Two Wheel Help from AAA

It sounds hard to believe, but the American Automobile Association has been around since 1902 when nine independent automobile associations decided to join together.  Even with the lack of cars back then, they found plenty to do by championing the notion that roads should be paved and not just dirt tracks.  By 1915, the number of automobiles on the road had increased dramatically and AAA began to offer their signature service, roadside assistance.  Since “automobile” is in their name, you would assume that AAA would have used cars for this service, but they actually used motorcycles.

Although AAA had been campaigning for better roads since their founding, there still was plenty of places that could only be reached by dirt and let’s face it, motorcycles are superior in many offroad situations.  So the AAA purchased a number of Harleys, Excelsiors and probably Indians which they fitted with package trucks to hold all the essential tools needed for roadside assistance.  The photo below is actually from the Keystone Automobile Club, but it gives you an idea of how much they could pack.

So for the next 20 to 25 years, when you needed roadside assistance, it was likely to arrive on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.