The first tow truck, contrary to popular belief, was built on the chassis of a 1913 Cadillac rather than a heavy-duty truck. Ernest Holmes, a technician in Chattanooga, Tennessee, received a call from his old business school professor, John Wiley, who had driven his Ford Model T off the road and upside down into a creek bed on a day in 1916, according to the Chronicle and several reports. To lift the T out of the stream bed and erect, Holmes needed eight hours, six men, and an incalculable amount of human labor.

The incident, however, spurred Holmes to outfit a three-year-old Cadillac with a crane and pulley system capable of lifting and securing broken-down and ruined vehicles for towing back to a nearby mechanic's shop. After duplicating his invention with a pair of outriggers to provide stability when elevating other vehicles, Holmes submitted a patent for his astounding new design (US Patent 1254804) in November 1917. But Holmes wasn't done yet. With his new patent in hand, he refocused his company to manufacture Holmes Wrecker tow vehicles and sell them to other mechanics and garage owners, presenting them as a way to actually gain more business.

Before dying in 1945, he became a prolific inventor, patenting at least a half-dozen variations on the basic tow truck theme, as well as another half-dozen car lifts, creepers, and jacks. This page was used as a source of information by Wikipedia.

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