Saving North Texas One Car at a Time

Good Samaritan in custom vehicle hauls cars stuck on icy highway

The Cedar Hill man who helped rescue cars stuck on Spur 408 isn't afraid of a little cold weather and ice.

Why would he be? He's got a homemade, all-terrain rock climber with heated seats.

"I just can't watch hundreds of people just sit there and freeze and break down when I've got something like this (and) I can go out there and do something," Keith Allen said.

He and Peter Brown hauled cars, trucks and 18-wheelers that were stuck in traffic.

"I couldn't tell you how many cars," Allen said. "I mean, it was as fast as we could hook them up once we got there."

He spent the past four years building the rock climber. It has the engine of an '85 Chevy Blazer, but the rest of the parts are custom-built.

"It handled the terrain better than a few of those wrecker companies out there," Brown said.

The pair said they would normally charge $125 per hour, but offered their services for free Tuesday.

"We were just telling people, you know, 'Hey, if you got something you can donate to cover the gas and parts we're going to break, probably, it's appreciated," Allen said.

NBC DFW's Ellen Goldberg contributed to this report.

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