Old-School, Clean Look

By George L. Nitti

There is nothing like a homemade wrecker to promote pride of ownership.

Family owned and operated Bill Warner & Son Towing and Recovery in Circleville, West Virginia, has, in part, thrived in the trucking and towing business through piecing together and building their own trucks.

One notable wrecker in their fleet is a 1997 Peterbilt 379 extended hood with a Century 9055 heavy-duty wrecker.

"We collected parts for several years before putting it together," said owner Bill Warner. "It was done in-house, drawing on three or four other trucks. When we started, we took it down to the bare frame. Then it took us seven months of sweat and blood to build it back up."

Winning third place in the Heavy Duty-Tandem Axle category at the 2018 American Towman Exposition Wrecker Pageant, the unit received attention for several outstanding features.

One includes its captivating and minimal paint schematic consisting of viper red and sable black. Those two main colors are brought together with a reflective vinyl gold stripe.

"It really lights up at night with that reflective lettering," Warner said. "I've always liked our colors of red and black. It gives it an old-school, clean look."

Clean is an understatement, as there are few graphics on the truck except lettering for the company name.

At night, lighting is another essential element that helps this unit get noticed.

"The glass lights all match and extend around the entire body of the truck," Warner said. "Behind the grille at the front of the wrecker are six strobe lights."

Its many customized components help it stand out. The brand new extended hood, the all-chrome grille, the reduced size of the sleeper and the extra compartment spaces help make this unit a winner.

"Even the backlights open up into a storage compartment," Warner said.

Although the time spent putting this wrecker together was long, Warner took great pride in building a road-worthy unit in-house.

"This is one of the best ones I've built," he said.

Brag @ TIW!
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