Pioneers in many ways, Land Rovers converted into tow trucks were excellent allies of the sector in its early years. Some REAC members remember them fondly. And so do we at REAC.
Few Land Rover tow trucks can be seen in our country today. In this heart-warming report by La Voz de Galicia, we come across a few of them. There was a time when, as if by metonymy, saying “Land Rover” was the same as saying “off-roader”. Nothing could defeat it: from carrying people to goods and vehicles. The trip to the garage was not the only typical journey these legendary vehicles made, since in regions where the weather conditions were harsh, they could even be used as a hearse, as the report explains.
They had an additional engine that enabled them to drag and tow vehicles. In this way, they carried out their work assisting travellers in much tougher times on the road, with communications that left a great deal to be desired…
Allies in the early years
In the roadside assistance operator sector, the Land Rover’s towing role is well known to veterans. That is how the Cádiz company Grúas Marcos (which is part of REAC, our Network of Roadside Assistance Companies) started out in 1979, “with the legendary Land Rovers, which at that time were adapted to perform the functions of a tow truck”.
Laso Asistencia, another of the companies in REAC, includes these off-roaders in its founding story: “[...] it was 1969 when, full of enthusiasm, we fitted the body to our first Land Rover Santana tow truck”. Vehicles that, over time, gave way to the flatbeds with which the entire sector works today.
Another member of the Network – Grúas DOCU –, began operating in 1975 with the first municipal service in Cáceres. Land Rovers were part of its initial fleet, although, at the end of the eighties, with the growing professionalisation of tow truck services, those vehicles were replaced by others equipped with ramps. They came from Germany, as the company explains on its own website. But that is another story...