This is so cool...
It is, absolutely. It is freaking awesome.
That said, I was kinda bummed about the extent to which it's more or less a rolling model... I don't know whether it was ever tenable to make it functional, but the steering wheel being next to the driver just bugs me...
Anyhow, kudos to him for doing it! It looks awesome, spot on, and I love the idea.
ransom wrote: It is, absolutely. It is freaking *awesome*. That said, I was kinda bummed about the extent to which it's more or less a rolling model... I don't know whether it was ever tenable to make it functional, but the steering wheel being next to the driver just bugs me... Anyhow, kudos to him for doing it! It looks awesome, spot on, and I love the idea.
It was only a 1/2 ton/1500 based on the 5-lug wheels, so would have been a little light to be a "true" tow truck.
In reply to FSP_ZX2:
It's kind of a two-parter... I'm more bummed about it not really being functional as a vehicle, and then only a little extra bummed on top of that for not being a functioning tow truck 
It's more of a parade float than a vehicle.
This was on the local news a few nights ago since he's pretty close to Minneapolis-St. Paul. His family has been in the towing business for several generations and they have a yard full of real two trucks of all sizes, so this one is just for fun. The winch is even hand cranked, just like the toy.
The neat thing is he's bringing it to Mound, MN (the original home of Tonka Toys) for a parade this weekend.
ransom wrote: In reply to FSP_ZX2: It's kind of a two-parter... I'm more bummed about it not really being functional as a vehicle, and then only a little extra bummed on top of that for not being a functioning tow truck
It drives. Unless I missed that in the story...
It does drive, they showed him on the news going down the road. They didn't explain why he put the steering wheel in the middle of the cab, though. I'm sure there was a reason but it seemed odd.
That is fantastic. A dead-on replica! Such a great idea. Little kids must flip out seeing that thing in a parade.
gamby wrote: That is fantastic. A dead-on replica! Such a great idea. Little kids must flip out seeing that thing in a parade.
stuart in mn wrote: The neat thing is he's bringing it to Mound, MN (the original home of Tonka Toys) for a parade this weekend.
I suspect older people are going to like it as well, a lot of retired Tonka employees around here.
he needs to take it to the Car Craft show in St Paul... i bet he'd get in that magazine...
That's the thing that bugs me, though at this point we're making way too much of it. I originally mostly meant to say it was awesome, and then make a silly aside about how it bugs me more than it ought to that it really can't be driven in a normal fashion.
I don't know whether the steering wheel's next to him due to lack of room in the cab, or whether it was just something that wasn't important to him about how it went together for a vehicle built for parades so he just did whatever made it the easiest to get the steering column into the cab where he could reach it... If the base truck was rear-steer, I can see how it might be a bear to get the steering column anywhere near where it would need to wind up.
Anyhow, sorry for the tangent.
ransom wrote: That's the thing that bugs me, though at this point we're making way too much of it. I originally mostly meant to say it was awesome, and then make a silly aside about how it bugs me more than it ought to that it really can't be driven in a normal fashion. I don't know whether the steering wheel's next to him due to lack of room in the cab, or whether it was just something that wasn't important to him about how it went together for a vehicle built for parades so he just did whatever made it the easiest to get the steering column into the cab where he could reach it... If the base truck was rear-steer, I can see how it might be a bear to get the steering column anywhere near where it would need to wind up. Anyhow, sorry for the tangent.
is that where the wheel is in the toy???
the steering linkage would probably have been easier if he had started out with a van instead of a pickup. they are both front steer setups, with the steering box and linkage in front of the suspension, but the vans had the steering box mounted almost straight up and down instead of mostly horizontal like the pickup chassis that he used.
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