I have my first toolbox still, it came on my Gramp's IH 1066 tractor he bought new in 1976, my brother and I owned it jointly 1991-94ish, I was 6-9 years old, I bought out his half eventually. My Dad gave us that box with some mismatched tools and a cheapo made in Japan socket set in 1991. My brother and I at that age used our tools taking apart small engines and cars playing in the junkyard with about 12 vehicles and some farm equipment, on our family's farm that my parent's were starting out a farm equipment repair, eventual dealership on. The junkyard didn't have any B bodies, one R body 81 Gran Fury, 76 Dart, 80 Volare, 73 New Yorker, 77 Royal Monaco, 76 Newport, 51 Windsor Deluxe, 78 LeBaron, 85 Fifth Ave, 67 D100, 74 D100, 74 D200 440, 79 D150 club cab, a burnt out 70s crewcab D300 that donated it's heavier springs and diff to the 74 D200, 75 D100, an IH Loadstar 1600 dump truck and a 79 Tradesman 300 ex school bus. The Tradesman was our shop for small engine teardowns. That cheapo socket didn't perform well enough, cleaned it up and tried to trade it back into my Dad but he had nothing to offer. It was Christmas 92 when I was 7 I asked for a good socket set, I got a Mastercraft 1/2 set, I still have it 32 years later.
If you are wild into auto repair then you can never have too many tools. Putting headers on a 2013 Charger I used every version of 3/8 and 1/4 drive 13mm socket I had and every version of 13mm wrench. I have a Matco 90 degree 1/2 drive impact, if you look up YouTube reviews most are negative, but if you do 88-98 GM C/K pickup exhaust manifolds on 4.3/5.0/5.7 it is a good tool to have, the impact action saves your life vs a broken bolt. May 2025 will be 20 years as a career professional auto mechanic, and I'm a Snap On fan for sure. The biggest downfall of other tool trucks like Mac or Matco in my rural area of Canada is keeping a consistent dealer, Snap On always has been active. Snap On ratchets are the best hands down. About 10 years ago when Snap On came out with the FDX socket it was a game changer. I never saw a benefit of Snap On chrome sockets vs cheaper brands before but the FDX is exceptional, don't bother beating it on, throw away your torches, it just grips it and goes, takes out all the exhaust manifold bolts that aren't already broken most times. Do a bunch of those jobs and it's amazing how much those FDX sockets pay off, no BS, saved me a lot of torch work vs before their time. There are still times that fancy tools can't save the day, and the 10mm hex is depleted past 9.5mm(3/8) but not close enough to 9mm to get a 9mm socket on, so you heat the head and put a 3/8 socket on it, wanna be using your generic brand socket then vs your nice one. Just like we did it it before FDX.
It is a shame how some mechanic's life collection of tools can be cast aside easily enough but that's the way she goes. I've thought about getting older and if my kids weren't interested in my tools, cars and parts, hopefully know a younger enthusiast, send it all in a few shipping containers his way.
yep -40 is cold, anything above is hot lol
