Tow Trucks Declassified: History of an Industry

Not a lot of people know the story of towing. In fact, not a lot really think about the history of towing and how it was conceived. Come to think of it, tow trucks aren’t really something that the average Joe would be thinking about on a daily basis. But nevertheless, the history of tow trucks is one worth mentioning more often, why? Because it’s just too damn interesting, with hints of hilarity in between (well, depending on who’s telling the tale). In any case, semi towing in places like Naperville wouldn’t even exist if not for the invention of the first tow truck. This article will depict the history of tow trucks in a new light. Hopefully, this will pique your interest and give you a new outlook on tow trucks (yes, they are worth it). Read on.

Unlike most inventions of this day, the history of the first tow truck doesn’t date back to the Stone Age (come on, not everything has to be dated thousands of years *insert ancient astronaut theory here). It was first conceptualized in 1916. The day when the automotive giant known as Ford motor company, was rolling out their beautiful Ford model Ts. These babies are outfitted with a 2.9 177 cubic-inch inline four-cylinder engine that produced a whopping…20 horsepower. Now, these rides may not prove to be a hell-raiser compared to a classic Mustang, but they were indeed an innovation worthy of a topic of their own. Even with a 20 horsepower engine driving the vehicle around, you would be surprised that one driver lost control of his Tin Lizzie (a cooler name for the model T). Now it’s unclear if it was due to mechanical problems but the result was that the car ended up in the Chickamauga Creek.

*fast fact: the Chickamauga Creek winds around Chattanooga, TN. The home of the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame & Museum. (Can you believe there’s actually a building dedicated to preserving the history of the towing industry?)

An auto club member by the name of Ernest Holms Sr., along with his brother Curtis found out about what happened and offered their assistance. It took ten men approximately eight grueling hours of backbreaking, old school, knuckle skinning, muscle straining, sweat driving, hard work to get the beast of a vehicle out of the creek and onto the road. Now you might be thinking “why the hell did they take 8 hours to get it out of the creek?!” Well, the answer there is that they didn’t have the tool to make it easier for them. Come on, you’ve got to have a twist in the story, right?

After the whole ordeal is done, Holmes was geared toward making a device or a tool that would make the job easier in case it would happen again and sure enough, it did happen. Luckily, he had already devised one. Thanks to his buddies L.C. Decker and Elmer Gross, they took a 1913 Cadillac (no spinning rims here yet guys) and bolted a wrecker to its chassis. When another vehicle was in another similar situation, they came rushing to help… and test out their new invention. It proved to be unlucky for old man Holmes and they again ended up going primitive on the car.

It was then when Mister Holmes and his homies decided to add outriggers to stabilize the vehicle.

He continued to improve his invention even with his mother and father saying “oh hell no!” when they noticed him leaning towards the motor industry. He simply made their words enter one ear and out the other. And sure enough, he managed to get a patent for his wreckers.

This cat is right on the money for his wreckers. As mass production of leaner and meaner cars was being rolled out by the big three of Detroit, so too did the number of accidents that happened on the streets. Wreckers also had to evolve. Nowadays, tow trucks are a far cry from the first wreckers invented by yah boy Holmes, but they serve the same purpose, to help carry busted vehicles and tow them to safety. Semi towing in Naperville, for example, would be serviced by more technologically sound trucks, machines that can tow any vehicle easily.

So there you have it. A sneak peek into the history of the tow truck. The next time you opt for semi towing or heavy towing in Naperville or anywhere else for that matter, stop to think about the awesome, epic, funny, and downright interesting story of the tow truck.