Get A Bigger Hammer!

I started making money as a mechanic when I was 12. That first job was on a lawnmower. I gained a lot of skills working in different shops around town. However, the most important lesson, I learned from my uncle and father.

Most of the lessons I learned in the shops were how not to get a job done right. Most of the wrench slingers I worked with were fast and generally effective, but they were not terribly accurate and exacting.

A carb would need rebuilding and they'd get it done. But the screws would all have rounded off edges from the wrong screwdriver being used. Have a job that needs a little force, hit it. Didn't budge? Use a bigger hammer! Bolt heads would have plier marks because they were too --insert adjective here (lazy, ignorant, hung-over, etc). They made the same money as me, but I think I felt better when I got home. Pride in a job done right is worth it.

My dad was different. He was never a paid mechanic, but he liked to do the job right. He took an almost strange pleasure from having the right tool for the job. I did not matter what the job was, he could find just the right wrench for getting the job done. Got a small phillips head screw, he'd find the right size screwdriver for that screw.

His modus operendi was perfect for little British cars!

There is an old saying 'Give an Englishman a piece of metal and he'll do something foolish with it'. Triumphs are true to this saying, and while they ooze character and charm, they also typically ooze plenty of other automotive products as well, with oil being the most common. Accessing many of the parts that would leak often took a contortionists physique and a cartoonist's imagination to figure out what kind of tool you needed to get the job done!

The Triumph TR6, being a blend of old and new had some odd, old features such as a paper element in bucket for a filter. It was bolted into place on the side of the block, with a substantial chunk of frame right in front of it. A snake's den of curling fuel, vacuum and hydraulic lines obstruct any attempts to get at the canister with a socket wrench. Box end wrench? Fuggeddaboudit!

Enter the flat, reversible ratchet wrench! Back when Dad found this one, these were not something you found at every big box home improvement store- those stores did not exist... Mom and Pop store? Nope. I really don't know how he found it, however he did, and now it remains part of the tools I maintain my '73 roadster with.

If you have a Triumph, make sure to get one of these. Nothing reaches the oil filter canister faster and easier. They are easier to get these days, so you have no excuse. Regardless of job, get the right tool for the job. The job will be done quicker, better, and you might even sleep better at night!