Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3268903]

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Originally Posted by GENE LANHAM

Attachment 483325[/QUOTE



Snap on Van would call at the garage every Friday—- {pay day} smooth talking little bastard of a salesman would bring out his “ Bargain of the week “ —- always be a half price deal. My guys would drool for a while before they agreed to buy the item. AH, BUT THREE OF YOU HAD TO BUY ONE APIECE BEFORE IT WAS A DEAL. . That’s when the little sh-t really got into his stride — when the guys had told him that was all they could afford that week. —-How about you make it up to a hundred and spread the payment over the next twelve months. Make it up to two fifty and i will only charge you ten percent interest. So it went on , year after year , mechanics up to their ears in debt—— but they did have a SNAP ON ROLL BOX with a thousand quids worth of tools inside.
Snap on van was always a top end MERCEDES , LONG WHEEL BASE . WITH EVERY UPGRADE KNOWN TO MAN. INCLUDING A COOL BOX IN THE GENUINE LEATHER SEATED CAB.
A set of Elora or craftsman chrome vanadium at a quarter the price would have done just as well.
Talk about the SLAVE TRADE ———- SNAP-ON LEFT THEM FOR DEAD !!!!!!!!!

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Kinda like a Lexus vs a Chevy. Both work the same and have similar warranties. It's all about personal perception.

[QUOTE=Rotary John;3268913]

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Kinda like a Lexus vs a Chevy. Both work the same and have similar warranties. It's all about personal perception.

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MOLINARI OR SCOTTIE. SEEBOLD OR VELDEN. BURGESS OR HODGES
MERCURY OR JONRUDE —— THAT SORT OF THING JOHNNO ????????
I. STILL THINK THAT THE SNAP ON SET UP WAS “PYRAMID SELLING” ON A SOPHISTICATED SCALE.

[QUOTE=Rotary John;3268913]

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Kinda like a Lexus vs a Chevy. Both work the same and have similar warranties. It's all about personal perception.

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At Boeing, we used to call the factory mechanics' rolling tool boxes "monuments". Every penny they spent on tools was written off their taxes as part of their employment costs. Both Boeing and the trucking industries got wise to this over the years and banned "monuments" and provided all the necessary tools to do their jobs (tool rooms). Soon after that, the Snap On dealer trucks disappeared. You hardly ever see a Snap On dealer truck on the road anymore. For the homeowner garage mechanic, Snap On was a distant economic dream investment. Sears Craftsman died as well. Homeowners' $$$ now a days is spent on Harbor Freight. LOL

[QUOTE=WaterZebra;3268940]

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Originally Posted by Rotary John

At Boeing, we used to call the factory mechanics' rolling tool boxes "monuments". Every penny they spent on tools was written off their taxes as part of their employment costs. Both Boeing and the trucking industries got wise to this over the years and banned "monuments" and provided all the necessary tools to do their jobs (tool rooms). Soon after that, the Snap On dealer trucks disappeared. You hardly ever see a Snap On dealer truck on the road anymore. For the homeowner garage mechanic, Snap On was a distant economic dream investment. Sears Craftsman died as well. Homeowners' $$$ now a days is spent on Harbor Freight. LOL

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There is a new breed of quality chrome vanadium wrenches sprung up over here , Stanley—-Facom— Hilka, even Halfords have a superb range of lifetime guaranteed spanner’s, every bit as good as. . Snap-on . Yes, i did have a chest full of Snap-on kit. Still kept all my Bedford —Gedore. elora and Britool sets of tools . These were cheap as chips — lasted just as long, don’t ever remember breaking a wrench through misuse . Have lost them when i used to let every Tom, Dick ad Harry have access to them . Stopped the day i said NO, YOU CAN’T.!!!
Always had a soft spot for American 240 v machines—- just swop the plug for a sensible one and they would last a lifetime, plus.
Finally getting my workshop, exactly the way i want it, with all the kit i used to dream about. Only taken me to the age of 89 to achieve my ambition. Still, i suppose i should be grateful i still have all my marbles .

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3268950]

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Originally Posted by WaterZebra

There is a new breed of quality chrome vanadium wrenches sprung up over here , Stanley—-Facom— Hilka, even Halfords have a superb range of lifetime guaranteed spanner’s, every bit as good as. . Snap-on . Yes, i did have a chest full of Snap-on kit. Still kept all my Bedford —Gedore. elora and Britool sets of tools . These were cheap as chips — lasted just as long, don’t ever remember breaking a wrench through misuse . Have lost them when i used to let every Tom, Dick ad Harry have access to them . Stopped the day i said NO, YOU CAN’T.!!!
Always had a soft spot for American 240 v machines—- just swop the plug for a sensible one and they would last a lifetime, plus.
Finally getting my workshop, exactly the way i want it, with all the kit i used to dream about. Only taken me to the age of 89 to achieve my ambition. Still, i suppose i should be grateful i still have all my marbles .

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That was quite a blast in Exeter the other day. The drone aerial coverage was really something. Amazes me that bombs like that still continue to turn up.

[QUOTE=WaterZebra;3268954]

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

That was quite a blast in Exeter the other day. The drone aerial coverage was really something. Amazes me that bombs like that still continue to turn up.

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My youngest daughter lives on the beach at Elmer in West Sussex . Low tide she would walk down to the beach and sit on this old chunk of oil drum covered in barnacles . Navy took it out to sea and blew it up.

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

After fifty years of loyal use, my snap on roller box has found a new home . Stilsons and vice grips. Im keeping the top box with the three drawers. That’s simply too full of equipment and useless tooling , plus i do tend to be a tad sentimental over stuff I’ve had for quite a while.

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1945: The WAR is over, gasoline is available--my dad needs a car--I want to learn to drive--a neighbor has an eight year old Buick that has been sitting OUTSIDE for over four years---

Attachment 483365

After finally getting it running---our first trip was to Sears--to buy tools---CRAFTSMAN tools--

I learned to drive!! I learned to fix cars!!--I was 14 years old--

Some of those tools are still in this tray--they were not Chrome--not VANADIUM but--Cadmium--

The tools have have served me well--many have been lost--at a race in KW the box turned over and many fell in the deep water--check out the tray---the pic taken a FEW months ago at the hangar--

Attachment 483366

I got this pic a few months ago--I was Racing with the Eyetalians---taken at Pt Pleasant --1975---
Same tray--TAD SENTIMENTAL??

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Attachment 483386Attachment 483387Attachment 483388

after being given nearly four thousand dollars for being part of the winning 1970 mercury Factory race team . I spent two and a half grand on a snowmobile and the rest on a toolbox and wrenches from SEARS. All were labelled CRAFTSMEN. Brought them back as hand luggage, claiming these were the tools of my trade, didn’t pay any extra . Still have a bunch of these left to this day.

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;32

after being given nearly four thousand dollars for being part of the winning 1970 mercury Factory race team . I spent two and a half grand on a snowmobile and the rest on a toolbox and wrenches from SEARS. All were labelled CRAFTSMEN. Brought them back as hand luggage, claiming these were the tools of my trade, didn’t pay any extra . Still have a bunch of these left to this day.[/QUOTE]


Three Questions, Jackie. Being a loyal Mercury driver,
1) Did you invest back into the company and buy a *Mercury snowmobile with that money?
2) Was there enough snow in England to get out very often?
3) Did you use those SEARS wrenches to keep it running?

Attachment 483391

(*Note, I too bought a snowmobile (and the suit) with prize money won in 1976... and it was a Mercury!)
Attachment 483392

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First things first Mark—- this arrived two minutes ago—- thank-you. Only in Canada would you get pictures of an inboard hydro on a postage stamp. They don’t even do that in Italy or Switzerland!!

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

First things first Mark—- this arrived two minutes ago—- thank-you. Only in Canada would you get pictures of an inboard hydro on a postage stamp. They don’t even do that in Italy or Switzerland!!

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Jackie, it looks like our Postal system has picked up the pace! Took only 4 business days for this letter to arrive.. we best not call it "snail mail" anymore!

These stamps were brought out in 2011 by Canada Post, marking the 50th anniversary of Miss Supertest III's final win of the International Harmsworth Trophy. A brief story of the boat, including Supertest's designer, Jim Thompson, and its driver, Bob Hayward, is written on the package.

Attachment 483398Attachment 483399

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3268950]

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Originally Posted by WaterZebra

There is a new breed of quality chrome vanadium wrenches sprung up over here , Stanley—-Facom— Hilka, even Halfords have a superb range of lifetime guaranteed spanner’s, every bit as good as. . Snap-on . Yes, i did have a chest full of Snap-on kit. Still kept all my Bedford —Gedore. elora and Britool sets of tools . These were cheap as chips — lasted just as long, don’t ever remember breaking a wrench through misuse . Have lost them when i used to let every Tom, Dick ad Harry have access to them . Stopped the day i said NO, YOU CAN’T.!!!
Always had a soft spot for American 240 v machines—- just swop the plug for a sensible one and they would last a lifetime, plus.
Finally getting my workshop, exactly the way i want it, with all the kit i used to dream about. Only taken me to the age of 89 to achieve my ambition. Still, i suppose i should be grateful i still have all my marbles .

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My dad had a decal inside the lid of his race toolbox that read "Only fools loan their tools". I'm sure it's still there. He used to tell me..."Only loan the tools you don't care about because you may not get them back". Of course I had to verify this myself. And he was right.

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Originally Posted by Watermark

Three Questions, Jackie. Being a loyal Mercury driver,
1) Did you invest back into the company and buy a *Mercury snowmobile with that money?
2) Was there enough snow in England to get out very often?
3) Did you use those SEARS wrenches to keep it running?

Attachment 483391

(*Note, I too bought a snowmobile (and the suit) with prize money won in 1976... and it was a Mercury!)
Attachment 483392

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Oh yes, it was a Mercury. We had massive amount of snow that winter. Used to take my youngest girl to school on it for about a week . SWMF were the `Mercury distributers in England. They imported the big, top of the range Snowmobile, even put road tax on it. After two years they still hadn’t sold it. I made them a silly offer and bought it.
I was the proud owner of the only two Mercury snowmobiles ever to come to this country.
Neither of them ever caused a moments grief—- they just simply ran and ran and ran. I would take kids for rides at the Southwater Gymkhana, held in the big field at the back of the school.

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Oh yes, it was a Mercury. We had massive amount of snow that winter. Used to take my youngest girl to school on it for about a week . SWMF were the `Mercury distributers in England. They imported the big, top of the range Snowmobile, even put road tax on it. After two years they still hadn’t sold it. I made them a silly offer and bought it.
I was the proud owner of the only two Mercury snowmobiles ever to come to this country.
Neither of them ever caused a moments grief—- they just simply ran and ran and ran. I would take kids for rides at the Southwater Gymkhana, held in the big field at the back of the school.

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What a great memory. If you can find a photo of it somewhere, sometime.. you should include this in your book!

[QUOTE=Ronster43;3269123]

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

My dad had a decal inside the lid of his race toolbox that read "Only fools loan their tools". I'm sure it's still there. He used to tell me..."Only loan the tools you don't care about because you may not get them back". Of course I had to verify this myself. And he was right.

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Yeah, loaning anything had its drawbacks. On the IOGP series, I lent a radio system to a Mod VP guy so he could meet the radio requirement. Said he would parcel ship the system back to me after 1 more race. Never saw the radio, him or the race boat again. Props were even worse. I'd send a guy over with a wrench to get it from the borrower. LOL