Do you have too many tools?

Does your wife tell you that you have too many tools already every time you go buy something new? Does she constantly refer to them as “gadgets?”

I really don’t know what the meaning would be for “too many tools.” I know my grandsons always refer to tool stores and hardware stores as “Grandpa’s Toy Store,” but they love to go there with me.

Back in the early “Model T days,” when you bought a new car, they gave you most of the tools you would need. It included a hammer, screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a lug wrench, a spark plug wrench, a jack (sometimes) and an adjustable wrench referred to in those days as a “monkey wrench”. For the most part, these would take care of just about anything you needed to do.

In the 1920s, you began to need a bigger assortment of tools, and maybe even a toolbox to hold them instead of the little cloth pouch that came from the factory. By the 1930s, they started making specialized tools for special jobs, and they called them “J” tools and had a number for them. You will often see in your old service manuals a reference to one of these tools and some rather good instructions on how to use them.

By the 1940s, you had to have special screwdrivers and the start of what we now refer to as “electronic instruments,” such as engine analyzers etc. Also, with the advent and more widespread use of automatic transmissions, it began to require a lot more special tools, gauges, etc. As cars began to get more sophisticated and more complicated, more and more tools and machines were needed.

The “modern iron” cars of today are filled with computer electronics and automatic luxuries that require very sophisticated and expensive diagnostic machines to even start to work on the car. As a matter of fact, most of those diagnostic machines cost much more than the cars themselves.

Most dealerships today don’t really have mechanics—they have service writers, computer readers and parts replacement technicians. Most parts are not repairable and have to be replaced as a sealed unit. This is sure a different picture than in the early ’40s during World War II, when there were no new parts and you either rebuilt what you had or did without. Those guys were real mechanics.

Back to the question of what tools do you really need? It’s really just a matter of how far you want to go, or how much you want to pay someone that does have the tools to do the work on your pride and joy. So what are the basic tools needed by the old car hobbyist?

First of all, you will need a set of socket wrenches, which can cost from $10 to $1000. You are going to need both 3/8- and 1/2-inch drive. To go with these, you are going to need various handles and torque wrenches, as well as a set of end wrenches. You may need to duplicate a lot of these in metric sizes. Also, you are going to need at least a few of the larger sizes. For those times when you just can’t seem to find the right size, you are going to need an assortment of adjustable (Crescent) wrenches.

Now you are going to need some various screwdrivers of different styles, because nowadays it’s not only slot-head and Phillips-head; but all sorts of types, like Torx-head and Allen-head as well as a good set of nut drivers (you know, those things that look like a screwdriver but have a little wrench on the end).

Don’t forget the various types and sizes of pliers, locking pliers (Vise-Grips), hammers, wiring tools, a drill or two, and, of course, a soldering iron and propane torch. From this point on, anything you add to your tool collection, your wife will refer to them as “gadgets.”

From here on, it will take some ingenuity to get by with new purchases. It really helps if your wife is into crafts because it will be a lot easier if you can show her how this new tool will be useful around the house or in her craft work. A good example is a good heat gun to use with you shrink-tubing. Explain to your wife how this can be used for embossing her homemade greeting cards. Borrow it a few times with your greasy hands and the first thing you know, she buys herself a new one and you get to keep your dirty one in the garage.

Then you go into some specialized, fun-type tools, gadgets, machines and equipment such as drill presses, sandblaster, compressor, parts washer, etc. Now if I can just figure out a way to convince my wife how a drive-on hoist will help in one of her craft projects, I’ll have it made. Any ideas??

See ya next month.

—Walt