Chevy & GMC Vans

what's the oldest tool set or tool you still use?
I have a metric socket set I bought in '76 to work on my 68 bug. Still have all the sockets, unbroken, ratchet still works, lost a few of the allen wrenches over the years. I bet my metric socket set is older than a bunch of the yungins on this site

bought it at montgomery wards..RIP

Bought a set of "Buffalo Forge" deep well 1/2 impact sockets.Gez's I don't remember how long ago.Gota say early 70's.The 3/4" socket is cracked,but the other still work fine.This cheap set doesn't own me a dime.

I'd have to say my bicycle wheel tools. Bought flat wrenches, spoke wrenches, and a nice Park truing stand when I was 14, about 20 years ago.

Great question. Since my tool box was stolen 10 years ago, (along with almost everything I owned) and I've moved in and out of a couple different continents, I'd have to say my twin 20ft. "Keeper" snatch 'em straps are the oldest pieces of gear I still have, from 1981.

They're mud stained and freyed a little, but still in one peice. I haven't had to use them for the van (knock on wood) yet.

I have a 1/4 socket set that I talked my mom into when I was probably 8 years old. My uncle ran a NAPA store at the time and we were visiting him. That would have been...35 years ago.

I still have all the Craftsman tools that my dad bought in 1971, he would break them and go back to Sears and they would just give him a new one, no questions asked. I still use and break them just like he did, and still get replacements. I think he bought them just for show, trying to keep up with his buddies. I say that cause I was the one changing his oil and plugs when I was 11

I have a very old hand drill, the style with the knob on the back and the offset handle ( looks like a speed wrench) that belonged to my great grand father and may even be older. I used to use it alot as a kid when I wasn't allowed to use my dads "nice" power tools. Now adays I use it from time to time usually only in a pinch when my cordless battery dies and running a cord and setting up my corded drill is more work than what I'm trying to do. I also have a hand plane and a few other hand me downs from that era that I use from time to time. I wouldn't be surprised if some of em were older than Larry

Oh just remembered the tool box that holds most of my tools my dad bought back in the early 70s when he turned wrenches for a living.

Got a couple of S&K sockets from a set my Dad gave me when I was 16, think that was 1963. I think.

man, I was like 3 or 4 that year, I feel younger all the sudden
sorry Reb
been reviewing my posts here lately, I've been getting a bit maudlin and nostalgic, kids are growing up and I"m turning 50 this year. looks like a good time for a midlife crisis ...well that's my excuse anyway and I"m stickin toit

My dad collected and did some restoring of old cars,but alot of collecting them.
We had a couple of barns so why not try to fill them. Get the idea.......
So many weekends we'd be off with car and trailer, pulling some hulk out of a field ,barn,or woods.This was back in the late fifties through the sixties.
The wenches he had then were from an old auto mechanic that had passed and his wife sold them to my dad.I still have most:Blue Point,Snap-On,some that are in cloth wrappings,etc.
BUT,big but....the two tools that I still use all the time and remind me of those adventures are ; a Handiman jack (Hi-Lift) and a 4 ton Come-a-long (made in Seattle).Both of these are from that early time and were THE necessity to get the job done.
Of course I learned all about leverage,rolling heavy stuff on pipes and things that made OSHA what it is today!
Just a footnote;my dad had an affection for Packards (20's) the rearends of which look like a modern day tow truck's.
And I mean a large one and no syncros in those trannies!

kids are growing up and I"m turning 50 this year. looks like a good time for a midlife crisis ...well that's my excuse anyway and I"m stickin toit

Not a prob. Steve.

The turning 50 ain't no big deal but it does mean it's time for a V-8 in that van.

Rebel wrote:Got a couple of S&K sockets from a set my Dad gave me when I was 16, think that was 1963. I think.

I also have a 1/4" S&K socket set my Dad gave me when I was around that age, around the mid 1970's.

Aside from hand tools my oldest piece of shop equipment is my 1954 Shopsmith Mark V, the first year they came out with this model. Bought it from a guy at work who's Dad purchased it new. Even have an ad for it from montgomery wards.

I have a set of vise grips that don't have the release handle, nor a spot for the release handle. Have to be some of the more early ones I imagine. Besides that, I probably have a few very vintage sockets, an Industro brace and bit style handle for sockets, and a few other vintage tools. Some of the vintage stuff is the best tbh.

kings-x59 wrote:bought it at montgomery wards..RIP

I have a socket set...well most of it that my girlfriend gave me for my birthday when I was 16 way back in 1976. It was a Montgomry Ward set! Ha!

I also still use a Craftsman claw hammer with a forged steel head and handle and a rubber grip. I picked that up from my dad when I was about 12 while building tree houses. It's in great shape!

I'm 49 years old. My absolutely oldest tool is also my most favorite tool. My tool and I have done so many...uhhhh.... so many "projects" together. It's always there for me, and I carry it wherever I go.

It's gotten me into more trouble than I care to remember. Hard to believe that my tool actually cost me a marriage. Ahh, what foolish things we do when we're young. But I don't blame my tool, it is merely an implement. I am, or more precisely, should be, in control of my tool at all times. My tool is simply the means to an ultimate objective. While it has preferences, it has no decision-making powers. My tool's comprised of brute force and sinewy muscle. Always ready to do ole Petey proud...

But my tool is not only the oldest I have in my personal possession, it's also the only one which has evolved the most over the years. While it's still more than ready to spring into action and perform its duties with honour and vigor, it has become a bit finicky as to proper application and ambient surroundings. No longer do I dare use my tool for a job for which it was not designed. No longer will I force it into a job area which does not meet my tools' exacting standards. True, my tool doesn't see many different applications, not as it once did. But that's ok. My tool and I deserve to enjoy only the best job-sites available to us. And enjoy we do....

Just in case I misunderstood the question and you were talking about actual tools, my spanner set from 1977