1 nice clean old holmes tow bar

scored me a almost new holmes 480 split boom wrecker unit last year and this gem was still on it and in real good shape .

any more info or value idea to this ? prob going to be a wall hanger in my shop . i forget who made these for him back in the day .

ernest holmes twin sonic sae-w3-71 on the id tag and 1967 1968 pat info dates
 

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tsquale

Lifetime VIP Donor
Oct 12, 2010
10,511
Minnesota, USA
These were made my Federal Signal for Ernest Holmes (EH) company which built wrecker / tow truck bodies. Nice, uncommon endcaps but parts are readily found because it simply is a Federal Twinsonic. Nice find!
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
It's a Federal Signal TwinSonic model 12 with name plates indicating it was made for Ernest Holmes. It looks to be in good shape and those domes can likely be polished to remove much of the haze. The sealed beam bulbs may be GE4464 and if they are, they are 60 watts each. For display purposes, I'd consider replacing them with GE4416 bulbs, which are 30 watts each. Not as bright, but half the amp draw and more than bright enough for indoor display use.

If you do remove 4464 bulbs and if they are still working, don't throw them away as they are getting to be hard to find.
 
oh ya they still work for sure and old stuff like this i wont toss away . yep domes cleaned up real good with some purple power cleaner and then window cleaner . next would be a buff and polish job for sure .
 
the whole unit is like new . it was on a 1969 c-60 with a napco 4x4 power pack conversion . the truck part rusted away beyond repair . i swapped the 4x4 stuff to a 82-83 c-60 truck and got to keep the left over stuff .
 

ryan

Member
May 20, 2010
2,996
Massillon, Ohio
I may have the decals for the endcaps to make them proper. It’s missing the red outline.
 

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