Posted by John Eickhof [108.162.244.85] on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 20:11:37 :
In Reply to: Re: Looks like an early Holmes Wrecker posted by Tom Petroff (IL) [108.162.216.47] on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 06:16:04 :
You have a nice fleet! I like the older rigs! I've been away from towing for 20 years or so although I still have two wreckers and some parts! My Brother in law started me in the biz in the early 1970s towing on Donner Summit and around Truckee and North Lake Tahoe. We had a 1971 D300 with a Holmes 440, (I still have it)4 1971 Dodge W300s, with Holmes 480 & 500 (one 500 had the mountain recovery swing away outriggers ) models, a 1971 W500 with a Holmes 600, a International 1500 4x4 with a 600 on it, and two medium duty trucks, a 1949 Autocar 4x4 with a 600, and a 1960s Ford 9000 4x4 with a 600. Plus our off road only truck was a 1942 Chevy Military 4x4 with a Holmes 600 And one heavy duty 1965 Pete with a Holmes 750. This was before slide beds and wheel lifts were popular! Our specialty was recovery jobs in the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada. We had California & Nevada tow rights.That's where I really learned how to winch! I'm building a mountain wrecker on a M-56 Dodge chassis now to take up to Jarbidge Nevada for summertime rescues, it's getting a Holmes 500 with both large spool winches and I am still looking for a pair of outrigger legs for it, (Off the 500 or 600 models) One of these days I'm gonna dig through my pix and get some scanned to post. Keep up the hard work!! If you run across someone parting out a 500 or 600 that has the outriggers, please let me know!
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