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Basic tools of the trade

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definetly, and the guy up in Indy who has over 50 cars, a PT boat and a couple of tanks, I can't remember his name
 
Man, if I'm in 3rd place that means I've gotta work harder!
 
Jay Leno might be in first place but I would have to say George Poteet would have to be in second. George is CEO and owner of NSA water filters and me and my parent's construction company built all of his shops and buildings to store his cars. In 1991 he had over 240 mint condition Ford street rods and muscle cars. All of which were 97+ point concours cars.

In 1990 I was talking with him about his cars and asked him why he did not have any exotics like Ferarri or Lamborghini and he replied, "I dunno.....never thought about them before.....I'm a Ford guy." Three weeks later, I walked into the warehouse at NSA in Memphis where we were building his water labratory and there sat a brand new 90 Testarossa. As I was drooling over the car, George came out of his office and handed me the keys and told me to check it out. I nearly shat myself! Two months later his driver pulled up outside the water lab, lowered the door on the trailer and backed out a real 66 AC Cobra 427. Here again George handed me the keys. This was just too unreal as I was only 16 at the time.

I have just found his website Cameltoe Racing and noticed that 2 of the baddest rods ever made by Troy Trepanier of Rad Rods by Troy were built for George. They were the Sniper and the Intruder. The old boy still has it going on. Wish I had his money! heh.
 
this is a British car site and no one mentioned a test light for electrical trouble shooting?
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or a match book to clean and regap points.
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James .........You have to watch the Canadian Tire Flyers carefully.....GEt their good sets....not their best....THey are guaranteed for life also.......You can get most if not all you needs for your 200......Since you don,t work on your cars you don,t need a whole tool array........Get a small hydraulic jack and some jack stands......There is a small 2 ton trolley jack on sale this week for 29.99 and good jack stands for 19.99.........The combo wrenches are always on sale for 29.99 and the socket sets are also always on sale.....and that also applies to the screwdrivers........You don,t need Torx screwdivers for that Cortina so look at the sets and get a basic one......Yes you need a set of Vice grips (real ones)forget the copies............BUy a little every sale and only when on sale and i guarantee it will come under 200
 
I believe that's from a Peter Egan article many years ago.
 
Let me just say this. I have been messin with cars now for 25 years or better and have come to one conclusion, you get what you pay for with hand tools. Mechanics( oh sorry, AUTOMOTIVE TECHNICIANS ) buy Snap-On and Mac for a reason. They will not round off or strip heads off like lesser quality tools will. Plus, your resale value will be much higher if you decide to get out of the parts swapping business. I'm not suggesting this is the only way to go, but it should be considered when buying hand tools. You might look at E-Bay. Often times you can get a good set of quality tools a lot cheaper than buying retail. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif <font color="blue"> </font>
 
Ooooh, my turn, my turn, my turn /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Quality stuff. I have literally been injured by cheap tools. Not to mention the inevitable destruction of nuts and bolt heads by C*#@)%$y tools.
Start with a test light. The sort that has an alligator clip lead and a pointy awl-like probe with a light bulb in the handle.
Next get a quality flat bladed screwdriver and phillips screwdriver in a "medium" size (both blade and length).
Purchase a set of open end and a set of box-end wrenches (spanners). I suggest one of each instead of a set of Combos because I seem to always guess the wrong size (and the alternate is right there in your hand /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif) or you need another wrench to grab the other end of the hopelessly spinning bolt/nut/whatever.
Needle nose pliers.
Diagonal cutters.
Wire strip/crimp pliers.
Oil filter wrench (most useful is the pliers-type).
Oil catch basin... rubbermaid wash basin works well.
3/8-inch drive breaker bar, 3-inch extension and a spark plug socket. Notice I didn't say to get a whole set.
Heavy duty jack stands (2 minimum).
Hydraulic floor jack.
Large curved jaw Vice-Grip... the real deal.

You should be able to accomplish great mayhem with these. Later, as you notice what sort of tasks you seem to be doing, you can acquire additional items. The first thing I wanted was a small set of nut drivers (socket attached to a scew driver like handle) They have been most handy for small nuts/bolts. If you do, get the one-piece units as the interchangable ones tend to come apart in awkward moments.
 
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