1933 Buick Custom Tow Truck

[Russell C]

From this ebay vintage photo auction, for those into oddball tow truck subjects.

[slusher]

Many businesses  and people made many of their own tow rigs back in the day?

[DrKerry]

Yes they did Carl!!!!

[Richard Bartrop]

Now there's something you don't see everything.  In fact, Duesenbergs are practically common as dirt compared to Checkers of that vintage.

[ChrisBcritter]

Or any vintage before quad headlights.

The modeling masochist in me is already thinking about how to kitbash this thing starting with a Monogram '36 Ford convertible and a Pyro Auburn...

Edited April 20, 2016 by ChrisBcritter

[Art Anderson]

Before the advent of commercially produced tow truck bodies and cranes, virtually all tow trucks were conversions of passenger cars, often times conversions of larger luxury cars.  By the mid-late 1920's, those carmakers having also a 1 1/2-2 ton truck line did tend to offer at least some sort of more stylish version of their trucks to dealers, who then could go to a specialty maker of tow truck cranes to complete the project.  Cadillac and Lincoln even went so far as to provide dealers with complete drawings showing how to modify a sedan body into a tow truck cab, Lincoln even supplying the bed to match the lines of a Lincoln, for several years.

 

Art

[Joe Handley]

Hmmmm, Lincoln actually offered a bed for their cars for making things like tow trucks out of............

 

Anybody else think a Phantom vintage Mark LT or Blackwood resto-rod sound interesting too?

[IHSS]

A few years ago I was out in Ohio for the International Harvester nationals. I decided to take the whole week off to go out there early and do some sight seeing in a, to me, new part of the country. On our roaming around we found an old Packard dealership that is now a Packard museum and decided to check it out. In the back of the old used car building they had a late 20's Packard that had the back of the body cut off with a tow set up in place. They guy at the museum that was giving us a little impromptu tour, told us that was common back then for dealership's to take cars that hadn't sold and repurpose them. I forget they whole story on the car but it was from another midwestern packard dealeship that used it for there own tow vehicle. It was in decent original used but not beaten condition and very faded but still had the original dealerships name and info on the door.