I took some pictures of my grandfathers toolbox last weekend. It has been in storage since 1976. Not only was it my grandfathers, it was built by my great grandfather who was a cabinet maker like myself! Its signed and dated 4-4-49. Here's a quick bio on my grandfather; he graduated Carter Carburetor School in the 30's. During WWII he was a PT boat mechanic stationed in the Philippines. He was aboard PT 157 the night they rescued John F Kennedy and crew after PT 109 was sunk by the Japanese. In 1953 he started Summertime's Carburetor and Electric Service in 29 Palms Calif. He loved motors his whole life. I thought you all might like to see it too. Happy holidays, P.S. my wife and I found his 1953 Buick at Long Beach auto swap back in 1999. I'll post some pics soon.
Man, as long as we keep telling the stories..They are not forgotten. Guys like this need their story told often.
Wow! I have my Granpa's Kennedy that he got in the '30's when he hired into GM. Don't ever part with that....EVER!!
cool stuff...my Uncle gave me the box of mic's and caliper's that belonged to my grandpa...when my Uncle passes I'll get to find out about what's in the attic from the old shops...he let's me in on stuff but always says it's junk...I keep saying...NO WAY!!!
Surprisingly they are in pretty good condition, considering he used it almost everyday from 1949 to 1976!
That is an awesome box! Congrats on scoring your grandpas stuff! I got all my grandfathers machinist tools, and his old Kennedy box after Theres something about the old tools, the quality is better then the new ones. They seem to have a lot more personality too.
That's a beauty...I too have my grandfather's Kennedy box from the 1930's. While he never saw war action in WW2, he and his toolbox were civilian drafted. Before the war, he designed, engineered, built and maintained large-format tote boards for horse tracks, dog tracks, casinos and such-any place that needed a machine that could manually calculate and display odds very quickly and accurately. Possessing a brilliant mathematical mind, in early 1942 he was 'informed by the U.S. Gov't' that he was to go to work for Westinghouse where he helped design some of the first U.S. radar systems to detect aircraft approaching, U2 launches etc. During the war, he and his team noticed that you could heat up your lunch in the array, so after the war he and his team proposed using radar waves to create ovens that could heat food very quickly compared to coventional ovens. He used to tell me that they envisioned their 'radar range' being used in schools, hospitals and prisons-anyplace you needed to serve a lot of people simultaneously hot food and that they originally could not fathom tabletop units-today we know differently. Every time I use a microwave, I think of my grandfather; every time I pull a vintage tool from his toolbox, I wish that old tool-box could talk...One of the things I think I miss the most about my grandfather and his generation was their can-do attitude. Nothing was impossible because they did the impossible. When he was in his nineties, he used to tell me that although he knew his days were coming to an end, that he felt So Lucky to have been born and lived when he did-especially as an Engineer...He used to say " Mark when I was born (1901) we rode horses, or rode in a horse-and-buggy..I didn't even see my first car until I was ten...in my lifetime I've seen cars, airplanes, jets, rockets, computers and man land on the moon-what a GREAT time to be alive!" I miss him and I miss the spirit that generation embodied.
Now that was a great story about your Grandfather ! That is also a very nice tool box with a lot of history ! RetroJim
Very nice. I understand your appreciation of the tool box and of your grandfather. In my living room is a wooden box, square cut iron nails and hand wrought iron handles. Doesn't attract a bit of attention. Yet, when my family came over from the old country, 1861, everything of value was carried in this box. To me, it is one of the most important pieces that I could possibly have. Congratulations, you are now the caretaker of the toolbox and more importantly, of the memories of your family. All the best, Dale Cleveland OH
Thank you for sharing that wonderful story and the pictures of his tool chest that obviously meant a great deal to him.The best thing of all though is the memory of your grandfather. I was privileged to be raised by my grandparents although I didn't think that at the time.My grandfather was born in 1876 on July 4th and passed away in February of 1965.He was many things during his lifetime;among them a licensed chauffeur(badge #6 in Massachusetts)and auto mechanic in the early 1900's.When I was young he would tell me of the cars he worked on(Darracq;Panhard-LeVasseur;Pope-Hartford;and Stevens-Duryea to name a few. Later on he became a machinist and worked for General Electric until they made him retire at the age of 72.He had a large tool box in the cellar that when I started working on cars around age 12 he would let me use providing I took good care of them.He even helped me work on my first car;a 1933 Hudson coupe.He also was born before the advent of electricity and saw not only the birth of the automobile but aviation as well and did get to see a man go into space and continually marveled at what man had accomplished in his lifetime. He passed away while I was in the Navy and when I finally returned home the house had been sold and all his(and my)belongings had vanished.The only things I have of his are an old ball pein hammer and a pair of tin snips plus a couple of his old pocket knives and a very special item:a leather cap I painted up with a picture of a roadster Pete Millar style on the top. Those memories are the best even if I don't have his tools.
Do ya think they would be pissed if ya put some pinstripes on it? (I am assuming that they had rodder traits)
That is an awesome story and an awesome tool box! I love how all the screw slots are horizontal...not many take the time to do it right!!!!
that is really cool history. Just a strange coincidence, but my great uncle, was commander of PT-159, I'm sure they must have known each other.
My mom has all of his WWII pictures, there is a bunch of the Philippines and PT boats. If there is any of PT 159 I'll email them to you.