Model A era towbar

Keith True

Keith True

Well-known member
I was picking up some junk from an old car collectors home,and found this old tow bar.It was in a wooden box,and all I could see was Tow Bar stenciled on the remains of the box.One end just swivels,but the other end has a ball so it can move in all directions.It would put the cars only about a foot apart,so I can't see it going around many corners.I just have never seen anything like it.It is well greased so I haven't tried scraping it for some kind of ID.I got some old Weaver and Walker jacks,stands,and some pullers from the place too.I'm starting to realize I'm getting quite a collection of old garage iron now.a few hundred wrenches,lots of jacks and stands,gas pumps,air meters,old torches,KRW compressor,I think I could set up an antique garage.
 

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The 'tow bar' doesn't look quite right. It looks like it is designed to just move a car around a lot or garage. Because both clamps go around a bumper and the turns would have to be so shallow it would take forever to turn. That and the bumpers would be tweaked at the end of the tow from all of the stop and starting. At least that is my method of thought.

Mike
 
I really can't see it as practical to tow a car with either.I can see it being used behind a Servi-car though.It was in a fitted wooden box marked tow bar.I also found a 1922 garage license for the city of Lynne Mass.I thought it was a license for a business,I read it closely and it is a permit to store two cars on a piece or property.Issued by the department of fire safety.Good for one year.I'll have to see if the picture will come out clear enough to read on here.A collector bought all of the literature,ads,signs,etc and somehow missed this hanging on the wall.He also missed a couple of Hank Williams posters that I spotted and got.
 

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I guess some of the HAMB guys follow here too.Two of them sent me emails and pictures of this towbar.They said it is a complete unit.I kind of thought something might be missing,but there was no room for any more parts in the box.The parts shown fit in the box,with a place for the wrench that is with it.Both guys commented on the fact that it has the original wrench,neither one had ever seen one,just pictures.
 
That's like the one we have my dad and uncle used it to haul home 35 41 ford jeeps they bought after ww2 at camp McCoy they went in a tow truck got one jeep running and used tow bar to pull another on one trip the jeeps front axel locked up and the jeep flipped over that's what I was told when my uncle gave me the tow bar 40 years ago
 

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This is from my 31 Weaver catalogue, similar. But this one is longer and with a spring in the middle.

Mike
 

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I'm glad I had read the post about the towing gizmo last night, because I came across one this morning at a swap meet and bought it out of curiosity. It looks just like the one in post
number 8, and is called a "Tow-Pilot", made in Caro, Michigan. I will probably just put it in my man cave because with such a short link between the two clamps it would be very difficult to turn sharply. As for the three-wheel Harley and a clamp tow bar mentioned above, that was one of my jobs as a teenager. That was a real blast!
 
I have seen and used a tow bar like that in the 50s and 60s to tow Model As and other straight bumper cars, but have never seen one with such a short bar. Anything but a very shallow turn would bring bumper to bumper contact.. But looking at it sure brings back memories.
 
Worked in a Service Station in the Mid 50's and we had the Harley Three Wheeler that we used to go pick up customer cars. I later had an 1964 Mustang Motorcycle that Belonged to Leo Jaringan Pontiac in Ft. Worth Texas that was set up as a service vehicle. The Little Mustang 3 wheeler was only made for a short time and looked like a shrunken Harley. My grandfather and uncles bought lot of WWII surplus vehicles right after the war and jeeps were everywhere back then and could be had quite reasonably. I can definitely see this being used back in my younger years during and right after WWII. Folks took a little longer getting where they were going back then. This could be used on the long distance or cross country trip to conserve fuel. My experience has been as long as the engine is still installed up front the car will steer itself.
 
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Years ago they used to sell a tow bar that clamps to Bumper Irons ie the Nickel plated piece.

Some of the Repro bumper Clamps that fasten the Bumper irons to the curved bumper brackets have pot metal parts on them.

These Bumper Clamps: http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/bumper-clamps-4943

Clamps fasten to these Bumper brackets:
http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/front-bumper-brackets

A local guy had his tow bar clamped on when one of the cast pot metal Bumper clamp heads broke.

He almost lost the car at 75 MPH.

Luckily he felt the vibration as the bolt broke and got off to the side of the road in time to save it.
 
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it has been my experience when dealing with China products that the bolts they use are very inferior to what a "safe bolt" would be. I always go to the local Tractor Supply and replace all of them with Grade 5 or Grade 8 bolts to be on the safe side. Guess how I know the china bolts are garbage....
 
I don't think anybody is suggesting actually using one of these things.They are just antiques,wall art,to hang up with all the other obsolete old tools.
 
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