History First tool box?

Old stickers/decals probably would be worth more than the toolbox if they were intact.

 

Waterloo went out of business just a couple years ago. They’d been part of a number of larger corporate shuffles, but finally closed their doors fairly recently. At one point they really made a lot of boxes, labeled both as Waterloo and a range of other companies.

 

My first toolbox(?) cost me $500 in 1969. It was attached to my 1968 Honda CL 175 scrambler. Managed to take apart the bike with that small selection of wrenches that came with it.

 

First toolbox, Craftsman dad got me for my 14th birthday. He also got me some Wards Powr Kraft screwdrivers. Middle size I ground to fit clutch head screws on my '57.

 

First? Yeah I still have it. Photo is of my daughter 40 years ago helping me get parts off an old 33 Dodge.

 

I was up at my Dads a few weeks ago visiting we were sitting outside in front of the garage. He’s almost 97 at the end of August. He was giving me odds and ends stuff he doesn’t use anymore along with my old craftsman tool box. It was hard not to tell him to keep it I’ll pick it up later. But we both know his time is getting short. Like we would say in the army when you were short you could sit on the edge of a dime and dangle your feet and not touch the ground.

 

My Machinst tool box. Served me well for 45 years.

 

Here's my first toolbox repainted and repurposed.

 

Everyone had one of those iconic Craftsman gray boxes. I went through one working in various shops, it got bounced around in trunks and truck beds. With the trucks, at night it was locked in the cab with a towel over it.

I still have two of them, one was pinstriped by my racing partner, he was breaking in some new brushes. I took one with me racing, the last year I worked out of the trunk of my '68 Impala. It had everything I needed to swap out an engine in the pits.. which we did a couple of times.

 

Got into cars at the age of 12. My dad let me change intake gaskets on his 1958 Ford. It had a 332 V8. Cast iron intake was one third of the cylinder head. Weighed a ton. Had a Ford carb looked alot like a Holley. Anyway my grandfather was getting along in years. When he heard what I had done he gave me his tool box. It's gotta be over 100 years old now. Plus it was full of old Starrett tools. He was a machinist for the Reading Railroad. It's still with me 62 years later. I use those tools a bunch. Even have a Starrett micrometer, reads 0 to one inch, screw on an adapter, check it with the standard that came with it, adjust as required and you now have a 1 to 2" mic.

 

Just another Craftsman box. Was my High school graduation present from my Dad. The same box my 4 brothers also received. Now it is my travel box when going to the Drag strip.

 

Mine was an old fishing tackle box. Still got it somewhere. But have much better ones now.