1976 Ford F350 Wrecker

Chuck Most · Sunday at 12:15 PM

From 1946 to 1982, Sullivan Brothers Esso provided 24 hour fuel, maintenance, and repair for motorists in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Sullivan siblings owned a number of Esso (and later Exxon) service stations in Pennsylvania, as well as a couple in Ohio and West Virginia for good measure. But the 24 hour Harrisburg location was the flagship of the family business, and as such it was the first to get new equipment that would normally end up at the smaller locations.

Such was the case in 1976, when the Harrisburg location got a brand new wrecker. Well, technically they got a a new 1976 Ford F350, two wheel drive, with a 351 and an automatic as a cab and chassis, and retrofitted the wrecker unit from the 1969 model it was replacing. As a nod to the bicentennial, it was treated to some patriotic graphics and pressed into service.

Over the years, it was updated with a 1979 grille, and after it was sold to a private owner in 1983, the Sullivan markings were removed and the by-then-retro Esso graphics were added (the Harrisburg location was rebranded to Exxon by 1976). He also stuck a couple of flag decals over the holes in the fenders where the F250 emblems used to be. That owner was Neil Owens of Harper's Ferry, WV, who owned Neil's Repair and Salvage. He owned the wrecker until 2025, when he sold it to a relative of the original owners... "Scary Jerry" Sullivan of Sickles, Michigan.

A few MCM forum members might be familiar with Scary Jerry and his exploits. Suffice it to say that after his numerous infamous business ventures and company vehicles, Jerry is now enjoying retirement (much like Neil) with his wife Cheryl and his step daughters Nikki and Erin. Jerry had tracked down the '76 in the '90's, pestering Neil every few years about selling the wrecker. Though Neil never wanted to sell...he was using the wrecker for his business, after all... Neil always maintained that when the time came, it was only going to Jerry. It was the last wrecker Sullivan bought new, and Neil couldn't think of a better home for it. And he and Jerry formed a pretty solid friendship out of it, as well.

Though it looks shabby, the old Ford runs and drives like new, and everything works. It has just over 240,000 so obviously it's far from a numbers matching original at this point, but it's endured.

Jerry never was really close to his Pennsylvania uncles and cousins when the service stations were in business, social media and whatnot being a faraway dream then. But Jerry is still happy to now own a piece of the family history.

I started this model maybe six or seven years ago, and had the basic chassis cab finished pretty quickly. It's the AMT '79 F350 with a 351 from the '77 E150 van, some Scenes Unlimited dually wheels, a C channel front bumper, and Moebius mirrors. It sat in this state until this month, when I finally got serious about the wrecker body. That's a modified Revell Midnite Cowboy piece. I tried mocking up a Moebius wrecker body but I just liked the look of this one better.

I was using the salt technique when I built the cab, which I don't really do anymore, so I went over it with some dry brushed Vallejo acrylics to tie it to the wrecker body a little better. So there. A two weekend project stretched out over the better part of a decade. 🤣