Seeing as the topic is Holmes wreckers at this time this would be a nice one to restore if it's still available

 

Hmmmmm. This has got me to thinking. I still have the owners manual to the wrecker unit I had. I believe it was a '54 or '55 model. I can't remember where it's at. I think I'll start looking for it next week.

Looking back, I wish I had kept that thing. There was a whole pallet full of optional adapters and things with it. A local garage bought the wrecker unit new and took their 2 ton Dodge to Holmes in Chattanooga to have it installed. They bought every option that came with the wrecker body.

 

I also had a Chevy wrecker almost exactly like this one. I put a faster speed 2 speed rear axle under it. 292 engine, 4 speed trans, with the high speed rear. It would pull like a beast, yet be at a reasonable rpm at highway speeds.

I had the front end off the ground many times hooking to stuff with that truck. I would try to pull anything I could hook to, loaded two ton trucks, cars, tree stumps, almost anything.

It had a solid round steel pipe for the front bumper. I was trying to pull a big stump once, but the front end kept lifting up too high. I ran a chain around the bumper to another tree to hold it down. Ended up pulling the solid pipe bumper off the truck. Only thing I had to call it quits on..

That was back in early 1990. Went by that house a few weeks ago, and the stump is still there in the front yard, though rotted a bit over the years.

 

I'd love to own this one...

 

Oh hey, that photo's got a story.

That's a Fred Herzog photo. The Model A's a local vancouver car and the photo was taken the 50's, at the north vancouver power substation, in a gravel lot where there is now a Canadian Superstore. That car still exists, it was restored but i'm not sure where it went. I believe it was lost in some divorce and the family lawyer stole it down to floridia somehow.




I'd love to have a Reo Speedwagon. They're beautiful trucks, another bucket list build for sure.

 

 

 

That is a pretty truck, I like that too. I wasn’t familiar with REO until I started following this thread. Thanks for posting.


Some very interesting pics on this thread!

 

REO Speedwagon

 

Yep, I was an REO Speedwagon fan, well, until they turned to sissy rock in the early 80's

But a bigger fan of REO Speedwagon trucks. My friend has a 1919 REO Speedwagon truck that is pretty fun to tinker with.
While doing some research on another late teens, early 20's truck I learned that the term "speedwagon" often referred to any smaller (less than 1 ton) truck of that era and many manufacturers used the term in their advertising. I guess that is until REO popularized it for their trucks.

 

 

This one appears to have the set back front axle.

 

Didn’t know about that. Was there an advantage to a shorter wheelbase maybe? The feature of REOs that’s intriguing to me is the combination of hub piloted wheels with the 5 x 8” pattern. Similar to GMCs. And those sexy Spoksteels sure look good on the wrecker. Stu

 

 

A shorter wheel base makes for a shorter or tighter turning radius, just like the Triple Economy 53-56 F-100's. The wheel base for the F100 was only 110".