Anybody still have their FIRST toolbox?

[phartman]

Got mine from my dad, WWII surplus. The stickers were applied sometime in the mid-'60s, but the pinstriping is recent. Really glad I held onto it and didn't replace it somewhere along the line. Striping is from Richmond area painter Danny Riddle.

 

[Ramblur]

I got this Rem Line for HS graduation in 78. Along with a "hint" from
dad that I needed to start buying my own tools.

 

[bcjames]

My Grandad bought me this back in the early 90's, my first tool box. These days I keep it with me at uni (200 miles from my garage) with a few tools for simple tasks. I remember when I got it thinking it was huge. If only I'd known then what I would own now!

 

[snorvet]

Here is mine - I built it in high school shop class - around 1971

 

[Ray-CA]

Here is mine. My Dad bought this when got back to the States after Korea. He was working at a gas station in St. Louis after the war. Dad gave it to me when I got my first motorcycle back in 1968. My dad passed on in 2001, but I still have the tool-box.

Ray

 

[PAToyota]

Yep, Craftsman top box I got in high school.

 

[fotoflojoe]

Yes I do.

When I was a kid/teen, I had a couple beat up hand boxes that were cast-offs from my dad.

The first box I bought with my own money was the 1984 version of this Snap on. Bought it right out of high school when I became a mechanic's apprentice at a VW dealership. Like others have said, when I got it, I thought it was HUGE and had no idea what I was going to fill it with. Oh, to be young and stupid again... I've since augmented it with three C'man boxes.

 

[DGC15]

Still have my first one. It is a Craftsman I bought in 1960 when I was 16 and got my first car, 1951 Chev.
Just painted it and put a Ford oval on it. I carry it in my 1949 Ford Truck.

 

[Joe Reed]

I've still got my first one,(pictured)...it was given to me by my wife when we were dating - probably in 1967 or 1968. I've also got my Dad's first one....almost identical to Ray-CAs box pictured above.

 

[LWW]

Mine is the 3 drawer version of this one. I bought it back in 1989. It was "My" first tool box.

 

[matt_i]

I still have it...Craftsman 3-drawer top box bought at a scratch-n-dent room at Oakland Mall in SE Michigan. I think I got a set of sockets for Christmas that year

 

[Kevin54]

I do but I don't. My first box was a Kennedy machinist box, 7 drawer. I had given it to my dad. I was up there the other day and needed a screwdriver, we went to the garage, and I have given him three Kennedy's over the years that I have forgot about.

 

[Doug B]

Here is mine - I built it in high school shop class - around 1971

Wow! thats very cool.

My first box was a craftsman 20" carry box like some of you guys have shown. I bought it and a 30 some piece tool set (combo wrenches,sockets,ratchet,screw drivers) back in 1977 when I was first married. The box rusted out from riding in the back of my truck,but I still have most of the tools.

 

[Coach James]

Still have my first one..a .30 caliber ammunition box my dad gave me when I was in elementary school around 1972-73. Still has the same tools in it too.

Coach

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I've still got my first one,(pictured)...it was given to me by my wife when we were dating - probably in 1967 or 1968. I've also got my Dad's first one....almost identical to Ray-CAs box pictured above.

My first box is nearly identical to this one and in the same condition. I have thought many times of taking it apart and refinishing it, but somehow it almost seems a sacrilige to do that.


My parents bought this for me filled with a Craftsman starter set of tools in 1972 when I graduated from high school.

Anyone already refinished their first box?

 

[jkherd]

I still have my first toolbox I bought when I was 16, sits on a shelf in my shop. Its primarily used for storage now. I still use the craftsman cantilever box along with the starter tool set my dad gave me when I was 19 and was in the Air Force. "Old Red" is still giving good service after almost 27 years.

 

[Gabriel J]

Still have my first one..a .30 caliber ammunition box my dad gave me when I was in elementary school around 1972-73. Still has the same tools in it too.

Coach

Sounds like your dad and mine thought the same way...He gave me mine when I moved out after finishing high school..I still use some of the tools now and then, and have kept them all.

 

[phartman]

Here is mine - I built it in high school shop class - around 1971

You built that in shop class? Wow, very cool and even better that you still have it.

 

[Kev442]

I've still got my first one,(pictured)...it was given to me by my wife when we were dating - probably in 1967 or 1968. I've also got my Dad's first one....almost identical to Ray-CAs box pictured above.

My neighbor gave me his, it is the exact unit as shown in your picture. I removed his nameplate that was in the exact same place too!
I still have the Craftsman I bought myself in 1980, used it all weekend.

 

[82_454_shorty]

I still have mine. My dad got it for me when I was about 12 or 13. I'd never part with it.

 

[alkemyst]

I've still got my first one,(pictured)...it was given to me by my wife when we were dating - probably in 1967 or 1968. I've also got my Dad's first one....almost identical to Ray-CAs box pictured above.

That craftsman box my dad has had to have bought it around 1969 or so too as he had it a couple years prior to me being born.

My first toolbox was a black top/gray bottoms plastic one, a set of stanley screwdrivers, pliers, adj wrench and hammer from a discount store when I was about 12. I then just kept adding tools each year from Sears, and my dad was buying me Craftsman since that first box (he wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose them first).

I think I have more tools than my dad now.

 

[Fullback66]

My Dad bought me my first tool box in 1982. I still have it and the tool that came with it.
No pictures.
FB66

 

[jhn9840]

Black metal JC Penney box with SAE socket and combo wrench set along with a set of screwdrivers. Still have and use the box and tools.

jhn9840
John

 

[keflaman]

Power Kraft metric 3/8" dr socket set from Montgomery Wards that my parents gave me circa 1974. A few of the sockets cracked over the years, but were covered by warranty and always replaced with no problems. I went into the store years after they quit carrying tools and when I presented the broken socket, the store clerk called Sears and then gave me cash to buy a replacement Craftsman!

 

[...doc...]

I gave my toolbox to my son when my wife bought me a bigger Craftsman.
I have tools in it, that were my Grandfathers wrench's that my Dad gave me.
I use them all the time

 

[T56 Impala]

I've still got my first one,(pictured)...it was given to me by my wife when we were dating - probably in 1967 or 1968. I've also got my Dad's first one....almost identical to Ray-CAs box pictured above.

Yep, thats the same box I have. Mine is in a little worse shape right now though! I'm currently stripping it and repainting it with Hammer coat. I'm going to use it for all my gardening tools. Stuff like in ground sprinkler system tools, cutters, tapes and heads. I have too many small boxes. Funny thing is, they are all full!

 

[firebird1999us]

My grandpa gave me my first one in 1987...it's in my parents basement right now and this thread has inspired me to go dig it out guys!

 

[jamesemery728]

Still have them, a CM 3-drawer bottom box and matching 2-drawer top box along with some CM SAE (didn't know there was any such thing as metric back then) socket sets and wrenches. They are gray with red drawers and it had to be 1959 or 1960. Shortly after I got them for Christmas that year my next door neighbor borrowed them to work on his first car. I went over later that day to see how he was doing and there were my pride and joy new tools scattered from one end of his driveway to the other end and he had gone out on a date. I picked them all up and wiped off the mud and have never loaned anyone my tools since (but that's another post).

 

[srmn8r]

I can't get to it right now, but I still have my first tool box, along with most of the tools as well.

It's a "Handy Andy" tool box from the early '60's. I still remember my Dad giving it to me... after he caught me umpteen times with his tools strewn all over the floor of the utility room, and nails in every piece of scrap lumber we had.

 

[billspit]

DGC15
That is my first tool box too. Unfortunately I let it go when I got laid off years ago. I kept a bigger tool box I had bought for my job and swapped mine to them. Shoulda kept both.

 

[Junkman]

Don't have my first tool bag, but they still make them the same way that they did way back when. Only differance is that today, the stores charge you 5 cents if you want a paper bag instead of a plastic one.

 

[nonhog]

Not sure where it came from but I still got it. late seventies ? Got demoted
to bicycle tools as I upgraded.

 

[ruby76]

no unfortunately mine was stolen from the back of my pickup truck. ***** too, cause it was handed down from my grandfather to my dad, and I had it for a couple of months - was an old Metal one.

 

[hobie1dog]

I'll have to snap a photo of mine. Now the question, should you restore it, or leave it for sentimental reasons?

 

[brownbagg]

I got two of them rem lines, didnt know what they was. somebody told me old mac boxes

 

[chrislehr]

Yep. Currently empty. Fine until I fill something else up

 

[phartman]

I'll have to snap a photo of mine. Now the question, should you restore it, or leave it for sentimental reasons?

Hobie, after many, many years of collecting all kinds of antiques, LEAVE IT ALONE. If you refinish it, you KILL the value. Leave it be, it will bring way, way more money and satisfaction if you do. OK to repair broken drawers, hinges, etc, but be careful, be sympathic. Trust me, you'll thank yourself down the road.

 

[denis4x4]

When I was in high school in 1959, I worked in the Sears warehouse. When I mentioned that I wanted to use my employee discount to buy a 9 drawer machinist chest, the supervisor, an old WWII Navy chief, said he would show me how to get an extra discount. He took a boxed chest and hit it on the top with his fist. Showed it to the merchandise manager and told him I would buy the damaged chest. There was a 30% discount and after I bought it, the chief opened the carton, hit the inside of the lid and it was like new. Still have it fulll of tools 50 years later.

 

[deuces2]

Still have my rem-line from73-74 I worked for Weeks Chevrolet Garage. sold it to my dad for 50 bucks when I went to USMC In 75, dad used it up to 1999 and i gladly bought it back for 50 bucks ,its still my favorite to work out of and I know where everything is the best

 

[Bevis]

Had an older gentleman that I knew gave me his old beat up tool box several years ago before he died...I cleaned it up and it worked fine for me.
My Parents bought me a new Craftsman setup for my Birthday today...