The above photo of Len Beckett's wrecker is a masterpiece of auto antiquity. Combined with the ad I found in my Hamilton library Local History newspaper collection, this post represents a valuable historical automobilia addition to the Hamilton Library's Local History digital database.
Hi Tom, What a magnificent photograph. I'm trying hard to identify this wrecker, but I can't see enough of the details surrounding the front end to make a guess. So many cars look alike during that era. It is probably from about 1912 to 1916. You will notice, I said "cars". This vehicle started out as a touring car or roadster, and ended up as a wrecker. Garage owners did this regularly, using the larger more powerful cars, which would have a heavier chassis and great pulling power with low torque and a low ratio rear end gear. The car was used up by the original owner and could be purchased for a good price. Then converted to a wrecker. Sometimes, the boom was home made and sometimes commercially made, like a Holmes or Tow Chief unit. This looks commercial, because of the cranking mechanism. Notice, the large fire extinguisher on the running board.
The gas station, is the same Gulf station, in the photo you published a few days ago. The car behind may be a Buick Touring. The more I look at this photo, the more I want to say Packard. Anybody care to wager a guess? Love this photo. rayfromvillapark
Tom:
I was about to say the same thing Ray noted; this is the same STATION mention a few weeks ago.
I capitalized STATION, since the adv. got past the copy editior with the spelling of staiton.
As noted, "never closed" must have effected them when preparing the ad.
Mike Kuzma
2 comments:
Hi Tom, What a magnificent photograph. I'm trying hard to identify this wrecker, but I can't see enough of the details surrounding the front end to make a guess. So many cars look alike during that era. It is probably from about 1912 to 1916. You will notice, I said "cars". This vehicle started out as a touring car or roadster, and ended up as a wrecker. Garage owners did this regularly, using the larger more powerful cars, which would have a heavier chassis and great pulling power with low torque and a low ratio rear end gear. The car was used up by the original owner and could be purchased for a good price. Then converted to a wrecker. Sometimes, the boom was home made and sometimes commercially made, like a Holmes or Tow Chief unit. This looks commercial, because of the cranking mechanism. Notice, the large fire extinguisher on the running board.
The gas station, is the same Gulf station, in the photo you published a few days ago. The car behind may be a Buick Touring. The more I look at this photo, the more I want to say Packard. Anybody care to wager a guess? Love this photo. rayfromvillapark
Tom:
I was about to say the same thing Ray noted; this is the same STATION mention a few weeks ago.
I capitalized STATION, since the adv. got past the copy editior with the spelling of staiton.
As noted, "never closed" must have effected them when preparing the ad.
Mike Kuzma
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