Unfiltered Story #294831
When my dad leased the station on 6601 Sheridan road there was a ’34 Ford tow truck with a blown engine in the back lot.
Edgewater Auto parts had a ’41 truck engine that been hopped up for a stock racer that never picked it up so they gave my Dad a very good deal on it. After we installed in in the ’34 Tow Truck we had to use only Ethel Gas in due to its 13:1 compression ratio. In the summer tine cans of HEET had to be added to keep that engine from knocking badly. It was fueled up with regular once, so we had to drain its tank!
One day after towing an auto up on the North Shore my Dad said “I wonder how fast this thing will go.” So he opened it up & away we want passing all the cars on the Eden’s expressway.
A few days later a customer told Dad that “he ought to fire that idiot that was driving the tow truck at some 90 MPH”
Dad laughed & told him that he was driving the truck!
Ike Simmons had a ’49 Old’s that blew its rear end on the South side – so Ike & I drove down to tow it back to the Station.
The trick was the trucks poor mechanical brakes – So every time that I had to slow up Ike grabbed the emergency brake handle & helped us stop safely on our long trip back.
There are other stories that would take too long to tell AND wouldn’t be beloved anyway!