The Highway Patrol Said Blow It Up — Then the Old Man Fired Up His 1939 Autocar U-70 Wrecker

In November of 1972, a 38-ton tunnel boring machine became wedged between frozen rock and a wall of black ice in a Colorado mountain pass at 11,400 feet. No road access from below. One approach from above — too narrow for modern recovery equipment. The highway patrol's chief engineer said demolish it in place. The machine was blocking a critical access tunnel for a winter highway bypass project. Every day it stayed cost the state thirty thousand dollars. Then someone called Otto Brandtner. Otto was 77 years old. He had worked Colorado mountain and mine recovery since 1928. His truck was a 1939 Autocar U-70 wrecker his father had bought during the Depression — the only machine Otto had ever fully trusted at elevation. The patrol engineer called it a museum piece and told Otto he'd never get it up the access road. Otto asked one question: which face of the rock does the afternoon sun hit first? This is a story about frozen rock, thermal expansion, and the man who learned to read a mountain the way his father read a mine shaft — from the inside out. 🔔 Subscribe for stories about the machines and the men that modern equipment forgot. New story every day. #Autocar #VintageWrecker #TowTruck #OldIron #ColoradoMountains #TrueStory #WorkingClass