Breakdown Assistance (ANWB version)

No need to worry about LEGO cars breaking down.

Because in every age, LEGO has released car garages and repair services.

Description

Set 1590-2 Breakdown Assistance (ANWB version) is one of them. After Shell licensed sets, ANWB was probably one of the first partners of LEGO. Together with Touring Club Schweiz, on which the twin set 1589-2 Breakdown Assistance (TCS version) is based.

The colour schemes are the same, but there are some differences.

Obviously, the sets came with seperate sticker sheets. But the minifigures are also different:

ANWB assistants show up in a black uniform, while TCS repair men got to wear red suits with a different, more racy print.

Striking features

When I got this set, I was especially pleased with two parts: the red phone and the car lifting mechanism. The latter used a chair, a ‘shooter’ (plate with handles) and a ‘bender’ (hinging brick). Those were new pieces to my brother and me and we were keen on getting more of them.

I also liked the 1×2 red slope with a phone print. We didn’t have a phone yet! Mind you, children nowaydays might not recognize it, since it shows the old fashioned rotary phone.

These red or black printed rotary phones are now somewhat hard to get, but not as rare as the 1x4x5 doors and windows:

They have appeared in several colors. Considering the frames and fixed glasses were prone to breaking, these parts are a bit more rare than the rotary phones.

Repairing the set

I remember unwrapping this set, so it must have been a birthday present or a gift from Sinterklaas when I was a little girl.

Even back then we washed our LEGO on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the glue dissolved and some of the stickers got lost. It also proved hard to keep small stickers in place that needed to be stuck accross different pieces, like on the car transporter.

Luckily, I managed to replace them with stickered parts from recent hauls. Apperently a lot of boys got this set from their parents. Just my luck that they didn’t grow up to be AFOLs 😉