Thinking about a Truck Tool Box

Something weird popped into my mind on the way home from a visit to Raleigh this week. As a pickup passed, I noticed the cross bed toolbox and it reminded me of my father's. He owned heavy machinery or land improvement equipment and his tool box as always a mess. When I purchased my F150, I promised myself to never own a cross bed toolbox. It is a status symbol for most truck owners. But I can not get the image of my father's tool box out of my thoughts and recollections.

Now, how can I describe his toolbox? The box was made out of some type of steel. It was wielded together and had a latch. He never had a lock on it. I never asked him why he did not lock the lid. It was the 60's and 70's, but that does not explain anything. Maybe it was because he could not keep up with the key. I have not idea why. He did have lots of stuff stolen over the years.

One time, I remember we drove from Chadbourn to Wilmington to buy a new gas powered chainsaw from some dealer. I do not think he kept it in the toolbox two days before it disappeared and was never heard from again. New tools, like socket wrench sets, seemed to dissolve in that toolbox. He would store motor oil in the old cans with a couple of nail holes in the top. Riding on the dirt roads of the Green Swamp (when it was dry weather) caused the cans to turn over and pour its contents in the bottom of the toolbox. If he ever put a paper bag in the toolbox with washers or bolts, the bag would fall apart. It took an "act of Congress" to find a washer in all that dirt, pine needles, leaves, and oil. The spilled oil was nothing compared to the bearing grease from the leaking grease guns all over everything.

This blog post will never make the search engine of Technorati, but nothing I have done online in the past 5 years has. Who cares.

I know why I won't ever have a butt ugly toolbox- they are nothing but oil, dirt, and beer can holders.

Saturday Night Out

Last weekend, my wife and I went to Wilmington to a really great restaurant (see photo) to celebrate the birthday of a friend of ours. We drove the F150 and another couple road with us. Our truck rides like a car and I had it cleaned up. It was funny- the other couple both drive Bimmers. But, they have until recently, driven Lincolns. The only negative comment, which not about my truck, we about how in his experience with Lincolns was "after they get out of warranty, they start falling apart." I nodded my head and said that my parent's had the same experience with Lincoln Town Cars, so they trade cars regularly.

So, will my truck start falling apart after the warranty runs out?

No one know. I am crossing my fingers that it will be fine for a long long time!