What happened to Sear's?
01-06-2016, 07:18 AM
#11
when most of us vintage folk were young, tune up maintenance was done every few thousand miles and not just oil changes but points and plugs.
The cost of ignoring that effort was being stranded somewhere with a car that wouldn't start.
it wasn't particularly difficult to learn how to do it and once engaged you believed that you could work on your car.
The cost of entry for those tools were pretty cheap. a screw driver and a plug socket and you were on your way.
Brakes were the next gateway activity and from there it was only a small step to believing it was no big deal to tear down an engine.
all the while you become one and vested in your car. you learned it's intricacies and nuances.
you knew what that sound meant and that you better deal with it soon.
Over time your tool box grew as you acquired parts.
after that it just seemed to make sense to buy that 400 piece tool set and the rolling cabinet to go with it.
and any serious work really needs an air compressor and pneumatic tools.
How does one "jump into" repairing a car today?
on a lot of vehicles the oil change interval is at least 7500 with some > 10K miles. ignitions never get touched and plugs are good for 100K.
almost any form of debugging requires an OBDII reader which can be a big outlay for some one trying to figure out if they can do this.
I used to be able to sit in the engine compartment of my Chevy C10 while i worked on it.
I can't get my hand between the sidewall and the engine exhaust manifold of my Benz.
Recently it took me four attempts on separate occasions to figure out the kabuki dance too change the burned out parking light on my GL550.
The secret was my 4" 45° bent tip needle nose pliers that i just happened to have in the tool chest.
otherwise, yeah it would be off to the dealer to change a friggin' light bulb. 10 years from now lights bulbs won;t exist in cars. it will all be LED's.
This weekend we did share a father son activity. His old benz I had given him failed inspection because the fenders were rotted out.
being a starving student we went on the cheap ( i.e. dad didn't want to dump a lot of cash into a car with a limited life expectancy. think hospice care not curating a classic)
so we grabbed so from the local junk yard. ( auto recycler: that's a whole other story, you don't get to go junking anymore, they pull the parts for you)
tore down the front end
and put it back together.
it now has a name, it's called the penguin cuz it's kinda formal in the black and silver like wearing a tux.
besides a two tone car builds character.
The cost of ignoring that effort was being stranded somewhere with a car that wouldn't start.
it wasn't particularly difficult to learn how to do it and once engaged you believed that you could work on your car.
The cost of entry for those tools were pretty cheap. a screw driver and a plug socket and you were on your way.
Brakes were the next gateway activity and from there it was only a small step to believing it was no big deal to tear down an engine.
all the while you become one and vested in your car. you learned it's intricacies and nuances.
you knew what that sound meant and that you better deal with it soon.
Over time your tool box grew as you acquired parts.
after that it just seemed to make sense to buy that 400 piece tool set and the rolling cabinet to go with it.
and any serious work really needs an air compressor and pneumatic tools.
How does one "jump into" repairing a car today?
on a lot of vehicles the oil change interval is at least 7500 with some > 10K miles. ignitions never get touched and plugs are good for 100K.
almost any form of debugging requires an OBDII reader which can be a big outlay for some one trying to figure out if they can do this.
I used to be able to sit in the engine compartment of my Chevy C10 while i worked on it.
I can't get my hand between the sidewall and the engine exhaust manifold of my Benz.
Recently it took me four attempts on separate occasions to figure out the kabuki dance too change the burned out parking light on my GL550.
The secret was my 4" 45° bent tip needle nose pliers that i just happened to have in the tool chest.
otherwise, yeah it would be off to the dealer to change a friggin' light bulb. 10 years from now lights bulbs won;t exist in cars. it will all be LED's.
This weekend we did share a father son activity. His old benz I had given him failed inspection because the fenders were rotted out.
being a starving student we went on the cheap ( i.e. dad didn't want to dump a lot of cash into a car with a limited life expectancy. think hospice care not curating a classic)
so we grabbed so from the local junk yard. ( auto recycler: that's a whole other story, you don't get to go junking anymore, they pull the parts for you)
tore down the front end
and put it back together.
it now has a name, it's called the penguin cuz it's kinda formal in the black and silver like wearing a tux.
besides a two tone car builds character.
Great post, Jerry. I'm surprised you didn't go the extra mile and try to rattle can it to a vague semblance of silver.
01-06-2016, 08:34 AM
#12
Jerry, good story. In my case I was 26 before I ever changed oil on a car. My family didn't have a garage or tools, so that world was unknown to me. However, that all changed when I took on the project of restoring an MGA at age 31. In the next 44 years I acquired so many tools I could open my own Sear's Dept. My Craftsman wrench collection, which now fills three drawers, and my Wright socket set were the start of it all.
01-06-2016, 09:08 AM
#13
Jerry, good story. In my case I was 26 before I ever changed oil on a car. My family didn't have a garage or tools, so that world was unknown to me. However, that all changed when I took on the project of restoring an MGA at age 31. In the next 44 years I acquired so many tools I could open my own Sear's Dept. My Craftsman wrench collection, which now fills three drawers, and my Wright socket set were the start of it all.
Well, you may be older than me, but you haven't been working on them longer than me.
01-06-2016, 09:14 AM
#14
Rob I had the same occurrence last summer were I live. I had a Sears gift card and decided to browse through the tool section at Sears and pick up a few things. I happened to be in one of the relatively big cities near me and found the Sears was closed. I ran into an old timer sitting in his pickup where the Sears used to be and asked him about the other Sears in the 2nd and third closest big cities to me and he told me those were all closed too. Currently I think the closest Sears to me is at least 2 hours away it is a shame.
01-06-2016, 09:16 AM
#15
The local Ace hardware store has a row of Craftsman mechanics tools. I'm not sure what the deal is there.
01-06-2016, 09:26 AM
#16
Thread Starter
Funny how it all started. I took my motorcycle to the dealer for an oil change. After I picked it up, I realized that he hadn't changed the oil. A quick trip to Sear's for a few wrenches and I changed the oil myself. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was taking the bike apart for the fun of it and putting it back together. This was in 1971 and I've never stopped tinkering.
Two MGs, a Triumph and a Fiat followed. As you can imagine, I was a good customer at Sear's. There was virtually no end to the amount of repairs I had to do just to keep them running. But, it was fun and a good excuse to buy more tools from Sear's.
When my father passed away I inherited most of his Craftsman tools. We always did a lot of work around the house, electrical and general repairs. We were much too cheap to call repairmen unless the job was way to big for us to handle.
I've been using Sear's Craftsman tools for about as long as I can remember. First helping my father and grandfather around the house, then on my motorcycle and cars, and afterward on my own house. I love tools in general, but Craftsman tools have a special place in my heart.
Two MGs, a Triumph and a Fiat followed. As you can imagine, I was a good customer at Sear's. There was virtually no end to the amount of repairs I had to do just to keep them running. But, it was fun and a good excuse to buy more tools from Sear's.
When my father passed away I inherited most of his Craftsman tools. We always did a lot of work around the house, electrical and general repairs. We were much too cheap to call repairmen unless the job was way to big for us to handle.
I've been using Sear's Craftsman tools for about as long as I can remember. First helping my father and grandfather around the house, then on my motorcycle and cars, and afterward on my own house. I love tools in general, but Craftsman tools have a special place in my heart.
01-06-2016, 09:30 AM
#17
Thread Starter
I suppose Craftsman tools will outlive Sears, but I don't think that they will continue (or still are) the quality level that we grew up with.
01-06-2016, 10:06 AM
#18
I still have some Craftsman tools that were passed down to me from my father and he got them from his father my Grandfather.
01-06-2016, 11:53 AM
#20
One of my best memories is getting Craftsman tools for birthday and Christmas each year from my dad. It started when I was about 13, as he was sick and tired of me using his tools on my bicycle and not putting them back. 
I bought my first car before I was old enough to drive and he and I semi-restored it together. I kept the original hip-roof Craftsman tool box and have started filling it with duplicate tools that I'm no longer using. My intention was to give it to my nephew, but at 17, he is showing no interest in anything that would involve a tool. Not sure who is going to get my 5' tall rolling chest, air compressor and mig-welder. I harbor hope that one of my nieces will marry a guy that will appreciate them.
I bought my first car before I was old enough to drive and he and I semi-restored it together. I kept the original hip-roof Craftsman tool box and have started filling it with duplicate tools that I'm no longer using. My intention was to give it to my nephew, but at 17, he is showing no interest in anything that would involve a tool. Not sure who is going to get my 5' tall rolling chest, air compressor and mig-welder. I harbor hope that one of my nieces will marry a guy that will appreciate them.
