineering as a whole.
Whilst Hub van Doorne is correctly credited as the man behind DAF and Variomatic, and the concept, much of the implemenation of his ideas was managed and carried out by Mr van der Brugghen. He also went on to liaise with designers such as Michelotti on DAF developments.
He also led on Project P900 (Volvo 340) and was involved with discussions with other manufacturers prior to the Volvo takeover.
On leaving DAF, he spent time working on, amongst other things, magnetic levitation system for railways. So he was very ahead of his time.
He was a contemporary of Alex Issigonis, and I asked him whether he had met the designer of the Mini. He had indeed, and explained that they had agreed to disagree over certain products!
I met Mr van der Brugghen first in 1993 along with his wife (who died a few years ago). He was a true gentleman and he and I got on extremely well - he was so thrilled when we published extracts of his comprehensive memoirs in English in 1996.
I had the privilige of visiting his home and meeting him at the DAF Museum on a few occasions. To sit and talk to him in his study where there were many diagrams, engineering drawings and models (not just of DAFs and cars) was quite an amazing experience.
One of my happiest memories is visiting him and his wife again, along with Steve and Maggie, to present him with the first copies of his English language memoirs. He was so happy and grateful (because he feared that the history of DAF/Variomatic would be lost in non-Dutch language territories) that he took us to dine at a very exclusive restaurant near his home.
In recent years, he has been frail (the loss of his wife had a very deep effect) but he still had his interest in DAFs and engineering as a whole.
Whilst Hub van Doorne is correctly credited as the man behind DAF and Variomatic, and the concept, much of the implemenation of his ideas was managed and carried out by Mr van der Brugghen. He also went on to liaise with designers such as Michelotti on DAF developments.
He also led on Project P900 (Volvo 340) and was involved with discussions with other manufacturers prior to the Volvo takeover.
On leaving DAF, he spent time working on, amongst other things, magnetic levitation system for railways. So he was very ahead of his time.
He was a contemporary of Alex Issigonis, and I asked him whether he had met the designer of the Mini. He had indeed, and explained that they had agreed to disagree over certain products!
