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
Last Call: Tool Box Edition
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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.
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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?-
I’d totally rock that Ford!
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That is hideous.
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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. -
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.
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“Waterfall Grille” is a really kind, sensitive, respectful way of saying “Whale Baleen”.
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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-
“Inspiration to a slow death” sounds like a movie I’d click on on Netflix.
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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.
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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.
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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?-
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.
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Is that enough duct-tape?
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“Racing Tape.”
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Yeah, it sure gets used up fast. 🙂
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Pfft. Some mechanic. There isn’t a BFH to be seen.
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But he does have WD-40 and duct tape. Maybe it’s open because he’s using the BFH.
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http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7431/9940743554_21374a4c3b.jpg
Despite all other evidence to the contrary, I must be a mechanic.
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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.
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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-
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.
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We have this model in the basement.
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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.
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Seeing something like that makes me think, “Disorganized”. I’d be going, “F-ck, where’s that 9/16?”
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I agree. Magnetic socket organizers are a godsend.
http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/socket-organizer.jpg-
Wait, there are magnetic versions of those tray-type organizers?? Man, where have I been?
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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…
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Who knew Jaguar is run by three Wolfgang’s? ZEIT:
Wolfgang Epple (Development)
Wolfgang Stadler (Production)
Wolfgang Ziebart (Technics) -
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.
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