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The Automobile Association


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Posted

I love period photos of old recovery trucks at work so imagine my delight at the AA's recent Flickr upload, I thought I'd share a few here with you.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/automobile-association/with/10016251056/

 

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Does it get much more Autoshite than this one?! 
 
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Posted

I will always have a soft spot for the AA. I had tons of those little AA Corgi vans when I was a kiddie, and later on went on to learn to drive with them.

Posted

And a few more older one's to add too the mix.

 

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Posted

That Bedford Hydrolift is remarkable! An AA-preserved Landy Series III lives not far from me. Chap also has a Vauxhall Brava that he looks after for The AA. I must drop in and see him at some point.

Posted

Just to provoke a bit: Not many japanese cars getting towed away! 8)

Posted

Well I'm not buying a Ford, look at em all, broken down everywhere making a mess of the place.

Posted

Just to provoke a bit: Not many japanese cars getting towed away! 8)

 

The Japanese didn't know what a car is back then. But note that no Rover P6 required assistance.

So, how's that for provocative and controversial?

Posted

I was expecting to see more Vauxhall Vivas.

Excellent pics, I will lust over them properly when I have more time.

Posted

These were the good old days for the AA and RAC when you were proud to wear the uniform and allways went that extra mile and the vehicles used were the best available and service came way before profit.

 

Now days its cheap vans and pissed off staff,these once proud institutions are both now owned by asset stripping venture capitalist companies who greedily fill their pockets and try to fleece as much money from their members as possible.

 

Then after a few years once everything has been squeezed dry they sell on whats left and look for another company to leech off.

  • Like 2
Posted

Well said, JoeySpud....Great pics, thanks for sharing Trigger!    I know it goes against Bye Law No. 1 of Autoshitery but I have always been an AA member, well ever since I bought my first auto and knew it wouldn't bump start....   Still great lads but they have a wall of bollocks to deal with corporately speaking.    Wish they kept some of this old stuff to cart my old chod around, it would look as good as these shots (apart from the hi-viz of course..).  Anyway I am working late and the grown ups have gone so I shall be on that website very soon....

Posted











 


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Living not far from Hednesford Raceway as I do, this is a combination I still see from time to time...

 

 












Posted

Always had a liking for the transit  'A'  series & love old photos of "everyday" life like these 

Posted

Me too, because I'm old enough to remember when the world was mostly B&W and colour was for posh people... :wink:

Posted

Some of those cars look quite lost on the backs of the trucks - today's bloaters would take up a bit more space.

Posted

These were the good old days for the AA and RAC when you were proud to wear the uniform and allways went that extra mile and the vehicles used were the best available and service came way before profit.

 

Now days its cheap vans and pissed off staff,these once proud institutions are both now owned by asset stripping venture capitalist companies who greedily fill their pockets and try to fleece as much money from their members as possible.

 

Then after a few years once everything has been squeezed dry they sell on whats left and look for another company to leech off.

 

Quite so. I was an AA member when they decided to demutualise, so I received a cheque for - iirc - something like £70?

 

I was pretty chuffed at the time, which looking back was an astounding piece of short-sighted carpetbaggery/mingebaggery/stupidity, because in retrospect it marked the end of a genuinely useful organisation as it morphed into a bunch of money-grabbing bastards.

 

I'm still a member though, because I tell myself that the actual patrolmen are the same as they always were, and they must be as annoyed as anyone else (more so in fact) about the way it's gone. I was talking to an AA man not so long ago, who was thoroughly pissed off about the huge number of memberships he's expected to try to sell. He's a mechanic not a salesman FFS.

Posted

If you have an hour or 3 to spare, and have any interest in the recovery industry, then this website is worth a browse... you wouldn't believe the skullduggery that went on (and still does) in this business..

 

http://www.vehiclerecovery.org/

 

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Posted

It's not something I'd normally say about a commercial vehicle, but those Bedford J Types are handsome things aren't they?  I don't think I've ever seen one before.

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