This Coleman CF-55-AF is of an indeterminate model year, but is thought to have originally served during the Korean War Era. Developed in the early 1950’s and used to move the heaviest bombers in the Air Force’s inventory, these tugs are massive. Though running when it was parked, someone forgot to cover the exhaust stack, so water has gotten into the engine freezing it up. Four-wheel steering, an enormous winch and a claimed 20 ton weight are just a few of the highlights. Find it here on eBay in Salem, Oregon for $26k OBO.

The Coleman Motor Company was based in Littleton, Colorado and made its name by selling four-wheel drive trucks and conversions for other manufacturers, much like this Ford BaT featured over a year ago. At over 21′ long, nearly 8′ wide and just shy of 9′ tall, these are seriously big trucks, but they were designed to do a big job–tow very large bombers out from their stands or ramps to the runway. At the time, the largest bomber in the US fleet was the Convair B-36 Peacemaker (shown here next to a B-29 for scale), which weighed 166,165 lbs empty, 262,500 lbs loaded, and up to 410,000 lbs at maximum takeoff weight. With six radial engines, and in its final configuration, an additional four jet engines, it simply wasn’t practical to taxi under power, hence this rig.

While the chassis is Coleman’s design, the cab is made from combining two early 1950’s GM bodies together back-to-back. It appears to be surprisingly complete based on period photos in the ad. To say that everything needs to be gone through would be an understatement, but hopefully the huge three-ring binder shown on what’s left of the driver’s seat is an operators guide.

A 125 HP Buda LO-525 six-cylinder was factory fitted, but we can’t confirm that that’s what’s seen here. In any case, it seems very safe to assume that nearly everything mechanical will need attention to one degree or another.

This restored example called “Big Ugly” is a very similar Federal F-55-AF tug, built under license from Coleman. Hopefully the one that’s the subject of this feature can be brought back to similar condition.