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The Great Blizzard Tow of 1947 – When Tow Trucks Became Lifesavers

One of the most legendary stories in American towing history doesn’t start with a breakdown — it starts with a blizzard. In December of 1947, New York City was slammed by one of the worst snowstorms it had ever seen. More than 26 inches of snow fell in less than 24 hours, shutting down the entire city and leaving thousands of vehicles abandoned and buried across the five boroughs.

The city’s infrastructure came to a halt — buses were stuck, ambulances couldn’t get through, and trains stopped running. As snow piled up and temperatures dropped, tow truck operators stepped up to take on a new role: emergency responders.

At the time, towing services were still relatively new, and many of the city’s trucks were custom-modified pickups and flatbeds run by independent operators. But when the storm hit, these operators became heroes. They worked around the clock — often for 48 hours straight — towing stuck vehicles out of snowbanks, clearing roads for emergency crews, and even transporting essential workers and supplies through the whiteout.

One Harlem-based tow truck driver named Luis Ortega gained local fame when he used his wrecker to pull a city bus packed with passengers out of a snowdrift on Amsterdam Avenue. Witnesses later said it looked like a “David vs. Goliath” moment — but Ortega’s grit and clever use of chain rigging got the job done. His story ran in The Daily News, and he later helped form the first organized towing network in NYC.

The 1947 blizzard was a turning point for public perception of the towing industry. What had been seen as a simple car-moving service suddenly became essential to disaster response. In many ways, it marked the beginning of modern municipal towing contracts and highlighted just how vital — and heroic — tow truck operators could be when the city needed them most.