|
| |
|
Our
History
Growing up on a
dairy farm as a boy, Clarence Van Lingen joined
the military to get away from the 24 hour a day
dairy farm life. Little did he know he’d be
trading in one 24 hour job for another.
While in
the military, Clarence was stationed on the
USS Enterprise scheduled to be in Pearl
Harbor when it was bombed. Luckily, the
carrier wasn’t running on schedule and
narrowly missed the Pearl Harbor disaster.
As one of the few surviving aircraft
carriers, the Enterprise, later nicknamed
the Galloping Ghost because it changed names
at every port, was in hot demand and badly
in need of on-board metal smiths to patch-up
the battered carrier. Clarence was a fast
learner and quickly caught on to a trade
that would be the spring board for his
career.
Not
wanting to go back to the farm after the
war,
Clarence and his wi fe, Inez, with the
help of their families, opened a small auto
body business on the edge of his uncle’s
dairy farm on Hawthorne Boulevard in
Torrance. As his auto body business grew,
Clarence noticed he couldn’t
get tow service
on the weekend and Torrance Police officers
informed him that if a car needed to be
towed, people were told to lock it and leave
it on the side of the road until it could be
picked up on Monday. The Police told
Clarence that if he got a truck, they would
call him when their other vendor was busy.
Little by little, the late night and weekend
calls trickled in and Clarence established
himself in the towing business.
Now
over 50 years, three facilities, two
corporations, and dozens of trucks later,
the Van Lingen family enterprise still
offers both private and commercial 24-hour
towing services. The quality service first
provided by Clarence has become the hallmark
of the Van Lingen organization.
3 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU
20621 Earl, Torrance, CA
2755 Lomita, Torrance, CA
1149 S. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90301
|
|
&
