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Birmingham Automobile Association

I have an amusing story about the AA from years ago.
As a family we were on the way to my Nan's in South Worcestershire via a stretch of the motorway. There was something sounding funny with the motor of Dad's Mini so he pulled off at one of the junctions to have a look inside the bonnet, just after an AA man pulled up to see if he could help - hoping I guess to enrol a new member.
However, Dad was a member of the RAC and he suddenly noticed the badge on the front of the car so, without saying anything at all, he just walked away!
We all had a good laugh about that and Dad sorted the motor out himself.
 
I used to do my own car repairs, having mostly 'older' cars. I couldn't afford the luxury of an on the road sepair service, and was not happy to be pestered by them cajoling you to join. "I think you ought to be a member, Sir!" one of them said with a sickly smile, "as you drive an older car!" That did it for me, so I turned round, pointed to my immaculate 1950 Dsimler DB18 'Consort' and said "So if I get gearbox troubles, are you trained in the operation of the Wilson pre-select epicyclic gearbox that my car has? Could you adjust the gear brake bands if it was slipping?" Silence. "I thought not" I smirked and went for a cuppa.
 
Apparently, AA officers would salute any member when seen passing along the road - those displaying the badge of course. They used to have patrol boxes/huts at key junctions. Each member was issued with a key to access a phone if needing help. (Well, that's what was written in M.J.Porter's 'fictitious' book I'm reading: The Automobile Assassination - set in the 1940s). Maybe someone knows if these features of the service are true.

By the 1950s they were moving with the times.

Screenshot_20250224_070722_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20250224_070149_Chrome.jpg
Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
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19 June 1905. A small group of motoring enthusiasts band together to warn fellow drivers about speed traps.
They opt to call themselves the Motorists' Mutual Association.
In response to the zealous police enforcement of driving restrictions, the group organised teams of cyclists who, through a combination of signals and salutes, assisted drivers to stay safe on the roads and avoid punitive penalties.
A month later, as the group established an enthusiastic following among the motoring community, they settled upon a new name (and it was a real keeper). The Automobile Association.
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1740384030907.webp
 
i never walked away from a brake down if i could help i did. i asked "are you a member" if yes ok if not "would you like to join?" some gave false info.other were ok.
we did have some wierd call outs like the woman with the fir coat nothing else on under it. when she called in the radio room would pass the call us and say its your turn to go out today lima? or tango? and the man who kept flashing his headlights behind me on the m6 at peak time.when i pulled on the shoulder thinking it was emergence a man got out of his triumph herald and said can i fix his radio he cant get the station he wants.. the caller who said the gear box was making a row when you drive. it turned out to be a wheel nut in the wheel trim rattling about
the poor lady who blew her engine up on the m6 i said what happened she said"i was driving along at 70 mph and saw the sign to change down to 3 then 2 then 1 and it went bang", i said they were the count down markers for the turn off not gear changes.
:grinning:
some one who filled the engine with water instead of the rad it siezed up after a short trip:oops:
 
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Vivienne14 said:
Apparently, AA officers would salute any member when seen passing along the road - those displaying the badge of course. They used to have patrol boxes/huts at key junctions. Each member was issued with a key to access a phone if needing help. (Well, that's what was written in M.J.Porter's 'fictitious' book I'm reading: The Automobile Assassination - set in the 1940s). Maybe someone knows if these features of the service are true.

By the 1950s they were moving with the times.

View attachment 199466View attachment 199467
Source: British Newspaper Archive
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no one male or female was turned away. jeeps more like a series one landy:)

​

 
i helped paint it a few years ago
Boduan - AA Sentry Box - 580
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The Telephone Box | AA Sentry Box

The 'AA' sentry box would have been a welcome sight for their patrolmen, offering shelter from bad weather while on the lookout for troubled motorists. First introduced in 1912, by the Second World War there were more than 600 boxes. But as technology developed and telephones became smaller...
www.the-telephone-box.co.uk
 
Vivienne14 said:
Each member was issued with a key to access a phone if needing help
Click to expand...
I still have an RAC members key somewhere. I think that the AA and the RAC had the same key profile so that members could use each others boxes in an emergency. I also have a metal AA members car badge, with the members number stamped on. And an illuminated RAC car badge. Why ? No good having a memories box with nothing in it.
Andrew.
 
Brummie a long time ago said:
I still have an RAC members key somewhere. I think that the AA and the RAC had the same key profile so that members could use each others boxes in an emergency. I also have a metal AA members car badge, with the members number stamped on. And an illuminated RAC car badge. Why ? No good having a memories box with nothing in it.
Andrew.
Click to expand...
The number was not the membership number.)
 
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Car badges | AA

Distinctive badges were provided to AA member drivers from 1906, for display on their vehicles. Read on for a brief history of the AA badge.
www.theaa.com www.theaa.com
i had hundred of keys and members handbooks that was given out when joining
 
The things mentioned above are all covered in the book I mentioned earlier. So, the author did his/her research. During WW2, it's said that the boxes were painted green. Many had floral displays around the perimeter. Seems to defeat the object of camouflaging the boxes !!

By the way, Morton's book is supposed to be based around Erdington if anyone's interested - which is why I started reading it. Not enormously infomative about Erdington itself, but certainly gives a bit of an insight into how the AA etc operated.
 
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I was a member of the RAC for some years.
The AA disgraced itself where where the RNLI was concerned by claiming to be a fourth emergency service. A feature is some West Country Carnivals was an AA vehicle on a trailer, in a broken down state, being towed by a lifeboat.
 
I remember the AA patrolmen well, from the days of interminable day-long journeys on holiday, through the centre of Birmingham and the middle of every other town down the A38 towards South Devon. That was mainly from 1945 and for a year or three later. (I was too young to remember the same journey from prewar, although I did it, every year). The patrolman would flash up a smart salute as he passed us in the opposite direction on his motorbike and sidecar or was standing at the roadside. I learned why this was from my dad. "We are members of the AA and he is telling us that the road ahead is clear of problems, including speed traps. If he doesn't salute we need to watch out". I never saw one missing us or for other reasons failing to salute. It made you feel quite special! Probably some sort of crime, today, helping others to avoid a speeding ticket.

Don't recall ever seeing Pete, but I think it might have been a little before his time....... just a bit!

Chris
 
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