History tow bar

so all the starting out guys could not have afforded a separate vehicle for a tow truck & trailer combination. so they might have used a bar on the ball for the first couple of seasons.

do we have any pictures & captions how these units were made and more importantly, how they performed with a front end mounted tow bar?

thanks,

sid

 

I don't have any photos but, in 1971 I welded up a towbar out of angle iron and towed my 1940 Ford coupe from Poughkeepsie, NY to Wellfleet, MA using my 1957 Pontiac. 250 mile trip. All went well.
I still have the towbar if anyone needs it.

 

I've seen a lot of vintage drag pictures with cars having "tow tabs" on the front of their frames. These are what the tow bars were mounted to for towing.

Gary

 

so a clevis pin with a wire "P" retainer through it and a welded A frame w/ ball hitch to the tow car?

this would look like something fabricated by a skilled novice - perhaps not professionally manufactured.

i did a search but think i used too many words because the results were a bit all over the map.

 

the front wheels just follow? leave it in neutral and tow car's brakes do the work for both?

 

Two trailer hitch balls attached to the front of the race car, and a v- shaped pipe weldment with 3 trailer couplers, one at the V, the other two on the ends of the pipes. Quick on and off, assuming you don’t bend up the front of your race car…

Add a section of chain with those ends with the screw in part, don’t know what to call them, and you have a safety chain between the two vehicles. Trailer taillights on a 2x4, wired to the tow truck and now you’re sort of legal. Have a friend with a garage service plate and you are good to go

 

How I did it..

 

I had one back in the 70’s made from 32 Ford wishbone I used to tow a 57 Chevy gasser.

 

i'mma likin' that idea. especially the 2" x 4" ; thanks

 

now That's a tow vehicle.

Pontiac? continental kit an' all. what were the attachment points?

thanks

 

front or rear? i saw a picture of a jalopy with what appeared to be a way too short towbar A shaped that could have been made from a front.

Q: how were the ends configured? pintle hook through the eye? the axle ends would have needed some configuring; no?

thanks

sid

 

52 styline DeLuxe, welded one of those cheesy chrome mounts we all see at swap meets in the $2.00 pile...
Welded To the frame...

 

I would check before towing in the State that you intend to tow in just in case the have weight towing limits with out brakes. Over here if you tow a car behind another one you have to have some sort if braking on the towed car so not all the braking is down by the towing car. Last thing you want is to be pulled over told you are breaking the law and cannot go any further.

 

I've towed both my Austin gasser and my '63 Falcon gasser behind my '69 Suburban to the local drags. Both had plate tabs on the front that my tow bar simply fit, and a single 1/2" bolt per side bolted through to attach them. About 100 miles up to the drag strip, with 85 of it freeway. Not a problem at all, but should have seen the looks of amazement by guys when I pulled into the drags. And the stories of "all the nice cars wrecked" when flat towed. I don't get it, as I couldn't even tell they were behind me as I cruised down the road.
Tow bar mounts need to be pretty solid, and not much play! If the attachment points have much play the car wont follow the tow vehicle well and will wander side to side against the play. Less play makes them track fantastic.
And don't forget the lights! Either a plug wired into your race car lights so it plugs into the tow vehicle, or a set of magnetic base tow lights plugged into your vehicle and stuck to the race car. Otherwise it will be illegal in any state I know of.

 

We also used a set of towing hubs on the towed vehicle. Or pull the drives haft. You don't want the driveshaft spinning the trans that isn't circulating any oil.

 

Lots of back-in-the-day pictures around of race cars with tow bars made from Ford front wishbones.

Here are a couple of a typical wishbone tow bar saved from an old hamb thread.

 

My buddy Mike Gray's Henry J stock car, the Tow Bar is made from the Lowe A frame of the car it has a Ford axle and buggy spring. This car ran the opening night at Fonda 1953!


The Rod and Custom Dream Truck...


....this one didn't end well!

 

really helpful to see both sides; thank you

sid

 

i subscribed to R&C from about 7 years old to maybe 18. i would ask for renewals for birthdays and Christmas - good grief it was $3.50 cents for cryin' out loud. where's a kid gonna cough up loot like that in 1962?
and i remember the dream truck. maybe here on the HAMB, i've read about its tough life.

thanks a lot for the photos and all the help you give me. it is appreciated,

s.e.

 

My uncle used to tow bar his 60 Chevy dirt track car 12 miles to the local track back in the early 70s. Worked fine, just as long as the car still had four wheels on it at the end of the night.

 

so . . . goin' to was fine; comin' back - could be iffy?

 

I have flat towed old jeep, scouts, Landcrusiers, Samurai's thousands of miles.


In the 80's I rented a tow bar and towed a nova home i found on a hunting trip in Modoc County CA .

Many states these days require the towed vehicle has brakes working.
Dad has a set up on his Samurai that applys the brakes for when he towed it to Quartzite every winter. The set up is likely more dangerous than not having brakes hooked up on it.

 

I towed my 64 Corvette back in the 70's with a tow bar. Simple design but no safety chains, no lights or brakes but I towed with a Ford F250. It towed great! The tow bar should be horizontal for best towing. I still have the tow bar up in the attic. I plan to put brackets on some of my old cars so I can quickly tow it home if it is local and brakes down. If I am along way from home I would use my trailer.

Slightly off topic but many people tow a car, often a Jeep, behind a motor home. I read up on it once and as I recall, you must have lights, safety chains, a brake away system & brakes on the towed vehicle. It does vary a little by state.

 

i wondered where i left that darn thing . . . .

 

I normally tie the steering wheel down with a bungie cord to keep the wheels from wanting to go wonky in a tight turn. It all depends on the vehicle being towed though as I have towed a Dodge 250 Van 160 miles including over a mountain pass without an issue but was towing it with an E350 van with a 460 in it.

 

I towed a 69 Boss Mustang from the western Chicago suburbs and back behind a 79 Econoline van with a 300 six and manual overdrive a time or two. 440 miles door to door. Still have the Lakewood bar, but the tabs went with the car.

I made my own tabs for an early Bronco for the same trip.

Both towed like a dream, but had trouble going around the corners in residential neighborhoods when the street had six inches of snow.

My 36 Ford came with a sketchy tow bar made from a Ford wishbone. I wouldn’t recommend using it, though. Will make a cool wall hanger, though.

 

I remember seeing pictures of homemade towing hubs on cars going to the drag strip so hat the tranny did not get wound up.

 

Q: what are towing hubs?

internet search just returned trailer hubs

thanks

 

Daddy had a tow bar that he used to tow car before he bought a trailer. I’m going to have to look for it but he made it himself and it bolted to the car and then hooked up to the truck via ball hitch. If I remember correctly he pulled the driveshaft out of the car and put a yolk into the transmission and wired it somehow to keep it from puking fluid and off he went. If I find it I’ll take some pictures of it and post them. I know I have a picture of my Tudor behind his truck heading to a show in Indy.