The History of the WHITE WHALE
The White Whale is the name of our main recovery truck, some (kids) call her a monster truck. She is what makes our business extremely capable and sets us apart from the other vehicle recovery businesses in the area. We have built this truck specifically for Eastern Sierra snow, mud, and sand vehicle recoveries.
The White Whale currently has THREE winches, 47" tires, 14 bolt fully locking differentials (front and rear), a custom TIG welded frame and exhaust (front to back), scene lights that bring daylight to the night time, PRP seats with 5 point harnesses, and much, much more.
You hear us talk about her, you see her on Instagram and YouTube and you might wonder: What is the big deal about this truck and why are they so infatuated with it? Well, we decided to dedicate an entire page on our website to the answer.
Where she STARTED,
where she has BEEN
and where she is NOW.
The Start
The White Whale is a 1973 Ford F250 Highboy. You can say she has been loved and heavily wheeled since the beginning. We know her story after Kyle purchased her in 2010.
Kyle has sent us the following photos because he has too been in love with this truck since it's beginnings and has followed it through different owners. As you can see, Kyle also put a lot of work into the White Whale, including a flat bed, rebuilding the engine and more.
Kyle took the White Whale to Pismo dunes and rolled her 2 hours after getting there. It wouldn't be the last time she gets rolled either but this is when she got her signature crumple. The passenger door is wonky (shuts now but didn't for a while) and the roof is caved in. I like to point out that the windshield didn't break, which shows how strong the pillars are on these old trucks, even without a cage.
She has a name!
After Kyle sold the 1972 Ford F250 Highboy to Chance at CaliFab some years later, she then became the "White Whale".
At this point, Alex (owner of Frosty 4Wheeler) began following the White Whale on Instagram and from the time she got a bed rack and sliders to the time she got her first 49" tires, Alex knew he had to have this truck. Chance not only did a ton of fabrication work to the White Whale, he also fixed up the brakes, installed hydro-assist power steering and even gusseted the frame in the rear because since the roll the frame was tweaked.
When Alex puts his sights on something like the White Whale, there is no stopping him. He saved up all his money and made Chance an offer. Chance accepted and we made arrangements to have the White Whale dropped off as soon as possible.
August 2021, we own the White Whale! The 49" tires looked really cool on the truck but they didn't function properly. We couldn't turn, the steering needed work because the tires rubbed everything. The motor also needed to be tuned for our high elevation location. We knew we were buying a project and were excited to get started. Alex got right to work, he installed a shackle flip kit, a 14 bolt in the rear and worked on the steering so by the time he was done the White Whale could wear 49" tires on the highway.
Alex put in months of hard work to get the White Whale to a point where we could take it on its first job. When we did, history was made because our recoveries have never been the same since. We have continued to improve the White Whale since owning it, in an attempt to make it last as long as possible while providing us with an honest living.
August 2023 we went down to our friend's shop in Julian, CA to rebuild the White Whale into the vehicle recovery animal you see today. We spent over 10 weeks working every single day on the White Whale, night and day together to create this one of a kind piece of functional artwork. Not a single bolt, fluid nor bulb was left untouched. We built a brand new frame, added THREE winches, linked the front, installed new shocks, created a bed with tailgate, completely cleaned and re-finished the interior, we added a Sniper Holley EFI ii system and much much more.
We documented the entire White Whale 2.0 re-build on YouTube:
January 2024 we checked an item off our bucket list: we helped recover race vehicles on a live race course at the 2024 King of the Hammers event using our newly rebuilt White Whale 2.0
So when you call us out for a vehicle recovery and we bring out the White Whale 2.0, you will know why we are so infatuated with her. She treats us well (most of the time).
Wave if you see us! (We probably cannot hear you haha)