The red car below is a DAF, a car made in Holland, originally in Eindhoven actually, and DAF's passenger car business was sold to Volvo in 1975, eventually ending production of passenger cars in Holland.
The DAF was a small, fuel efficient car, capable of transporting four adults in reasonable comfort. The Dutch company had been building such cars since the post WWII era, and for good reason too.
This is the current price of gas in Holland: 1 Euro and 29.5 Cents for a Litre of gas. There are about 3.8 litres in one US gallon, so that means that a US gallon of gas costs 4.92 Euro which, at current exchange rates means a gallon of gas here costs about $6.40.No wonder the Dutch, and indeed the majority of European countries favor smaller more fuel efficient cars. If gas prices were as high in 1975, perhaps the DAF factory would not have been sold as fuel efficient cars would have been more in demand. But the writing is on the wall for the US - we have to use smaller more fuel efficient cars if we want to reduce our reliance on Middle East oil, and do something more constructive to reduce pollution.
The DAF was a highly innovative car, well ahead of its time. It had an automatic transmission that required virtually no expensive maintenance at all because it was essentially a pair of rubber bands - see below:
Incredibly simple, effective and efficient, and like many things in Holland, well ahead of it's time.
I am sad to leave Holland, and look forward to coming back
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