Howdy fellas! A little background on me: I'm 20, I've been obsessed with cars/boats/trucks since I can remember. I restored a 1956 Duracraft runabout when i was 14-16, and then picked up a 1991 z28 Camaro when i was 16, its gone through a motor swap, 6 speed swap, suspension, rear end, paint, all that good stuff. Since high school i've gone off to college and my toys have hit the back burner until i have some money after i graduate to work on them again. BUT, last weekend my dad picked up a 1934 Ford model BB wrecker/recovery truck that was restored sometime in the 1980's. Its got a flat-head ford v8, 3 speed manual transmission, Ernest Holmes crane package on the back, and what seems to be a custom fender/bed set up. It runs and drives and is in overall decent condition. Thats about all we know about the truck so we are just looking for info on it right now. Anyways, I'm looking forward to learning as much as i can form this forum, and maybe i'll be able to help someone else out who knows? oh yeah, here are some pics of the Truck:
thanks for the kind words everybody yeah the steering wheel cover is awful I'll agree with you on that! we plan on fixing the steering wheel, having the gauges rebuilt, and sorting out some odds and ends that don't seem quite right on the truck. I know you guys are all about hod rodding these trucks (I am too but its dad's truck so he makes the decisions ), but would anyone be able to point me in the right direction of finding just general info on a 1933/34 Ford BB truck? I can't seem to find a data base or even any useful info on the Ford BB other than wikipedia, and some other small sources.
The Ernest Holmes Company is still around making wrecker booms and towing equipment. They're located in Chattanooga and even have a museum of vintage towing equipment. They can probably tell you anything you want to know about the wrecker body and boom on your truck. As for the truck itself, check out the Early Ford V8 forum at www.fordbarn.com. You've got a beautiful truck. Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup and Ozelle the '55 Ford are both quite impressed and send friendly horn honks!
"AWESOME", looks like a Holmes model 485 wrecker unit. I have several Vintage Holmes Wreckers myself. Do a google search for "Spankys Wreckers", for pictures.
Great truck. I have a '75 Ford wrecker at my Gunner's Great Garage. I am a writer and I have done a book about tow trucks. I also write for a monthly tow truck magazine called Footnotes Towing & Recovery News. I also did a book called the Standard Catalog of Ford trucks. If I can be of help to you, let me know. I love old tow trucks. You can also get my email at the Gunner's Great Garage Website.
Well dad still has the truck but it hasn't ran in 2 years! I went over it today and it needs some love but it won't be too bad to get on the road again. Plan is to replace all fluids, hoses, and bad wires throughout the truck. Then rebuild the carb, fuel pump, and clean the fuel tank and lines to since I'm sure they are gunked up. Beyond that pops has decided that a reliable, running truck with some new parts will be more fun than an all original garage ornament. I'm keeping everything I take off just in case though. That means I'll be putting in a new set of upgraded water pumps, a new radiator with a sealed cap (low pressure) and an overflow tank. I'll also be converting to an electronic ignition system possibly if the distributer needs more than a basic rebuild, new plugs, wires, etc. The only two things I'm unsure of are the brakes (power assisted manual, and there are some strange vacuum lines on a valve that go nowhere...) and the transmission - it does not want to shift cleanly
The Jalopy Journal
