When it comes to seeking and finding tow trucks on the internet, I probably do it far too often. I love seeing these trucks in all of their various forms. That being said, this one came as a complete accidental find and boy was I happy to see the perfect red paint, that classic round face, and the flathead V8 in the engine bay. What we are looking at here is a 1949 Ford T6 Wrecker. This truck actually started life as some sort of a fire fighting apparatus and was converted into a tow truck at some point. We’re guessing by the fact that it is such amazing shape that the conversion was completed recently.
This one seems to click all the boxes. Classic cab and chassis, white Budd style wheels, single rotating red light on the roof of the cab, a manual transmission, a pair of chromed stacks for the engine to bark out of and knobby tires in the rear matched with more smooth steer axle tires up front. The interior is also spectacularly clean and well done. Many nice trucks are built with classic sheetmetal on a new frame and while those are nice, nothing beats a truck that is as basic and tough as it was the day it left the factory like this one.
Make no mistake. This thing will be slow, it will ride poorly by modern standards, and you don’t have power steering, air conditioning, or even power brakes. That likely limits the appeal to the masses but for people who really love vintage trucks it makes the thing even better.
Equipped with a PTO style winch, the truck needs some finishing on the wrecker body end. We’re not saying that as a negative just pointing it out. You’ll need to run some cable and you’ll also need to find a sling to really complete the perfect vintage look. We’re just hoping whoever finished it, does the job right with some thick cable instead of weenie junk that just looks good for show. The rest of the thing is done right, why not put the cherry on top?
Scroll down to see more of this 1949 Ford T6 Wrecker and the eBay ad link!
