To mark the 80th anniversary of the ANWB Wegenwacht, the Visscher Classique car museum in the Netherlands is holding a temporary exhibition of all kinds of classic and modern road assistance vehicles, (once) used by the organization. The letters ANWB stand for Algemene Nederlandse Wielrijdersbond, founded in 1883. All fine and good.
Most of the vehicles shown will look familiar, one way or another. If not, the CC-commentariat is a great knowledge base.
Now about the blue, two-tone ‘Technomobiel’ BMW motorcycle and Chevrolet panel truck. These were mobile inspection and maintenance stations, preventing the need for roadside assistance. The service started in 1947.
By driving behind the Chevy, you could even check the speedometer of your vehicle. Up to 110 km/h, anyway. Which was fast, back in the day.
Wow; this is a pretty amazing collection. How did all these survive so well?
The H-D motorcycle and side car might be an ex US Army rig?
And all those tools in these vehicles. So if my engine blew up on the road I’d call them and they’d come and rebuild it on the side of the road?
The HD-Liberators were ex Canadian Army bikes, these were the first ANWB roadside assistance rigs. In April 1946, they started the service with seven HD bikes with a sidecar. Initially, the sheet metal for the sidecars came from scrapped buses. The BSA bikes (one of them is pictured below the HD) arrived in the early fifties.
Plentiful tools and equipment aboard for sure, but a complete rebuild would be too much to ask.
This appears to be a fantastic museum .
-Nate
It is, certainly if you’re interested in French cars (Peugeot, Citroën, Simca, Talbot, Matra, some Panhards) and there’s also a good number of classic Opels (from Kadett A to Senator B and everything in between).
Went to that museum last year. It really is an excellent museum, especially for francophiles.
Yes, and the owner is an enthusiastic, true gentleman. Almost always present, and telling you everything you want to know. He sold his dealerships (French cars, of course) and started the museum in 2022 with his own classic car collection.
It is remarkable that the Wielrijdersbond predates the automobile itself, if we take the Benz Motorwagen (1886) as our starting point.
A ‘wielrijder’ is formal, classic Dutch for a ‘fietser’. Well, that should explain it.
Thank you. That indeed explains it all.
Very interesting piece, thanks!
The ANWB looks a lot like the British AA with the yellow livery and the use of motorcycle sidecars. I also notice a lot of French vehicles and the neatly laid out tool boards would make one of these a great auto show display, perhaps even a scene servicing a break down.
The two peculiar things to me are the motorcycle trailers on the newer ones and the use of a standard Renault 4 instead of the roomier van.
Actually, the ANWB Wegenwacht was modeled after the British AA.
Volkswagen has become the preffered supplier (plenty of them in the article, a VW Polo van conversion included). Nowadays BEVs, like the ID.Buzz Cargo and the e-Transporter. Also a number of electric Ford Transit Custom vans, note that the current Ford Transit Custom and VW Transporter are largely the same.
I’m in absolutely no hurry, when in the Netherlands. I’d rather have that Ami 9 or the first generation Dafodil visit me roadside than any of those boring Vee Dubbs
A nice detail is that they use period-correct license plates on each vehicle.
They’re fully correct and ‘belong’ to the vehicles. Any vehicle gets a registration (for example, when imported) and a license plate that stays with/on the vehicle as long as it’s in the Netherlands (or gets scrapped).
From 1978 onwards, yellow plates with black digits and letters.