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Tribute to the founder

Tony Rocca

January 1954 - September 2022

Anthony ‘Tony’ Rocca

Born and raised in Salisbury, South Australia.


“What an international group of people we have here.”

Born in 1954 and raised in Salisbury, Tony was a local boy who lived with his parents, who were market gardeners and owned a local Fruit and Veg shop. When Tony came of age, having completed at his technical college, he started an apprenticeship with Elizabeth Crash Repairs. On his first day, they sent him to the Dulux paint store to find a tin of black and white stripped paint. He laughed it off with the other workers and within a couple years, he had saved up enough to buy a workshop around the corner from his parent’s place and opened his first crash repairer and tow truck business.
After quite a successful year, he needed to come up with a business name and, while working on a bumper bar, he looked around the workshop for inspiration. He started counting his employees and had two Italians, a Greek, a Maltese, two Indians and a chap from Malaysia. He thought to himself, “What an international group of people we have here.”
So, he called the businesses International Crash Repairs and International Towing Service. But his first Tow Truck was a big red International truck, so he told people, that he’d named it after the tow-truck.
International Towing Service was born.
At one point, the family-run business had over 12 trucks in three locations including Salisbury, Virginia and Smithfield in South Australia's northern suburbs of Adelaide.
In 1976, Tony moved to Virginia where he bought out the Tow Truck Business and Service Station from the late Jim Ryan, on the corner of Sheedy Road and Port Wakefield Road (later to be renamed the Old Port Wakefield Rd).
In the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s, Tony ran and was elected to the Munno Para Council (now a part of the City of Playford). He joined to help the people of Virginia and surrounds who were dealing with zoning issues on their enormous blocks, but he also took an interest in helping mitigate flood risks from the lower plains of Virginia. An earlier photo of Tony shows him standing in ankle-deep water, filling sandbags for a house on Park Rd near the school.
He became a champion of the little people in Virginia and surrounds and the locals of all nationalities loved him. At Chinese New Year, the Vietnamese customers would visit the service station to rub his (quite large) belly for good luck.
Tony also managed to bring a big-ticket item to the Virginia Expo, which was a huge festival to showcase Virginia in the 90’s. Due to his great relationship with Mobil, they were able to send not only their current V8 Supercar to show off, but their best driver at the time, the late Peter Brock.
In the late 90’s, while still on the council, the City of Munno Para attempted to sell off the prime land at the crossroads of Virginia where the Virginia Institute was located. Tony rallied support for this place, being one of only 3 buildings left in Virginia that were well over 100 years old. The residents signed petitions and attended council meetings for months and he was successful at saving the building, which still stands today. He loved the Virginia Institute and chaired the committee for over 10 years.

The business branches out - Virginia

"champion of the little people"

A historic landmark saved

Beach Rescues were his thong

"bog job"

noun*

1. a car or vehicle stuck in mud or sand 2. to be bogged down in the mud
*totally made up
Always known for wearing his signature thongs, Tony was a master at Beach Rescues too, to which he coined the phrase, “Bog Job”. He must have rescued hundreds of cars from places like Port Gawler, Thompson Beach and Port Parham in his days. Bog jobs was how he found Thompson Beach to be a suitable place for a shack, that he built in the 90’s.
In 2018, Tony and his wife Sylvia retired to a new home away from the Service Station, but he kept an interest in the business, now run by his son, Justin Rocca.
Tony was always fond of a joke and loved his puns and business slogans. For the crash repairers in the 70’s he had, “You smasha’dem, we fixa’dem.” He had T-Shirts made up in the 90’s for the service station that said, “Mobil Virginia, not a bad joint.” But he had many more under his belt. He had, “International Towing Service: Don’t blame us, we only met by accident.” Then after buying a tilt-tray, the slogan became, “Our business is dragging on.” And he had the truck sign written with,“25 Hours, 8 Days.”

Never short of a slogan

"Don’t blame us, we only met by accident.”

“Our business is dragging on.”

“25 Hours, 8 Days.”

He will be missed

Photo taken September 2018
Tony kept fighting all through his life - against all issues from the council, business, and his health. In 2022, he lost his 3-year battle with cancer, and was laid to rest, aged 68. His funeral was attended by over 450 people including many representatives from the founding families within the towing industry in South Australia. Tony is survied by his wife, 4 sons, and 7 grandchildren.

Thanks for reading our tribute to Tony. We pray that he rests in peace.