I love this set. I received it for Christmas in 1979. I spent numerous days playing with this set and several more transforming it into my first tow truck to haul all of the broken down cars in my original LEGO town. I also believe one of the many models pictured on the back of the box shows it can be turned into a rollback as well. I still have my set in its original box with instructions. I am only missing the stickers on the headlight piece. But after forty years of ownership, I won't complain too much. As I said I received it for Christmas in 1979; my parent's left the price sticker on it - $4.58 at Boscov's.

The simple effectiveness of SNOT building for the load is wonderful, as is the playability, but the crane isn't minifigure scale...
A curious model!

^^^Very few of these early minifigure town sets were designed to actually interact with minifigures; it was in the following years that all the various vehicles were designed to have spaces to seat the figures, steering wheels, doors, etc. That said, looking at the overall design of the crane, it's hard to imagine a much-improved version today, it looks very realistic especially considering the small size.