The roadside assistance is 70

Auto Motor Klassiek » Articles » The roadside assistance is 70
Purchasing classics there

And just like we just have to keep working, by the way. It is a misconception that the 947 Road attendants who are currently driving around are only busy towing cars with inexplicable electronic faults. The current Wegenwachter is completely top-trained and up-to-date. With his stuff and knowledge he can handle many electronic problems (are there Wegenwachteressen anyway?).

But purely by hand, start-up assistance is given almost 140.000 times a year, there are such 15.000 people who have thrown the wrong excise juice into their car and there are such 28.000 people outside their car while the keys are still in it.

That does not mean that in the past not everything was different. The local Shell station was the unofficial base of - I believe 'Kees of Klaas' Wolf, a heavily used, highly experienced Roadkeeper. That was a roadside officer who, like many of his colleagues at the time, had packed all the corners and holes of his company car with 'free-range stuff', with the things and tricks gained in a very long career as a mechanical worker.

We knew each other from the Shell station and sometimes smoked a cigar from each other. Kees (or Klaas) was also a classic fan, but he always looked at my cars with compassion ... "They are just old".

When I had to go to customs with my newest addition, a Buick LeSabre, the V-string popped off. I called - via an emergency telephone - with the ANWB and the Royal promised to send a Road Guard.

The Wegenwacht car came up and stopped. First a few short legs emerged. Then an impressive belly. The rest of my famous Wegenwachter followed.

He looked at me. He looked at my stranded car and said, "If you give me a cigar, I'll sit in the sun and see how you save yourself."

I think modern roadside assistance no longer works that way. Because smokers are almost extinct.

But meanwhile, the Wegenwacht 70 is years young and the Koninklijke celebrates this with the release of scale models 1 on 43 of the cars that the roadside assistance used over time.

They are for sale in the ANWB shops or the web store. ANWB members tick 16,99 for it. The few people who are not ANWB members pay 24,99. And that is at least half the price of the old Dinky Toy models on the sales sites.

The range is dosed throughout the year and starts with the 'Van Ducks' used from 1959-1973.

De Citroën 2CV was the first car of the Wegenwacht. Until that time the men rode motorcycles. The 'Ducks' were safer and offered more space for tools, parts and of course the mobile phone system. The last generation of this car had an increased load space, a light box and a flashing light that could be pushed up in an emergency.

These cars have traveled a lot of miles, because then the road patrol drove laps.

(photos: ANWB)

REGISTER FOR FREE AND WE'LL SEND YOU OUR NEWSLETTER EVERY DAY WITH THE LATEST STORIES ABOUT CLASSIC CARS AND MOTORCYCLES

Select other newsletters if necessary

We won't send you spam! Read our privacy policy for more information.

If you like the article, please share it...

Give a reaction

The email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

Maximum file size of upload: 8 MB. You can upload: afbeelding. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here