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To add a new posting, send an email to me at bassriverhistory@gmail.com with a comment, question, story, photo, observation, etc. It will be posted below, shortly after the email is received. To comment on an existing posting, click on the "comments" command below the posting and type your comment. Your comment will show up immediately.   Pete Stemmer

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Ruby McAnney's Old Truck

In response to Tom Doherty's Decemebr 13th posting which included some memories of Allen's Dock and Ruby McAnney who ran the operation for many years, Jim McAnney, Ruby's son, wrote the following comment:

In Tom's post he mentioned the old delapidated truck that my father used around the boatyard. That truck was a 1937 Chevy tow truck that he bought from Atlantic City Electric Co. I don't know when he bought it, but I can remember back to the early '50s, and it was there then. It was used until my fathers death in 1972 and was still there when we sold Allen's Dock in 1973. It had no brakes (it either rolled to a stop or you had to throw a block under a wheel) and you had to start it from under the hood because everthing had either rusted or fallen off. Even so , this truck was indispenseable. It was a real workhorse. Each fall my father would haul out and store about eighty boats. These boats were hauled on one of three railways, jacked up and placed on oak planks with pipe rollers and rolled onto skids. The reverse was done in the spring when it was time to launch the boats. All this was done with the little old 37 Chevy. 

Several years ago a good friend of mine,Frank Beykirch, had a painting of Allen's Dock done for me. Parked right in the parking lot is the old 37 Chevy.

Jim

I checked out all of my Bass River History photos for one of Ruby's truck. This is the only photo which might fit the bill. Hopefully, Jimmie will let me know if the one on the right is the infamous truck.   - Pete S.


Photo courtesy of Margaret "Peg" Cramer McAnney.

2 comments:

  1. Pete That's the 1937 Chevy. It is in good shape in the picture so probably from the late 40's or early 50's. Also,I think the boat on the left is one of the charter boats that ran out of Bass River at that time. I cant read the name on the bow but I think it could be the "Evelyn" captained by Rui Mizell. I dont known if you can enhance the picture enough to read the name.

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  2. Jim,

    Unfortunately the original photo was so out of focus that I couldn't make out the name of the boat when I enlarged the photo. I'm betting that you are probably correct in saying that it is the "Evelyn", as your memory seems pretty reliable.

    Pete S.

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