Had not said earlier because I was still thinking back. I keep going back to a BernzOmatiC torch kit box. Dad had plenty of tools at home so I just had what I only needed in case I fouled a plug and other simple stuff in it when on the road. It wasn't till I moved out that I went with a Craftsman unit much like this one (lighter gray/red drawers). Still have it, just not here at my girlfriends house. That said, I've got boxes and or chests at too many locations now.
I bought this Craftsman for myself for X-mas in '72, back when Sears was the real deal. It's my battery box now & part tool storage, in case I break down (not that such a thing would ever happen).
Makes me sad to see all these toolbox pictures, a lot of them were manufactured here in Iowa by Waterloo Industries. Long gone. Everybody on this board especially, probably has tools they keep in their box from way back that might not even get used very often but were gifted or belonged to their grandfather or their dad, or someone they worked with. It's a connection to the past, a way of remembering them. The great thing about my dad as far as tools go he wasn't a super mechanic, he did OK back in the day if only because he had to. But, he would buy tools and then probably couldn't find them or forgot or whatever, so he'd buy another one. That worked in my favor. I've two pair of excellent Vise-Grips by Petersen out of Dewitt, Neb. I've still got about a tobacco can worth of drywall nails he bought in 1971. Started out as a Big Ass Box O Nails. He had no idea how many he was gonna need during a remodel.
Christmas, starting 1958, my parents got me a Craftsman tool box with a 1/2 drive ratchet set, for the next 8 years till I was 18, Craftsman tools was my birthday and Christmas presents. I still have/use these tools with MANY more I added including boxes and roller cabinets through the years. Craftsman replaced the ratchets and sockets, others through the years, lifetime warranty has been in fact good. A few years ago when I read about the Sears & Roebuck reorganization I gathered up several pieces and they again replaced all pieces with new, no problems. Never been a pro wrench, between hobby cars and racing hobby these tools have been well used. As a side note, I also have my Dad's craftsman tool box with some Snap On/ mostly Craftsman stuff, he had a Shell station in early 50's, So.........I have tools.
My very first toolbox was a plastic tackle box I found on the beach that I fit all of my bike tools in. Then my parents bought me a Tru Value toolbox from the local hardware store for my birthday 40+ years ago, has a lift out tray. I still have it, although my son absconded with it recently. Later on I built a rolling tool chest out of some free angle iron and lumber scraps because I couldn't afford a real one. That one is 30+ years old, and I still use it today.
mine was just top tray that would go in a small tool box, no brand name tools, just basics - no sockets, etc
Didn't have the Thorsen box or ratchet set but I still have the Thorsen combo wrench set I bought from Silver's Hardware in beautiful downtown Mustang, OK in 1960. Don't remember what I paid for them but the money came from running a paper route on foot to practically every house in town ( population 500 ) morning and night.
Yep old Waterloo pulled that hit and miss here in Muskogee some years back, when the left Iowa! Cost the area dearly. Bones
The bottom heavy steel tool box my Dad built back in the Forties is still being used in the shop at the ranch! If you look real close , amongs the junk, you can see it under his Proto top box! Bones
Right out of high school I got a job in a sheet metal shop. Bought a real nice Kennedy tool box. A few years later the kid across the road that used my tools did me a favor an spray bombed it white.
Ya I started with a craftsman gray box with a lift out tray. Got it for Christmas probably around 14 had all your basic hand tools. That was the best gift I ever got. But next Christmas I got my first multi shot pump shot gun. Had been hunting with the old family single shot for several years. My dad bought it used from paper route money. I remember going to sears walking up and down the isle’s of tools matching the money in my pocket to see what I could take home and stuff in my tool box. A few years later I was working in a full service gas station and bought a Mac top box and set on the work bench in front of the single post lift. Once the tool man got me on the weekly pay plan. I didn’t need the old craftsman box anymore. Ended up giving it back to Dad with what duplicate tools I didn’t need. To be honest it probably the first complete tool set he ever owned. My dad’s 95 and says that tool box will always be yours you know. He gave me that old single shot several years back it’s the best. Did I ever say I got two quail with one shot remember it like yesterday.
Not my first but my latest. I made this from scraps in the garage/woodshop. It’s all wood…no steel fasteners. I’ve been striving to get back to simpler times. I used all hand tools, made the tapered dowels that hold it all together. my first toolbox was an old Craftsman hip roof that I found in the road….
Typical Craftsman box with lift out tray. As someone mentioned it was the filled with tools for $99. Imagine I sold or traded it away.
My dad gave me the gray craftsman that sits in my garage next to my coupe today with some of the original tools still in it. Scratched, dented an still loved
That box, tools and era are all familiar to me. My parents bought me the same Powr-Kraft (Montgomery Ward) tool box filled with tools in about 1975, after I got married and moved to the family farm. Before that, I'd overhauled the family's '53 Willys Aero Ace F-head, bought and overhauled a '29 Model A coupe (my first car) and overhauled a '64 Jaguar XK-E with my dad's cheapo Japanese tools that he had bought to overhaul our '52 Henry J back in 1955. The foreign tools were crudely made, but durable for the most part. I inherited what was left of them when my dad died in early 1998 and still use them today.
When we moved into the new subdivision back in about 65-66 (I was near 10YO), I got a Husky open top box with a lift out tray. It came with a complete Husky 1/2" drive socket set, a set of box end wrenches and a set of screwdrivers. I was told that since I then had my own tools, dad expected me to leave his alone. That never did change, I was expected to use only my own tools. It didn't take long before I had more tools then dad had, but he was OK with that. He didn't use my tools either, by his choice. Gene
My 1st box was one I dug out of a farmer's dump site along an eroded creek bank. It was a 2 drawer chest and the lid was sprung badly. Somehow I got the lid off and got it somewhat straight. put it back on with butt hinges machine screws. The lower part, with the drawers, is now under my lathe bench for tool bits and other small tools. Gary
My first toolbox was a cheap little metal one and only had a few cheap tools like a crescent wrench, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. I remember shortly after getting it thinking I would take my training wheels off my Schwinn Stingray. My dad was busy working on someone’s Corvette while I did just that. I could ride my bike without them, but wasn’t real good yet. It was probably less than 30 minutes before I hit a girl head on on her bike and hit my head on the bolt that goes down through the neck into the frame. Got a few stitches that day, but never put those training wheels back on. This story could likely explain a few things...
The little box a 3/8 socket set came in and a tool tray that I have no clue as to where it came from. Probably something that stepfather #1 left behind when he moved out and away. Stepfather #2 gave me a Western Auto Torque wrench that I still have for Christmas in 1966 the first year he was married to my mom. I could buy stuff at the Western Auto he worked at with his discount while he still worked there. Fist Real too box that I had was the Duplex top and bottom box set that I bought in 1965 when I started going to Trade school. I had that box until about 1973 when I traded it to Car Swingler the Snap-On guy in Central Texas. The Snap-On Box still has his sticker on the front. First little lug around box I ever hand I bought in 1966 when I worked at Boeing for a few months. I still have that one out in the shed somewhere. I carried that thing in the trunk of a lot of cars over the years.
my first tool, ironically was a hammer, I probably kept it in a toy box. been playing with tools ever since.
I bought my first tool box in 1959. I can't remember the store, but they had a tool box with wrenches, sockets, screw drivers, etc. for $ 19.95. This was with time payments, too. I still have the Penens sockets that came in the tool box. They must be good quality to have lasted this long
In 1954 my first ride, 1947 Plymouth, blew a head gasket.I asked a friend who was a great mechanic with a lot of great cars including a 1932 Jordan Ace 8 roadster (the only one in the world by the way ) if he would fix it. He said no but would show me how to do it. I needed tools so I went to a friend who owned the parts store and he agreed to sell me a set on time payments. $5 down bought me a Proto 1/2" rachet drive socket set which cost $35. He told me to buy good tools and they were the best at the time. I paid the set off a couple bucks a week and that got me started on the hobby. Still have the Proto set and a lot more added over the last 67 years. The original socket set box is long gone but it has been a very enjoyable ride with hobby. Currently building my 1928 RPU and the tools work great.
This is like my first tool box, I still have it minus the plastic tools, it's the perfect place to keep a stack of Benjamin's. HRP
This thread really brings back a lot of good memories. Because we lived out in the country, where there were a lot of dairy's and big tanker trucks running up and down the the two lane, country roads, my folks opted to wait till I was 9 years old before they bought me my first bicycle, they knew that once I had wheels, I would take advantage of the 15 mile radius that I could easily explore, and they were right. I didn't have any tools of my own to work on my bike, I saved up the $12.00 ( this was back in 1962 ) that it cost to buy one of these cool little S-K Wayne 1/4" drive socket sets. Wished I still had it, all of these pictures are from the internet. My next tool box was the standard green 50 caliber ammo can, functional yes, but a pain in the ass if you wanted what ever was at the bottom of the box, so no choice but to turn it over and empty it all out ! My next tool box, was a thrown away USAF mechanics fold out tool box that was totally beat to hell. It was a real pain in the ass because of the way it was built, it had a rough life and was rickety at best, hard to open up and a bitch to close, I made it worse by painting it all Caterpillar yellow with a rattle can ! Anybody that ever had one of these knows exactly what I am talking about.
The first real tools that I had was a half inch drive set "Bonney-E Con" if I remember correctly. That was about 1962 or 1963, I think it came in a metal box.....I had some cheap open end wrenches (they are still in the shop.....put them in wife's tool stash). My grandmother bought the set pictured in 1963?.....it was always in the trunk of the car The ratchet was great to take the lug nuts off Later in the Army in the later 60's I got a deal from Supply and bought a full box of Giller branded tools. I still have almost all of them. The box? Well, just one more thing I've forgotten The first box that I purchased that had two drawers (late 70's) resides in the trunk of the 38 Chevy with enough tools that you'd think it had a flathead I gave my dad's craftsman toolbox to a friend that stored stuff for me for a few months back in 71, I should call him and ask him if he still has it
Wow, this one brought up memories! My ninth birthday was a treasure hunt. Handed one gift, with a clue for the location for the next. I don't remember what any of the others were, probably a Matchbox car in there, but the last one was on the shelf of the hall closet. I was by that time well versed in "If you borrow a tool, put it back!" and he had a great selection of tools out in the garage. He had come home when I was five or six and I'd taken the training wheels off my bicycle the day I got it. He had to help me get the rear tire straight in the frame with the chain tight because my legs wouldn't reach to pull from behind. Anyway, he had bought a fishing tackle box and gone to great effort to paint and decorate it for me. It was the same color (outside) as a stripe color he had recently painted his Montessa gas tank in and I'd helped pick out. I never used it as a tool box, it was too cool to get beat up. I love my dad, even though he is gone now. Here it is just now, it resides on a display shelf in a place of honor in my house.
dad was dead set against me being a "grease monkey," but he was dumbfounded when i gave him a tour of my tools when i was 50! but, my first real toolbox was an old machinist's box i bought from a friend who was in trade school and had outgrown it. paid 10 bucks and eventually passed it on to someone else!
The Jalopy Journal
