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Vintage pic's of old Tow truck equip. (from another forum)

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glenn27

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey gents and ladies--:Welcome1:
Ha--anyway--an old friend sent me a link to another forum that he ran across, even though I don't actually 'belong' to it--you can scope these for free--three pages worth...

This goes back in the 40/50/60's mostly--back when dealerships did a lot of different things--check some of the old signs/pictures out........Stuff like this was a lot before my time--, but I leaned the basics on equipment just like this..

This is back when many of these vehicle were 'home-made'--or welded up in the back shed on the farm--then gradually came of age, as Ernest Holmes became the dominant name , on the market, at least in the southeast, until it was folded under the "Miller Industries" umbrella of corporations.

Enjoy--


Vintage Holmes Wrecker photos in Vintage - Equipmentby internationaltowingmuseum.org Forum




glenn
 
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#4 ·
I remember seeing some trucks like that still in operation when I was a kid... They had been passed down to independent operators by that time but they were still out there.
 
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#7 ·
I love looking at old trucks...we had a 40's snub nosed Chevy wrecker at the salvage yard,that everyone wanted to drag out of the treeline and fix up,but it was really rusted bad,and you would have had to either cut a lot of trees to get it out,or rip it apart trying to extract it with the forkloader..it was a local Chevy dealer's wrecker,still had the name on the doors..the family tried to buy it back at one point,but then decided it was too rough...

Here are some old "car haulers" !..I even saw some made of WOOD hauling 1930's two ton cab & chassis ,three or four at a time,when I was searching the web!..guys had brass cahonies to drive those rigs on mountain roads !..

Old School Car Carriers (11 Photos) ? 791zero Network
 
#10 ·
Those are so cool! Thanks for the link Glenn. :thanku:


I can't pick just one favorite but I love the COE's. An old Ford has a soft spot in my heart though. I drove a '79 Ford with a Holmes 440 on it. PTO winch and a wheel lift too. The truck had a transplanted 390 in it that just kept on keeping on. I really enjoyed that truck.


This guy served about an hour northeast of here:


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#11 ·
DJ in WV said:
Those are so cool! Thanks for the link Glenn. :thanku:





I can't pick just one favorite but I love the COE's. An old Ford has a soft spot in my heart though. I drove a '79 Ford with a Holmes 440 on it. PTO winch and a wheel lift too. The truck had a transplanted 390 in it that just kept on keeping on. I really enjoyed that truck.





This guy served about an hour northeast of here:





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Those 440's used to be everywhere !! Back in the mid 70's we went to pickup a old 1ton dodge crewcab with one on it. Just got it for the wrecker and the frame split mostly in half on the dodge on the way home. We cut the wrecker off and put it in the bed of a real sweet 70 1 ton Chevy 4x4 pickup he had. It was a clean truck!! Traded it a few years later for a almost new 74 power wagon that I still own and a early 70's fury III.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Ingersoll444 said:
Those 440's used to be everywhere !! Back in the mid 70's we went to pickup a old 1ton dodge crewcab with one on it. Just got it for the wrecker and the frame split mostly in half on the dodge on the way home. We cut the wrecker off and put it in the bed of a real sweet 70 1 ton Chevy 4x4 pickup he had. It was a clean truck!! Traded it a few years later for a almost new 74 power wagon that I still own and a early 70's fury III.
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********************

This picture was interesting-----note in he bottom left corner--when the truck was delivered/or picked up--The Holmes Factory charged the new owner $7.50 per copy for another picture.

****back in the "DAY'--I got into this vocation part-time, working at an ESSO station on Saturdays--The owner had two 440's and did AAA rotation.

When you got a new wrecker from the factory--your selling dealer (usually local) would either drive down and pick it up/deliver it to you--or make arrangements to get it shipped.

Then the local dealer would 'jazz it up a little'--or throw some new hooks or something onto the truck--as a "Thankee".

He would then deliver it to the customer and go over the operation and give you all the manuals with it. Any warrenty/updates /repairs were usually handled by that dealer. That's all they did---now everybody and his brother has a tow truck and the internet has opened up a whole new world.

On my bucket list someday is a visit to the International Towing Museum in Chattahoga, Tenn.:fing32:


glenn
 
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#16 ·
I did find one picture of my stepdads old truck. At this time it had a older wrecker on it. Its the one it ended its life with. After it was retired he removed the more modern body, and put the old one back on to use around the yard. The truck is the red, white and black Ford in the infield....
 

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#18 · (Edited)
BOSOX said:
That's a great photo Paul! What a sight that must have been, to watch those old race cars on a dirt track!!
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Oh I know!! It was way before my time, but used to have a few of the old cars in the junkyard behind the house. He had a few diferent cars, for the diferent tracks. Longer tracks, shorter tracks etc... He normaly ran the 00 car, but some tracks he had to change the number because sometimes diferent guys used it. I believe in this picture the 73 is his..

I spent many days riding in that old tow truck, and was sad when she was replaced. It was still in the yard, but still. Wish it was still around, but I think that got crushed when the rest of the junkyard got cleaned up in the 90's.


Sorry to jump off topic..... but here are two of the cars...
 

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#19 ·
Growing up in a wrecking yard must have been great, I'd have gotten along just fine with my interests. I spent many, many, Saturday mornings with a couple friends scouring the local yards seeing what was around for the gang of old jalopies we were working on. 2- 1969 Novas, a 1969 Chevelle and my lonely 1980 Olds Cutlass. Those were good times, I miss those days! Now, just about all the yards, that are left, won't let anyone in the gate to browse the aisles with a tool box in tow.

Another cool photo, Paul! :fing32:
 
#20 ·
Only salvage yards in S.E Mass I know of that have ANY older Chevy's are CSA in Assonet,and Flint's in Berkley ...and both are hard to get in to poke around,unless you know the owners...
CSA hauls in rust free cars & trucks from AZ,and his prices are quite high as a result..at Flint's ,most of the vehicles sat "forever" and are grown into the trees,hard to get anything off them,and usually too rotted to bother trying ..

Here is a few more cool old car hauler photos I found online...couldn't find the wooden one hauling the 2 ton cabs & chassis though..
 

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