Eye-Popping Green Candy

By George L. Nitti

What gives a tow truck that special pop?

For some, a combination of compelling graphics and appealing external features such as lights, visors, rims, horns, chrome, storage boxes, etc., add to the mix that helps a tow truck stick out.  

“I get a lot of compliments on our tow trucks,” said Chris Higel, owner of Anytime Towing of Waynesville, North Carolina. He was referring specifically to his 23’ International MV with a 16,000 pound Chevron steel 21 ft. bed that recently took 2nd place at the Tennessee Tow Show for best in light duty class.

Higel said, “I take pride and joy in my trucks. Appearances are everything.”

What makes Higel’s heavier duty flatbed stand out, besides its slick Chevron bed, are several variables. To start. its brilliant green color.

“We changed our colors 3 or 4 years ago,” said Higel. “It’s my wife’s color. With green you can be recognized and seen. It sticks out.”

Higel has been using flag themes on his trucks for years, but altered this wrap to a distorted flag effect, blending in black and green stars and stripes, thanks in part to his collaboration with Fredericksburg’s Illusion Wraps.

“I told them what I wanted,” said Higel. “We worked together four or five days to come up with the design.”

Layered on top of the flag is the company name – Anytime Towing - written in all caps, spanning the doors and cab and blending in perfectly with the other well textured black and green graphics.

External features, like the black alcoa rims and black visor add cohesion, blending in with the colors. The simply laid out elegant chrome storage boxes, that are longer than typical, and lay along the bottom side of the bed, are sharp looking.

Higel, who purchased his truck at Chevron Commercial, said, “A spent a lot of money on it. You just don’t go to the truck lot and take it off. It’s custom built.”

Horn blasters and a colorful array of lights – markers and underglows - too are part of the mix, part of the pride that Higel takes in his trucks.

“I went overkill on it,” he said. “The heaviest thing I carry is about 12,000 pounds. But I would definitely buy another one.”

Brag @ TIW!  

Should your truck be featured here? Send a few pics and your contact information to the editor at georgenitti@towman.com. You might even be selected to go in print, too, in American Towman magazine!