From 2003 to 2017, this Ford was one of the tow trucks of the Rotterdam Police Department. It’s now part of their historic collection. Thanks to the truck’s moderate height, it was able to enter all types of parking facilities throughout the city.
Its registered curb weight is 4,420 kg (9,744 lbs) and the Ford’s legal maximum GVM is rated at 5,675 kg (12,511 lbs).
The sleepwagen has the 250 hp, 7.3 liter PowerStroke turbodiesel under its hood. Sleep as in schlep; you don’t sleep in a sleepwagen, it’s much safer and more comfortable to sleep in a slaapwagen.
Power take-off by Muncie, I could read the manufacturer’s name after I zoomed in on the sticker left of the steering column. The small sticker directly below the orange switch says mistlamp, which is a fog lamp rather than a mist lamp. The speedometer’s main, outer digits display the speed in km/h.
The dual Ramsey winches, right behind the cab.
Falkom from Tiel, the Netherlands, built the towing equipment.
The Rotterdam Police Department used multiple other US vehicles in the past, as you can see here (too bad you can’t enlarge the images). It’s a good thing they preserve these off-duty vehicles and keep them rolling.
I’m very familiar with both these and Chevy medium duty trucks. Used to drive them at the yard. Lord knows how these vehicles can take a licking from fleet use! The drivers side seat foam was always worn away from so many people sliding in and out for hours at a time.
Nice photos Johannes. I used to work for a large home builder who also owned a multi-storey hotel at their same home office location. It was not uncommon during tourist season to see these working their way down and up the six underground levels fishing cars out.
See, here a slaapwagen would just get you hurt.
Nice Abschleppwagen! I think US made utility vehicles are a lot more common in the Netherlands than here in Germany.
It’s interesting how simultaneously familiar and foreign this truck is. The towing gear is very similar to US made wheel lift/boom combinations and the speedometer is probably a Canadian market part.
I have to say I was somewhat surprised to see such a, well, American vehicle in the Netherlands. Even as a tow truck and not someone’s personal vehicle. But as I think about it I’m not sure what European truck would be suitable for this purpose. But maybe that’s just because I don’t know enough about European trucks.
If you strictly look at the (cab) height, then only vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the VW Amarok and the Land Rover Defender come to mind. Tow trucks based on these do exist.
If you count in power output and weight, than comparable Euro-trucks are taller and bigger sized all around.
That was my thinking, that a European truck with comparable power would presumably be a COE type commercial truck, which would mean a taller cab.
As an addition, ambulances based on US hardware were quite common too. By now they seem to be replaced by -mostly- MB Sprinters.
…hold on to your hat!…
LOL, NZ had Chevy ambulances, theres one gathering lichen nearby, replaced with turbodiesel Mercedes ambulances now
, faster more reliable and better to drive by all accounts,
Thats quite a nice tow truck of the old school, perfect for towing cars in its day, these hook trucks are gone from towing fleets here rolling flat decks have replaced them mounted on Japanese built chassis, hook trucks are still used at the speedway but not on public roads anymore health and safety wont allow it.
Ironically, the Amsterdam ambulance siren sounds very much like the organ riff heard throughout the cult rock song ‘D.O.A.’ (Dead on Arrival) by the group Bloodrock from 1971.
A song which also includes ambulance sirens, but instead the type heard on US ambulances in the early 1970s.
Remarkable!
It is quite unusual for sure, as it is the normal two tone siren we are used to hearing on French sirens. But also seems to have a muffled ‘echo’ tone that sounds like the organ in this song. The siren manufacturer may have been a Bloodrock fan. 🙂
At times it sounds like Scottish bagpipes.
What’s that mirror on the cowl for? Seems oddly positioned to be of much use.
Seeing the boom without having to turn around to look through the cab’s rear window?
Nice photos, thank you. I take it this tow truck is an automatic?
Yes; the column shifter is obscured by the steering wheel, but the manual shifter would be visible from almost any angle.
I remember seeing Ford SuperDuty tow trucks in Taiwan, when I travelled there on business a lot 10-20 years ago. On my recent visit to Ecuador, I also saw a few, as well as Dodge (Ram) 3500 based rigs. As for ambulances, here in the US, Sprinter and now Transit ambulances are replacing the old domestic van based rigs, as the host vehicles have dropped out of production and the remaining Chevy/GMC platform never seemed as popular in that application as Ford, and to a lesser extent, Dodge.
Well, Ford builds tough trucks.
I am very happy to learn that Ford exported to Europe these supremely capable vehicles and I think the Europeans should buy a lot more of them.
The anti-collision paint scheme on the Ford, and on European emergency vehicles in general, is so very much better than what we do in the USA. In Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona the police cars are seemingly designed to be invisible. But in Europe they are designed to be seen by everyone.
What is better? Should a government have sneaky, stealthy and hidden police vehicles or vividly marked ones? Which ones get hit hard when working at the side of the road? The Dutch and Germans and English are much smarter than American cops. They know that it is better to preserve the life of police and other emergency personnel than it is for cops to be able to hide and pounce on drivers going 73 in a 65mph zone. This F series tow truck demonstrates the priority of safety over all else – as does the Chevrolet ambulance above.
Those bright color schemes actually have a name … and their own Wikipedia page. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battenburg_markings
Well thanks for that. I read Battenburg and learned.
The (black) Wyoming Highway Patrol cars frequently get whacked in the rear when stopped at the side of the interstate. Their latest scheme is a bit better and does include reflective marking but the cars (mostly Chargers now) are nondescript and still hard to clearly see in the daytime. WYDOT and probably the other states have thinking that generally is not open to radical change. But the photos I’ve seen of the collapsed Crown Vics when rear ended should make them think a bit more.
Ask anyone working in law enforcement, your opinion on having a bright flashy car changes significantly after a short period of time on the job.
Special forces and the highway patrol do drive “anonymous” cars. Fast ones. But the usual/regular police cars wear the same color scheme as the Ford truck. They’re mostly a VAG product, like a VW Golf Variant or an Audi A6 Avant.
Most towing here in Australia is now done by tilt trays (aka roll-backs?), but there are some like this still around, almost identical in fact. I’d expect that there are some car parks here that would be too low for it still, some are 1.9m clearance. There were some Holden-based tow trucks that were allowed to be kept on for those (being a bit ‘home made’ and not technically compliant otherwise).
This one was replaced some 2 years ago by a new Ford super duty they still use today, and probably a lot more days to come.