COBI RAM 3500 Wrecker Tow Truck Set 24611

COBI's RAM 3500 Wrecker Tow Truck is a 1:35 model built from 295 blocks, 19 cm long, with an adjustable towing arm, rotating wheels on rubber tires, a figure of a roadside assistance worker with a toolbox, and two road cones.

The arm, not the hook

The towing gear on this model is a wheel-lift, and the distinction matters to anyone whose car has ever been on one.

The old method was a hook and chain: a chain under the axle or bumper, winched up, the car dragged on two wheels. It worked and it damaged a great many bumpers. The wheel-lift replaced it with a metal yoke that slides under the front or rear tires and lifts the car by the wheels themselves, touching no bodywork at all. The arm extends and retracts hydraulically, which is what the adjustable arm on this model represents.

Flatbeds do the job better still but cost more and cannot reach into a multi-storey car park. The wheel-lift on a pickup chassis is the compromise most recovery operators actually run.

In the COBI range

One of three RAM 3500 service vehicles at 1:35, with the ambulance (24609) and the fire truck (24612). It is built to tow the other COBI cars in the same scale.

Specifications

Pieces: 295 · Figures: 1 with toolbox · Scale: 1:35 · Also included: two road cones
Model dimensions: 19 × 7 × 9 cm (7.5 × 2.8 × 3.5 in)