The term “old hooker” might sound terrible, but in this case, it is really awesome! Of course, it refers to Bubba Davis’ classic Kenworth wrecker – not the other, well, you know. I met Bubba a few years ago while looking for some information on a truck and its owner that I saw at a local show. Somehow, we got each other’s phone numbers and stayed in contact. He was a good source of information on the truck I was looking for more details on, and I see him at that show every year. He always brings out a few interesting rigs to that show, for sure, and this year he brought his newly refurbished old hooker seen here.
Born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio, Bubba Davis (58) grew up in a poor household. His dad worked at the Tappan Stove Company in Mansfield, then later became a truck driver for Archway Cookies, while his mom held down the fort at home and also cleaned houses. Raising a young family, Bubba would go to the local police sales and buy bicycles for $.25 and then take them apart, rebuild them and paint them into something the other kids in town would want. He would also hang out in the garage with his father’s friends, where they were always tearing apart motors, transmissions and such.
Always fascinated with machines, Bubba’s dad could fix anything, and that’s where Bubba developed his ability to repair things. With that being said, you’d think Bubba would have enrolled in auto mechanic classes in school, but no, he took carpentry! A funny thing his wife (Julia) said to me was, “He can’t do anything with wood!” Bubba realized that he would rather work with metal, so that is what he ended up doing.
Together with his beautiful wife Julia for over twenty years, the two have been married for the past nine (Bubba jokes about how he proposed because he needed a tax deduction). Bubba loves to joke around! A year or two before they got married, Bubba noticed members of a local church clearing their parking lot with snow shovels and a snow blower from a heavy snowfall the night before. Bubba, being the helpful person that he is, told them to put their stuff away and we would clean up the parking lot for them. From then on, he would clear that parking lot every time it snowed with his Ford L9000 tandem axle with a wrecker body and a 7.5-foot Meyer plow. They offered to pay Bubba, but he politely declined. The pastor told him if he ever needed something, to just ask. A couple years later he did, and on April 1st, Bubba and Julia got married in that church.
Bubba and Julia started a company called Bubba’s Crap & Scrap. Buying equipment and then scrapping it for cash, Bubba would also do towing and go out on road calls to help people who were broken down. Julia answered the phones and took care of the books. Bubba built his first wrecker – that previously mentioned Ford – with an L10 Cummins 300 and a Holmes 500 wrecker. Quickly realizing that he needed a bigger truck, he bought the 1989 Kenworth K100E double bunk with a Big Cam IV, a 9-speed and a 3:70 rear-end seen here.
Being an old Southwest Motor Freight truck from Chattanooga, TN, he ended up buying a few others from J. Parker and Sons Packaging out of Akron, Ohio. He used various parts and pieces from these donor trucks to build the current one. The wrecker body, a Holmes 600, sat in a swamp for over 14 years before Bubba “saved” it. It took around six months to build the truck, and he built it outside. Bubba had to hang the wrecker body on a big tree branch in his yard to mount it on the truck!
Feeling the pinch of skyrocketing fuel prices, insurance and other costs to stay in business, Bubba contacted John Manfredi, the manager at the Kuhnle Bros. terminal in Mansfield, Ohio, about doing some road calls and towing for them. Well, in the end, they bought Bubba’s truck and then hired him to drive it and run the shop! Based in Newbury, Ohio, Kuhnle Bros. has been hauling all sorts of bulk freight since 1966.
Taking the truck to their Newbury yard, the Kuhnle crew repainted the KW in the company colors (green and black) and added some custom touches to the rig. The truck was showed at the Piston Power Show in Cleveland, Ohio, and not even a month later it was at MATS 2019 in Louisville, KY for the big show held there. Bubba has put 18K miles on the truck since being redone, and company owner Kim Kuhnle appreciates the effort and the work that Bubba has done for his company since being hired.
When I called Bubba to set up the photo shoot, I asked him if he knew of any good places. He told me about Malabar Farm – which is where we did it. Nestled in the rolling countryside of Richland County, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, also a dedicated conservationist, created his dream farm. Inspired by his love of the land, Mr. Bromfield restored the rich fertility of the farmlands and preserved the beauty of the woodland. I would like to thank Mark Spencer for helping us to find a nice location at the site.
Malabar Farm is famous for being where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall got married, and, more recently, for a scene filmed there for the movie “Shawshank Redemption” – at the end, when Morgan Freeman’s character finds the money that Tim Robbins’ character had buried, along with directions to Mexico, under a big oak tree.
I had a great time with Bubba and appreciate his efforts to help me get this photo shoot and story completed. This Kenworth cabover tow truck is unique and sharp, and the fact that he’s still running it makes it that much better. In general, I might not be a big fan of some old hookers, but this classic wrecker I’d be happy to drive all night long!
