Not a warbird but it towed a few in it's day

[Jack Cook]

My friend Jim who has the 51 here had one about the same. When
he got it, it was a rust bucket. But, his guys cherried it out and painted it to match the P-51. I'm not sure what they did to the motor but this thing goes like a r*ped ape. He took it down the runway once and scared himself!!!

[ZRX61]

Ever see the one the RareBear crew put together with a former Fueller drag race engine it in?
Only tug I've ever seen with brake chutes...

[Jack Cook]

Brian Reynold's tug has a Allison

[Canso42]

I'd like to see photos of these custom hot rod tugs. The one with the Big Al sounds rude, crude and mean. I'd really like to see the Ford 9N moto tug since I work for a New Holland-used-to-be-Ford tractor dealer.
The bumper car tug would get moved BY the Skyraider! Ours if probably trashed now.
Doug

[Second Air Force]

Doug,

Here is a nice Moto Tug, followed by a bit of a project with a few post-war additions:

[kenlyco]

Here is one of the new A380 tug's. Bet if you are short a 1/4 inch you are not pulling this thing to the bar..

[muddyboots]

-lets see the yahoo teenagers smack that with a baseball bat int the middle of the night!

My mailbox is lag bolted to a railroad tie... Found half a baseball bat laying near it one morning.... you know that guy got rung like a tuning fork..

I did that ONCE when I was a kid. The old guy had got tired of us beating his mailbox every weekend so he filled it up with concrete, and of course I was next at bat. It literally pulled my sorry ass out the back of the pickup I was hanging out of...Rang my bell so hard I couldn't hold a pencil for a week

[bdk]

The admin for both these groups is a fella by the name of Joe Swelnis who is a wealth of info on these tugs. "OldClarkGuy"

Oh, and the "bumper car" tug is probably a Clarkat. Also a neat and somewhat valuable toy.

Jase, you are a genious! Thanks for thise group links. I never thought to look there. I have a Clarkat Model C and also a small Clark forklift. The Clarkat came from Douglas Aircraft (Torrance plant) and probably hauled plenty of Skyraider parts around in its day.

[coastdef]

We get a lot of good use out of our old Clarktor; it sure beats trying to use those little Kubota tugs (and looks better also).



Regards,

Andy

[Jase]

I note a few familiar names have joined the Clark Tugs group lately...glad to have been of some service in commending the group to y'all.

If you haven't noticed yet, go to the "Files" section of the Yahoo group and you can download parts and service manuals for the ClarkTors. An awesome resource, and as the RedHead says, "Just goes to show that whatever somebody has, somebody else on the web has a site about collecting the same dam thing"

BTW, all y'all that only have "one" of something are lightweights. Cause it takes "two" to have a *collection*....as in "Why dear, it's not old junk, it's a *collection* of priceless artifacts!!"

[Taigh Ramey]

Jase,

I want to thank you for posting the Yahoo groups Clark Tugs lead. Joe gave me the information and history on two of our tugs (Clarkat and Clarktor) and it was awesome.

Even though I bought our tugs in two different places in the SF bay area, both of them were originally delivered to military organizations within 10 miles of our museum here in Stockton. What a delight to find out that they both have local history.

Thanks again to you for the link and to Joe for his awesome web site.

Taigh

[Django]

Is that Moto Tug a Ford? Looks like it has an 8N hood on it.

How about more pics of Tugs and Tractors in Military service? I've got a picture somewhere of an OD Minneaopolis Moline Z somewhere in the Pacific.

Here is a Case.



1942 NTX made by Minneapolis Moline



1944 NTX restored




1943 LeTourneau, one of 100 built.







Clark Airborne Dozer



SeaBees





TD9

[Second Air Force]

Yes, the little Moto-Tug was based on the Ford tractor, but it was a 9N from what I've read. Now if we just do a Funk conversion we could get a nice 85 horse flathead in it.

[Taigh Ramey]

Here are a few shots of Clark tugs (Clarktor) in service. The first one is an Air Force photo which I like to think of as a true OSHA moment:



Man, if the driver pops the clutch he will certainly have a lap full of mechanic and Hamilton Standard!

It has what looks like a B-24 bomb hoist and an aircraft 24 volt battery on the right running board to power the gin pole.

This shot is from a Victorville AAF class annual and shows two Clarktor tugs on the outside and I am not sure what kind of tug in in the middle. Any ideas? The winner of the race is getting nasty looks from 2nd and 3rd place.

The light arrangement on the tug on the right looks like three red passing lights.



Here is one happy tug driver who is also at Victorville AAF. Beech AT-11 bombardier trainers in the background.

[Second Air Force]

I love that propeller crew photo, Taigh! Until the company really started cracking down on "fall protection" I always rode along on top of the thrust reversers when I was changing them on 757s and 767s. We had an electric crane and I just took the controller, crawled on just like the AAF mechanic, and rode it up to stab it on the pylon. Works good, lasts long time! No more though, they'd fire me on sight nowadays (hmmmm.....maybe I can get out of there that way ).

I need to pick your brain about an M-5 bomb trailer that I'm going to restore--I'll be P.M.ing you soon.

Scott

Last edited by Second Air Force on Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.