I’ve always been a fan of tow trucks. Especially the older ones. They’re a heavy duty workhorse waiting to flex their muscles. I’ve seen these things with their front wheels off the ground determined to retrieve a crashed vehicle.
This may look like your typical tow truck from the 1960’s, except for the fact that Ford didn’t offer a factory dually 4×4 until 1979. The owner took the truck all the way down to the bare frame, and then started the restomod build by adding a Dana 44 axle up front and a big Dana 70 out back. Even the tires have a period correct look.
The transfer case is a Dana 24 hi / low transfer case. The owner wanted to build the truck to mimic the Marmon-Herrington and NAPCO four wheel drive conversions done during this time period.
The engine is a 360ci FE mill and it has been restored to factory specs and hooked to a NP435 4-speed manual manual transmission. The exhaust is a pair of straight pipes that terminate with a pair of mufflers under the truck.
The inside of the truck received a period correct restoration as well.
The business end of the truck is the restored Holmes 440 wrecker unit.
It features:
- Tow dollies
- Bedside hand rails
- Center tool chest
- Deluxe two-tone paint with chevron tailgate striping
- 12-Inch amber rotating beacon
- Upper / lower work lamps
The Holmes model 440 was introduced in 1965 but didn’t begin to sell in quantity until 1969. Thereafter, it became the standard of the industry as every local fabricator across the country attempted to make copies which were marketed under a variety of names, but none duplicated the performance of the real thing. For a number of years the Holmes 440 was the superstar of the industry.
The front of the truck was finished with a Holmes push bumper.
This restoration was done in tribute to the Holmes Corporation on their 100th anniversary in 2016. Over 2,000 man hours were put into the build.
The truck was entered in the 2016 F100 Supernationals where it won ‘Truck of The Year, 1967-1972 Class’ and the Tennessee Tow Show 100th Anniversary ‘Antique Class’ where it won 1st place. It is a fully functioning wrecker, and everything that could have been addressed has been addressed.
