It is almost impossible to go through your day without seeing not less than one tow truck on the road. They have been a major asset to the motor vehicle industry since its creation in 1915 and continue to play an important role in our lives. They are known by many names, a wrecker, a breakdown truck, but it all comes to the same thing; you can’t avoid an accident without one, whether from a small towing company or a garage.

This automobile was made for towing one or more cars. Whenever there is an collision or a beat-up vehicle, this truck is the one most people call to haul them away to their mechanics or even a junkyard if the damage is that bad. They are used daily by Officers of the law to haul cars away that are stolen or damaged, or even a parking violation.

Ernest Holmes, of Tennessee is acknowledged with inventing the first towing truck. He was out helping a friend who had wrecked his automobile and after several hours of pulling the friend’s car out of the river he started to wonder about how he can use this to his benefit. He already had a repair garage, and cars were getting more popular, and he knew he needed ways to tow those vehicles to his workshop when they couldn’t be driven on their own.

With some planning and designing he finally decided to use his Cadillac (1913) as the basis of the tow truck he wanted to create. He used a pulley and some poles to accomplish his contraption and created the first tow truck that we still use today. He didn’t waste time in patenting his new creation, instead he started the very first towing service.

This was a huge hit for him and his gizmo became used globally. The W-45 was the highest selling of his trucks; featured during WW2 as became a delivery and supply truck during the whole war, traveling from Normandy to Belgium.

It’s known that the vigor of this truck was amazing; it had the ability to drag up to fifteen tons or more, making it practical in the retrieval of downed and stranded automobiles during that point. The French army kept using it until about 1973. The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame Museum in Chattanooga still display this and other prior models of the Holems tow truck.

Operating his business right up until his death, Holmes’ son Ernest Holmes Jr., then carried on on with the family practice till his own retirement in 1973. After Holems Jr. left Dover Corp. took control of the business and another descendants of the Holmes family opened his own company, the Century Wreckers. This proved to be rivals for Dover Corp. Due to the hydraulics that the new company was using. Eventually, both companies were bought by Miller Industries.

There have been a lot of alterations to these vehicles since they were produced. There are three main variations used today: wheel lift, the hook and chain and the flat bed.

The first and very old method, hooking and chaining, is even now used at present by some. This works by inserting a hook or a chain close to the frame or axle of the car or truck to nail down it. This does have the possibilities of scratching or harming vehicles though, but the benefit is that automobiles with the front or rear wheels missing are easier to hook up.

The more commonly used at present hoists vehicles hydraulically or pneumatically by wrapping a metal yoke under the motor vehicle. This is the preferred approach of most because it is effortless and brings about the least amount of scratches to an vehicle.

A flat-bed or rollback tow trucks as some are called, have a bed that could be shifted into a ram by hydraulic switches. This makes it possible for a vehicle to be driven right up onto the truck and be towed away.

Seeing a tow truck when travelling is a part of daily life today. They are handy and usually needed. Regardless of whether you are happy or not to see one, as long as there are cars in use, tow trucks will be around.

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