Last Call: Tool Box Edition

Tools
I am hooked on tools, hence this image of a mechanic’s box (bigger version here) is to me like a laser pointer is to a cat. Actually I’m pretty interested in laser pointers too, so there is that. This is one of cooler tool boxes, the sort that slides its shelves open when you push down on the handle, and closes up when you lift it. I remember the first time I saw one, it was in the 1968 Hammer film, Quatermass and the Pit. I guess the fact that tool box stood out in a movie about Martian insects mind controlling Londoners from beyond the grave says even more about me than I care to know.
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged. 
Image: Go Away Garage

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  1. CraigSu Avatar
    CraigSu

    My dad had this exact style of toolbox. It’s been awhile since I even thought about it. Given that my brother turned out to be the professional mechanic in the family I’m betting he inherited it when my father passed.

  2. Marto Avatar
    Marto

    Is there a car in your country that everyone loves to hate?
    In Australia, THAT car is the Ford Falcon AU.
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/1998-2000_Ford_AU_Falcon_Forte_sedan_03.jpg
    I’m about to buy one. This one: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/deagon/cars-vans-utes/2001-ford-fairmont-sedan-top-package-rwc-auto-air-p-st-cheap-auii/1079483949
    (It’s technically a Fairmont AU, but that’s really just a Falcon trim line)
    I’m buying an AU because in value for money terms, they are unbeatable. They’re big, comfortable, reliable, easy to service, not awful on fuel, cheap to run and extremely durable. But they DO look like an accidental cockroach-horseshoe crab mutant. The design dumped major fail on what Falcons were “meant” to look like.
    So, question, is there a car your country loves to hate?

    1. JayP Avatar
      JayP

      I’d totally rock that Ford!

    2. mve Avatar
      mve

      That is hideous.

    3. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      I just recently read an article claiming to have identified the most hated car in a lot of European countries. My google-fu is weak today and I can’t find it. But for Norway, it was supposed to be the Opel Astra.
      “Hate” is really a strong word, but I guess sales numbers reflect what people won’t touch even wearing a hazmat suit. With the usual Scandinavian rationality, reliability ratings of all kinds sort of determine which brand is going to feel the heat the following year…
      Also…I get your thinking. Bought myself a rare Honda van (only 148 in the country) that was a hard sell for the previous owner, enabling outlandish haggling skills (OHS) on my behalf.

    4. sporty88 Avatar
      sporty88

      Agree about us Aussies loving to hate the AU. Still, it does make them cheap second-hand. I think the worst visual part about them is the waterfall grille on the base model (as per your picture) – swap it for the egg-crate grille from the commercial models, colour-code the grille and mirrors to the body, and put on a decent set of wheels and they don’t look too bad – IIRC, Ford did something similar late in the AU model run as a special edition. They also tend to look better in any colour other than white.

      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        “Waterfall Grille” is a really kind, sensitive, respectful way of saying “Whale Baleen”.

        1. dr zero Avatar
          dr zero

          I like to think that Ford Australia inspired Lincoln, both in appearance and unfortunately in slowly dying.
          http://www.thesmokingtire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11LAAS_6168.jpg

          1. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            “Inspiration to a slow death” sounds like a movie I’d click on on Netflix.

    5. dr zero Avatar
      dr zero

      Dad had an AU for the best part of 300,000 km, with only driveway maintenance for most of those. I never thought that they looked THAT bad, just completely different to the EL that they replaced.

  3. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    In highschool dad got me and my brother a Craftsman fliptop toolbox. At no point in time, in the past or future has my toolbox looked or will look as organized.

    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      It isn’t organized, it’s set decorated for the photograph.
      1. 40 bazillion sockets, at least 5 ratchets, but nothing for a 1/4″ drive? Except for the spark plug ones, no deep sockets. Why so many redundant sizes?
      2. All the sockets in the top right tray are teeny sizes and all resting on their bases, but a lot of room is left in that compartment. As soon as someone picks up the box, they aill all be on their sides.
      3. Where are the pliers? The big screwdrivers you can pry with? The Vise Grips?

      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        The pliers are under the torpedo level, which you and I know gets used a hell of a lot more than pliers; in the sorts of situations where you need a hundred 3/8 drive sockets and two each of wire strippers and box cutters anyway.

  4. Rover 1 Avatar
    Rover 1

    Is that enough duct-tape?

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      “Racing Tape.”

      1. Rover 1 Avatar
        Rover 1

        Yeah, it sure gets used up fast. 🙂

  5. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Pfft. Some mechanic. There isn’t a BFH to be seen.

    1. sporty88 Avatar
      sporty88

      But he does have WD-40 and duct tape. Maybe it’s open because he’s using the BFH.

    2. mdharrell Avatar

      http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7431/9940743554_21374a4c3b.jpg
      Despite all other evidence to the contrary, I must be a mechanic.

  6. Krautwursten Avatar
    Krautwursten

    If you’re a fool for tools, http://www.garagejournal.com/ is always worth a visit, especially the forums. Also I like the shelf type toolboxes (is there even an official name for them?) far more than drawer type toolboxes because you have all your tools and bits in view when you open them. This is what they traditionally look like around here, this particular model dates back to the times of socialist East Germany and is praised for its sturdiness.

    1. spotarama Avatar
      spotarama

      i have a Russian socket set that i picked up at a swap meet maybe 25 years ago, it is stupidly robust and simple in design and construction..
      it has taken abuse of a kind that would have put paid to many a lesser set and comes back for more. it lives in a proper steel carry box not a nasty pressed tin thing a-la sidchrome and the like.
      i have (unknowingly) used the steel case as a welding stand and it suffered no damage,save for a little bit of melted plastic inside..
      the same swap meet stall also had imperial sets (mines metric 1/2″ drive) as well as general maintenace sets (hammer, pliers, screwdrivers etc). i should have bought one of each but i had a long ways to walk and they are incredibly heavy.
      the price….$10…and it will outlive me by quite some margin i have no doubt
      will get photo tomorrow if i remember, its just gone 11pm here and thats past my bedtime
      night night all
      spotty

      1. P161911 Avatar
        P161911

        So did even the Russian standardize on 1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″ drive? Strange how that and inch sized wheels got to be worldwide standards even in countries that have NEVER used English units. Russian went from a Imperial Russian standard to metric.

    2. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      We have this model in the basement.

    3. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
      SlowJoeCrow

      That style is usually called a cantilever toolbox. I have the more common US style chest of drawers on wheels, plus a tackle box for art stuff and some small toolboxes for bicycle tools and home repair tools.

  7. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    Seeing something like that makes me think, “Disorganized”. I’d be going, “F-ck, where’s that 9/16?”

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      I agree. Magnetic socket organizers are a godsend.
      http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/socket-organizer.jpg

      1. Tiller188 Avatar
        Tiller188

        Wait, there are magnetic versions of those tray-type organizers?? Man, where have I been?

      2. jeepjeff Avatar
        jeepjeff

        This system requires that you put the sockets back in the organizer. I have organizers and I still end up saying ‘f—, where’s that 9/16?’ regularly…

  8. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Who knew Jaguar is run by three Wolfgang’s? ZEIT:
    Wolfgang Epple (Development)
    Wolfgang Stadler (Production)
    Wolfgang Ziebart (Technics)

  9. Top-dead-centre Avatar
    Top-dead-centre

    There is no greater shrine to tools than the tool chest made by Henry O. Studley (1838-1925), a piano maker. 300 tools in a 40″x40″x4.5″ space when open:
    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6ac_2xFrvI/T5qdhhwacQI/AAAAAAAAJJE/5yF-gDQr280/s1600/Studley.jpg
    It keeps tools in layers, with a place for everything and everything in its place, designed to hang on a shop wall. Lots of links and information available via Google.