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.