bart1
Well-known member
Apologies in advance for the long post, but I decided to go ahead and tell my life story.
I just recently joined GJ. I have been doing a little wrenching for a long time (20 years) just on my cars and small stuff. To start with it was more out of necessity, in that I just didn't have the money to pay a mechanic. I was always fascinated by cars though and, of course, that eventually led to me modifying them - again taking to me wrenching. And the desire really went back to when I was a kid, always taking apart my Stompers (remember those?) and RC cars and hot rodding them (a fitting beginning for an engineer/gearhead).
I never really had a lot of tools, just your basic stuff (hand tools, a few specialty items bought when I needed them and some basic air and power tools). Back when I was heavy into Jeeping, I had a father-in-law with a fully stocked shop where I did most of my work. Some years back, let's just say I lost access to that shop. So now I am living by myself in a small house with a decent little two car garage. I had recently started doing a little reorganization in it and decided to restock a few of my tools.
I had been threatening to buy one of those big Harbor Freight cabinets for some time. I have gone in there multiple times and looked at them, asked if they had them in stock, etc. Never could pull the trigger for whatever reason. Maybe that I really don't have enough tools to necessitate a cabinet that big right now, maybe I was afraid my garage would start smelling like HF, something...
So, what tools to buy, then? I think for the stuff you use regularly, it is worth it to buy quality. Enjoy using it and probably only have to buy it the once. Honestly, I am just a weekend wrench warrior, so Craftsman or some such would probably do fine for me. But for some time, I have been really into these little German cars and have come to appreciate the quality and precision in them. As most Porsche guys know, what the factory and mechanics used to use back in the early days were Hazet tools. They were also supplied in the toolkits with the cars (unfortunately, both of my mid-90s cars have mostly Klein), so that seemed a fitting direction to go in buying my high end tools.
That's about the time I joined here. There are several posts about Hazet and they are quite well regarded. Also, another little thing caught my eye: The Assistent tool trolley. "Ah, that thing's too small and expensive, I really don't need it..." Well, that worked for a bit, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted one, so I started putting together a list of reasons why it was reasonable to get one:
And so on...
So, the search was on. I looked at several options (including bringing one back as a checked bag next time I go to Germany) and ended up making a deal with a guy in California. Just arrived today, but I snapped a few pics to share with the people here who helped influenced me to buy this thing. As I free up more space in my garage, I may go back and add that HF cabinet, though I will likely have to paint in black and blue. Bit for now, my little Assistent, along with my 190L and Craftsman box, should suit me nicely. Hope you enjoy some of the pics!
Posing with the 993:
Unfortunately, my plan to stack these is not going to work out:
Probably it's storage area for now:
I read about this on the Samba, but while the top tray is very sturdy, the middle ones have a little play - this one has the most (anybody know the proper fix for this?):
Couple other random pics:
I just recently joined GJ. I have been doing a little wrenching for a long time (20 years) just on my cars and small stuff. To start with it was more out of necessity, in that I just didn't have the money to pay a mechanic. I was always fascinated by cars though and, of course, that eventually led to me modifying them - again taking to me wrenching. And the desire really went back to when I was a kid, always taking apart my Stompers (remember those?) and RC cars and hot rodding them (a fitting beginning for an engineer/gearhead).
I never really had a lot of tools, just your basic stuff (hand tools, a few specialty items bought when I needed them and some basic air and power tools). Back when I was heavy into Jeeping, I had a father-in-law with a fully stocked shop where I did most of my work. Some years back, let's just say I lost access to that shop. So now I am living by myself in a small house with a decent little two car garage. I had recently started doing a little reorganization in it and decided to restock a few of my tools.
I had been threatening to buy one of those big Harbor Freight cabinets for some time. I have gone in there multiple times and looked at them, asked if they had them in stock, etc. Never could pull the trigger for whatever reason. Maybe that I really don't have enough tools to necessitate a cabinet that big right now, maybe I was afraid my garage would start smelling like HF, something...
So, what tools to buy, then? I think for the stuff you use regularly, it is worth it to buy quality. Enjoy using it and probably only have to buy it the once. Honestly, I am just a weekend wrench warrior, so Craftsman or some such would probably do fine for me. But for some time, I have been really into these little German cars and have come to appreciate the quality and precision in them. As most Porsche guys know, what the factory and mechanics used to use back in the early days were Hazet tools. They were also supplied in the toolkits with the cars (unfortunately, both of my mid-90s cars have mostly Klein), so that seemed a fitting direction to go in buying my high end tools.
That's about the time I joined here. There are several posts about Hazet and they are quite well regarded. Also, another little thing caught my eye: The Assistent tool trolley. "Ah, that thing's too small and expensive, I really don't need it..." Well, that worked for a bit, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted one, so I started putting together a list of reasons why it was reasonable to get one:
- I can continue to use my other two small boxes in addition to this one
- It is very portable, so I can load it up and take it somewhere
- Resale will likely be very good on it
- Size is not such that I will be stuck with it if I did need to sell
- No HF smell!
- Made in Germany, not China
And so on...
So, the search was on. I looked at several options (including bringing one back as a checked bag next time I go to Germany) and ended up making a deal with a guy in California. Just arrived today, but I snapped a few pics to share with the people here who helped influenced me to buy this thing. As I free up more space in my garage, I may go back and add that HF cabinet, though I will likely have to paint in black and blue. Bit for now, my little Assistent, along with my 190L and Craftsman box, should suit me nicely. Hope you enjoy some of the pics!
Posing with the 993:
Unfortunately, my plan to stack these is not going to work out:
Probably it's storage area for now:
I read about this on the Samba, but while the top tray is very sturdy, the middle ones have a little play - this one has the most (anybody know the proper fix for this?):
Couple other random pics:
