My birth father, the one they call "nubs" cause of all his missing fingers... The one who just cut off his last two fully functional fingers...
He has finally done something that has a GOOD chance to better his life!

Larry, My dad... His best friend, "FatMan" just passed away last weekend. FatMan, was a scooter mech. He had in his possession, one of the coolest trailers in the world. It was custom built for him, by local man. It is a 2 wheeled trailer, about 4.5 foot wide and 10 foot long. What makes it cool? Well the middle of the trailer is a U Channel, wide enough for the widest Motorcycle tire to easily fit in and the entire trailer floor can be raised and lowered with an electric winch. The floor will sit flat on the ground, so you can roll a bike right onto it.

FatMan's wife knew that my dad liked that trailer, so she called him and sold it to him. With the business license, Trailer, Insurance and some labor he had to farm out... It is taking his entire savings. But, He is now the proud owner of Nub's Towing!

I spent a couple hours there this weekend, helping him to redo the electricals and wire him in a weatherproof 3 position momentary switch for the winch. The trailer had been neglected for the last few years. The winch worked by holding the two wires to a battery in the metal lockbox on the Tongue of the trailer. The battery had also been grounding out against the metal lid of the lockbox. So I wired in a quick disconnect, a DPDT switch, rubber liner on the lid over the battery, and rewired the trailer lights and hookup.

Once his business cards get here, two of the local scooter dealers have said they will use him and recommend him to their customers. Here is hoping LOTS of bikes break down
I have a really good feeling about this for him and REALLY hope this is his chance.

WOOT!!

I for one think that the towing service should be named after "FATMAN", something like "Fat's towing", or " Fat Guys Towing", or "FAT MANS, TOWING"

Just gotta say, any guy nicknamed Fatman has got to have been a great guy.

Here's to your Dad, and his newest venture.

Brad

Thats a pretty diffrent and Good thing to get into with towing bikes. No DOT stops or things like that. good luck to him.

Good luck to your dad.
It sounds like it could be fun.

quote Originally posted by 8Ball: My birth father, the one they call "nubs" cause of all his missing fingers... The one who just cut off his last two fully functional fingers...

This sound like a feller that when he starts working, ya just get the heck away. Ain't gonna make mine nubs.

Bad luck or some kind of stupid mob thing?

Just in time for the Daytona crowd

FriendGregory.... Just stupidity and bad luck.
His lost the tip of his first finger in high school. He was on his motorcycle, the shifter had just broken and he was running late for a date with my Mom. Well.. you do NOT want to be late for her So he was racing thru town, shifting gears by ... little fuzzy on this ... But I think he said he was reaching down and grabbing the chain and giving it a yank... I may be remembering that detail wrong... But anyway.. he was shifting by hand and his finger got caught and pulled thru. When it healed, his fingernail was so mangled that it grew as more of a claw. So in shop class he would file it down on the bench grinders.

The rest of the fingers are a mixed batch of injuries.... He has broken a couple in bar fights so badly that they do not bend well. He just recently lost the first knuckles of his middle, ring and pinky fingers on his right hand a couple months ago. He was helping a "friend" look into a squealing belt. He told the "friend" to stop the engine and pop the hood. So he did. Larry grabbed the alternator belt to check for tension.. About the time he did, the "friend" started the engine.. Pulling Larry's fingers thru the alternator. So yea... Stupidity and bad luck.

Fatman, was a great guy. He and pops had been best friends since high school. He was.. Obviously a very large man. However, he got hooked on Hydros. In his last week of life, he ate over 90 of them in 3 days.. Then ran out on Wednesday. He was dead on Friday morning. He had already turned yellow a week prior, so we all knew it was coming. It was very unfortunate, but he would accept no offers of help. I guess everyone that knew him tried over the years. He had a true biker's funeral though. Over 60 Harley's were there as I understand. Pops lead the charge. At the church, about 30 minute prior to the funeral, everyone went out front and fired up their bikes and made a lot of noise. FatMan would have wanted it that way. Then after the funeral There was a long group burnout, followed by a long ride and a cookout at his house.

Sounds like my kind of funeral

I've never heard of a motorcycle towing company, but they obviously need them too! Sounds like a good venture! Here's to your dad!

If I get over there today, I will try to get some pics of it. It is a REALLY neat trailer. Needs a paint job though.

Sounds like my kind of people. I do what I want. F the rules. I had to look up Hydros(hydrocodone). Was it the drug itself that was turning him yellow( liver failure)? I personally think that stopping any decent drug cold turkey is bullstuff and dangerous. I tapered off when I quit my drugs of choice, even alcohol can be a giant female dog.
Any chance Fatman left you a bike?

Larry needs to learn how to set his bones then immobilize them, I kind of did that instinctively after a wreck or a fight. After working around my Dad, I learned to assume that other guys actions could hurt you so, make sure you can see everything they are doing. That clown was dangerous to work around.

Yea it was the Hydros that killed him. He had been eating them pretty hard for some time.
I WISH ole Fatman left me a bike! But unfortunately...

Yea, with my old man's luck.. I do not let him help me when I am working on stuff for him.
Fortunately, he gave up the booze, the powder and the rough life. He is just an old Harley guy now.
However, if he ever gets his hands on the guy the took his last three fingers... I believe there is one hell of a beating left in him.

I did not make it to his house today. It was a rather lousy day and... Well just didn't make it. I will make it there in a day or two though.

Sad huh? He lives 2 miles away.

I finally had a sunny day to snap a few pics of pops trailer.

First of all, a Memorial to "Fat Man", It was going to go on the toolbox on the front of the trailer, but it wouldn't adhere to it.

The Tow vehicle, is currently his beat to crap work van.

This is the Trailer. I did not have time to get shots of it in action, But I will one of these days.



And this is the winch.. When this is let out, the trailer swings on the fours arms to lower to the ground. Then bring it back up, put the locking pins in and drive away.