The Locomobile and Tow History

By JIM "BUCK" SORRENTI - AT Field Editor As an antique machinery fanatic, I couldn't help but be awestruck the first time I saw the mechanical beauty featured here. This beautiful piece of towing equipment is from towing's earliest history: a 1913 Locomobile set up with a 1919 485 Holmes 4-ton wrecker apparatus. The unit, owned by Bob Myers of Bob Myers Towing & Recovery in Batavia, Ohio, is on display at the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame & Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn. This modified 1913 Locomobile is one of the first tow trucks Ernest Holmes Sr. made and is the oldest, most photographed, most admired and most valuable piece of equipment in the museum's collection. As the story goes, Ernest Holmes Sr. is the man credited with inventing the tow truck. He got the idea one day in 1916 after a driver lost control and crashed a Model T Ford into the Chickamauga Creek in Chattanooga. Since Holmes was a member of the local auto club, he went to help recover the car from the water. It took 10 men eight hours to recover the vehicle using blocks and ropes that day. Doing recovery work this way took a lot of manpower, not to mention taking up a lot more time and effort. Necessity being the mother-of-invention and thinking there had to be a better way, Holmes went back to his garage and started tinkering and formulated a plan to build a wrecker. By 1919 he had secured a patent and was selling branded wreckers, which were mounted on the backs of used cars. His first successful production model was the Holmes 485 that he mounted on a 1913 Locomobile. The Locomobile Co. of America, founded in 1899, began by producing steam cars. In 1903, production switched entirely to internal-combustion-powered luxury automobiles. At the time the Locomobile had the distinction of being the first car not designed to look like a horse and buggy and was promoted as the "Best Built Car in America." The Holmes 485 was basically an outrigger, which could be attached to any vehicle. This is what evolved over time into the modern-day wrecker. With his ingenuity, Holmes did more than invent a product. He invented an industry. At the time, the 1913 Locomobile sold for $6,000 and the Holmes 485 wrecker cost $485. Bob Meyers has turned down many offers to buy this legendary unit that is now reportedly worth $250,000! Show Yours @ TIW Do you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to the editor at bdooley@towman.com; your recovery may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!