1966 Chevy C30 Tow Truck

	"Tow Mater" Owned by Russell Borner "cssreb1" Bolter # 6507 Smithtown, New York Join the talk about this truck in the DITY Gallery

More pictures of my old truck

From Russell :

This is a 1966 Chevrolet C30 pickup with a 9 foot Stepside that was converted into a tow truck by Weld Build of Wyandanch, Long Island in July of 1966.

The old truck's name is Tow Mater like the character from the movie: Cars. The minute I got her home with all of the lights flashing, the kids came running out of the house screaming "Tow Mater!" and so it took.

I bought this truck in the fall of 2008 on Long Island from the 3rd owner. He bought the truck thinking he could use it to tow his race car to Riverhead Raceway each weekend. He decided to go with a ramp truck instead.

The second owner was some kind of flea market dealer who used the truck to pull a trailer to all the local flea markets and shows.

The original owner operated a repair shop in Bronx, NY where it sat most of its life in front of the station.

The truck has 30,000 miles on it but only had 27,000 when I first purchased it. Unfortunately, it does have its fair share of rust which I am currently working on.

I swapped out the push bumper for a stock one because the push bumper was bent. I then replaced the dried out old 19.5” tires and gave her a complete brake overhaul.

The original 327 engine runs great and is looking forward to a pair of Flowmasters to bellow through. The transmission’s power take off was leaking for some time, so now I need to rebuild the 4 speed transmission. She needs a new synchro in 2nd gear and now the 3rd is starting to go.

Other than that, all of the equipment works fine including the towing equipment and all of the lights.

I am in the process of restoring the truck. If you look at the later pictures from the Photobucket link, the truck will end up with a "50's Aqua" paint job. I wanted to keep it a light blue just like the 'new Tow Mater' in the movie, but I could not pass up this color choice.

Currently, everything has been taken off the bed so I can repair the rust, clean off the many layers of paint and re-paint the equipment.

I continue to drive the truck while I rebuild her. I plan to work on her in two stages. The rear part of the truck I plan to have finished over the winter. I hope to have the cab and front end finished by the summer of 2011. I would like to have her ready to go for the many cruise nights where the young kids call her Tow-Mater and the older guys remember when they drove or needed a tow truck. I am still amazed how often I am asked for help when someone’s car needs assistance at these cruise nights.

Thanks,

Russ

Russ also has a 1960 Chevy C10 in the Stovebolt Gallery - Editor

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