TREASURES OF THE TOOLBOX
AS WE STARTED planning for our Tools & Supplies Special Section, talk among our staff turned to some of the stuff stashed in our personal toolboxes that we’ve each grown to treasure. Everyone who works on cars has tools, and delving into projects or even just simple jobs will soon cause the user to form bonds with those bits that help make it all happen. These items may have made a certain task easier, or might even have saved someone’s bacon a time or two by providing a solution to a particularly vexing problem.
After hearing such vast and varied input from our crew, a collection of favorites seemed a natural for a story. We agreed the list of favorites could include items that are currently available as well as the useful things no longer offered. An admiration for well-made implements is a common tool-lover’s criterion, but we heard plenty of suggestions for inexpensive stuff as well — so long as it provided some particularly useful function, it could be included. Some items are complex, some brutally simple. A few of the listings seem fairly obvious, and in those cases we tried to offer insight on what made that particular type or brand worth mentioning. Others included odd specialty tools that many of us were completely unfamiliar with.
In any case, the following tools and other useful stuff are all things we’ve come to rely on to get our cars together and keep them going. What about your favorite tools? We’d like to keep this rolling, either for a future installment in these pages or for an ongoing online feature. If you’ve got something interesting that isn’t here, send us a picture of it, with your description and explanation of what makes it so vital. Email us at musclemachines@hemmings.com using the subject line: Essential Tools. In the meantime, take a look at our staff-compiled list for inspiration.
CROW’S-FOOT FLARE-NUT SOCKETS
This was a recent addition to my toolbox. I saw a set of these crow’s-feet that were actually flare-nut wrenches — the multisided open-end tools made expressly to remove
