This pettibone fork lift was purchased of all places from a well-known demolition company (Greenspoons) in the 1970’s.

I ran across it doing routine cold canvassing sales. Looking for equipment to restore and resale, I saw it parked much as you have seen it; broke and worn out in the picture but amongst all the other junk that surrounded it.

The story goes that Greenspan had owned and used it for many years and claimed it was the most dependable and hardworking fork lift they ever had and just wanted to keep it as a part of their family history.

When I asked what it would take to buy it they asked what I was going to do with it. My reply was to restore and resell it. After a bit of wrangling, they agreed to let it go for $250 which was a lot of money for a Junker at the time. Back in the shop a strip down discovered that there was really not much to do in order to put it back into operation.

I reringed the engine, gave it a valve job, new battery, brake job, installed power steering, paint job, seat and minor details. Everything else ran perfectly and had minor wear. These were true work horses made to last almost forever by todays standards.

I sent it off to the auction and was astounded that there were so many people bidding on it. I guess there were people out there that knew their worth better than I. Pretty good for a truck worked to death at a junk yard…..Bob Lyons