Shit Joey, I got the twin to that box! Sits high on a shelf out in the garage, relegated to storage of lesser used 'stuff', long since retired. My first box, and very similarly stickered & worn. Now I'll have to get it down for a look....
I'd be sorely tempted to fill it up with old tools and put it in my trunk. But right now, the two boxes I have that I take on road trips have been in my family for at least 40 years.
Reminiscing (along with a bit of sadness for days gone by) about all the related memories this post brings. Thanks for posting.
Very cool. I'm nearly 70 and have an old Craftsman tool box just like that one. Bought it when I was 13. It's also covered with racing decals from my youth. Sorry, I don't know how to take pictures to share.
I googled "Roth decals" and got a whole page of cool stuff, but nothing that looked like the one that is mostly scratched off. cool box
A great find indeed! My son-in-law gave me a tool box like that. It has a MOPAR sticker on it from when he worked at a MOPAR dealer in upper Michigan.
Love those decals. I have that exact same box with body hammers and dollys in it. It's a good box. Mine was $5 also!
I've got a similar tool box, (sans decals), it was pretty rusted/scratched so I sand blasted it and repainted in close to the original colors, it now has some of my dads tools as well as a bunch of others gathered over the years and sits in the trunk of my 38 Chevy. I did put a couple of stickers on it so that my grand kids will have the same style of tool box to sell after I am gone
Very nice find. I have the same story only mine is a handmade carpenters tool chest. I bought it from a old man that was divorced and clearing out. It belonged to an old friend of his in the Bay area that had passed away. I got the chest and dozens of vintage carpenters tools. The real gem however was getting to spend an hour or two sipping iced tea listening to the ol boy talk.
Here's the box that my older brother gave me when I drug home my 55 Chevy when I was 15 years old. It was used then, and I've had it for 46 years now. It's been all over the country in the back of my 40 Ford.
The lower left of the decal in question says.... Exhaust systems... Ive seen the decal before but cant remember were. If it pops into my rusty brain I will let you know....
Cool find. Early 70s. My very first toolbox was exactly like that. My first collection of craftsmen tools my wife bought me for Christmas. Good old days. Pinching penny's working for peanuts and raising our first child. Full of excitement when in our simple life everything made us happy.
Yeah, should have asked her what she meant by"blood sweat and tears". Of course she could have been a roadie for a band form the 60/70s I Have a couple of those craftsman boxes. wished i could find a couple more
What's the big deal? One of those has been my everyday "carry-around" toolbox for at least the last 50 years.
Bought my first one with a great set of tools on a sale Sears had in 1966 when I bought my very first new car a '66 Fairlane. The box with tools got stolen. Another sears sale a few months later with tools and i had another one but for the life of me after i bought a nice roll around 3 piece stack set and loaded all my tools from the box to it.........it disappeared!
This was my first toolbox given to me as a Christmas present more yrs. ago than I care to think about. Many yrs. ago I cleaned it up, painted it black and have turned into my electrical (home) box with some red pinstriping. It'll probably last longer than me. Nice find Joey.
I've got at least one in the shed with no decals but just about as much wear and the old box I had when I worked at Boeing in 1966 that is similar in size but square and originally had a brown finish like the Kennedy boxes. That one has been in a lot of car trunks over the past 50 years.
Thanks everyone! Transferring tools into it will be one of this weekend's projects. I did stick around for a spell, and I learned that the box was filled with woodworking tools for as long as the woman could remember. I believe it was her father's. We talked for a few minutes, and then one of her friends who was there from out-of-town came by. My ears perked up as he told me about his HRM collection dating back to the-'50s, his '60s Corvette as well as his Harley flatheads and panheads of yesteryear. We discussed the latest trends in hot rodding and the future of the hobby. When I figured it was time for me to leave, I offered to help the woman and her friend pack up the sale before it got dark. (Anyone who has ever had a garage sale knows how big of an undertaking that can be.) They declined, but thanked me anyway. Using some twine from the sale and a bungee cord I had brought with me, I secured my new-to-me toolbox to my motorcycle and was on my way back across town in time for dinner.
The Jalopy Journal
