by "SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
Published 04/20/2017 at 09:00
by "SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
Published 04/20/2017 at 09:00
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STARS: 7
I’ve told stories before about how I drove a tow truck for a few years. In fact, I had done two podcasts about those times and people have reacted well to them. It is the most common request I get: Do I have more?
I racked by brain and came up with more true tow truck stories from my time at Tillard’s Mobil in Birmingham, Michigan. Circa 1980 - 1982ish.
The gas station is still there but it has new owners. And they don’t have a tow truck anymore. But back then, the station had the contract to tow for the local police department and I was often the person they called late at night to come snag a car that had run afoul of something or some law.
So, kick back and enjoy the sounds of an earlier, more innocent time. When I had to drive a tow truck with a manual transmission and an iffy parking brake. The audio:
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And the video:
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Pic at the top is an abandoned barge in Torch Lake, in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The last mining company to close up shop just beached it and walked away from it. It’ll just take care of itself, right?
Follow me on Twitter: @stevelehto
Hear my podcast on iTunes: Lehto’s Law
Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 25 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and Michigan lemon law. He wrote The Lemon Law Bible and Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow.
This website may supply general information about the law but it is for informational purposes only. This does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not meant to constitute legal advice, so the good news is we’re not billing you by the hour for reading this. The bad news is that you shouldn’t act upon any of the information without consulting a qualified professional attorney who will, probably, bill you by the hour.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
04/20/2017 at 09:56, STARS: 1
Yesss!!!!! I’ve been waiting for this!!!!! and on a day with no boss int he office.
"atrombs" (atrombly)
04/20/2017 at 10:40, STARS: 1
Love these stories! I would buy a book of them.
"jimz" (jimz)
04/20/2017 at 11:15, STARS: 0
the Firebird with the ripped-off door must have been from the ‘80s; I doubt you’d have picked up a ‘70s F-Body door w/o assistance. Them’s was heavy.
"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
04/20/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 0
It happened in late 1980 or early 1981. It could have been either. But I was a strapping young fellow at the time . . .
"jimz" (jimz)
04/20/2017 at 12:43, STARS: 1
I too did the gas station/garage thing when I was in high school and most way through college (22222 Greater Mack if you’re familiar with the area.) Never did any towing, though; the tow truck we had available from a nearby affiliated shop was the old “bumper sling” style, and by then too many cars had plastic fascias and couldn’t be towed with it.
Road calls (flats, jump starts, etc.) could be interesting. Especially when people would dial Information (remember that?) to get the number for a station a few miles away from us, and received our phone # instead (the one they wanted was on Little Mack, we were on Greater Mack.) Inevitably, I’d arrive to get bitched at for taking so long to get there.
"EngineerWithTools" (engineerwithtools)
05/16/2017 at 12:46, STARS: 0
Nice title image!
One of the two hydro dredges lost in Torch Lake in the U.P! The other dredge is completely submerged - but maybe is marked with a danger buoy? Unrelated to cars, but fascinating stuff nevertheless.
"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
05/16/2017 at 15:33, STARS: 0
I was just up there a week or so before I posted this piece so I thought I’d use it. I knew one or two people would recognize it.