The September/October 2026 issue of the magazine is available in our gift shop now and will be available on newsstands soon. The cover features the Model A Ford Museum’s 1930 Model AA tow truck enjoying its retirement! Check out the cover story by Story by Jim Volgarino, Photos by Al Rogers.

Cover Story | **1930 Model AA tow truck**

“We Can’t Fix Stupid!”

The Model A Ford Museum’s 1930 Model AA tow truck is enjoying its retirement!

Story by Jim Volgarino, Photos by Al Rogers

“We can’t fix stupid, but we can tow it.”

“If your vehicle goes to Hell, we’ll go after it.”

“When it’s wedged in tight, we’ll pull it out.”

“We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We just want your tow.”

These memes are just a smattering of what can be found displayed on towing and wrecker trucks nationwide, providing a humorous ode to the serious business of rescuing vehicles.

It is likely that anyone who has driven a car, truck, motor home or anything meant to get you from point A to point B has had an experience with a tow truck. Whether the driver is involved in a serious accident, a breakdown, or a fender bender, towing vehicles have been part of this country’s automotive experience since the early 1900s.

Holmes’ ingenious split-boom idea launches an industry
According to Wikipedia, towing is the coupling of one or more objects to a designated power source for the purpose of pulling. The towing source might be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human. These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, 3-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.

Humankind has been towing for as long as there has been a need to move an object to a different location—think England’s Stonehenge and Egypt’s pyramids—but motorized vehicle extraction and towing in the United States were birthed on June 17, 1916, by Ernest W. Holmes Sr., a resourceful mechanic in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Holmes’ friend, J.A. Wiley, had flipped his car (possibly a Ford Model T) into a ditch next to a local lake. Holmes grabbed ropes, wood planks, and bricks as tools and scared up some men to get the car out of the muck. The job took several hours and exhausted Holmes, who realized there had to be a better way.

Holmes’ first attempt to engineer a viable mobile extraction rig that could also tow the damaged vehicle back to his shop for repairs was built on a large Packard Six luxury car chassis, but that version was deemed insufficient. The second attempt—a “split-boom” arrangement with stabilizing outrigger legs mounted on the back of his 1913 Cadillac—benefited from Holmes’ innate understanding of geometry and physics and received U.S. Patent No. 1,254,804 on Jan. 29, 1918. The Ernest Holmes Co. began selling this “hoisting apparatus for automobiles” as the “No. 680” because it cost $680, and customers soon discovered many uses for the mobile winch beyond retrieving vehicles. It proved quite handy for moving heavy equipment and even placing delicate pianos into hard-to-reach locations. Feedback from potential customers soon led Holmes to offer a budget-minded version to small shops called the “No. 485.” (Any guess as to the price?)

We would love to get a copy of the September/October 2026 issue of Vintage Truck magazine in your hands! A wide variety of classics are waiting for you!

Articles in this issue include:

FEATURES

“We Can’t Fix Stupid!”
The Model A Ford Museum’s 1930 Model AA tow truck is
enjoying its retirement!
Story by Jim Volgarino, Photos by Al Rogers
“All the Name Implies”
The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum’s 1927 Fisher Junior Express is the next best thing to a working time machine!
Story by Robert Gabrick, Photos by Al Rogers
Safe from the Iron Pile
Mary Minarik’s 1957 Dodge Town Wagon almost went to the car crusher!
Story by Loren Hoekema, Photos by Jerry Heasley

Departments

Letter from the Editor
Letters to the Editor
Milestone Pickup Trucks: 1973 Dodge Club Cab
The Road Less Traveled: Hispano-Suiza: After WWII
Spoked Wheels: Radiator-Behind-Engine Trucks
Ted’s Tech Tips: Rawhide!
Photos from the Attic
Aid for the Anxious Amateur: Braking News
Classifieds
Show Guide
Granny Gear: “Showing” Off

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