Let’s Talk Tool Libraries And Broncos, Too: COTY

Have you ever wanted to embark on a project but found yourself halted by the fact that you’d need to buy a bunch of tools you may never need again? I feel your pain.

There are plenty of tools I’ve purchased only to use them a handful of times. Or, maybe you live in an apartment and don’t have room to store every single tool you may possibly need one day. For people in these situations and more, there’s a wonderful invention called the tool library.

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I wrote about tool libraries a few years ago for the old site, but I think these places are such a great resource that it’s worth reminding you of their existence. Today Yesterday, Jason wrote about how communities should have communal pickup trucks. Well, as bomberoKevino notes, this is basically the same concept as a tool library!

This is a great idea. I’m a member of a tool library, and this is a natural extension for the idea. BTW, the tool library is great–you pay modest, sliding scale monthly fee, and can check out tools for a week at a time, they check them in and out so they don’t get (too) crapped up, they also have cool classes and such. So I can, for example, go check out a sawzall, woodchopper, and shovel, but they don’t have to live in my garage during the 340 days a year I’m not disposing of bodies.

Tool libraries have been around for at least several decades and they work just like a book library. You might pay a small fee to get a library card, or you might pay a small fee for each tool. Some tool libraries have sliding scales for costs and some are entirely free. So, if you need to work on an engine, there’s no need to buy a stand you’ll never use again. Just borrow one!

Jason also wrote about the Hagerty team’s selections for their “Bull Market List” of collectible cars that they expect to increase in value. The Ford Bronco II is counted among them as an underrated classic, and our readers have jokes both at Jason’s expense and the Bronco’s. Cody:

Let me stop chainsawing this battery real quick to explain how unsafe a Bronco II is…

Canopysaurus:

A buddy and I were working on my car once when it became time to pick up his child after school. He was deep in the transmission and didn’t want to stop, so asked me to pickup his daughter in his Bronco ll. I duly drove over to the school and got in the carpool line. I had to get out to help the daughter into her car seat. A mother in the car behind jumped out of her car, ran over and began to berate me for transporting a child in such a dangerous vehicle that was also a threat to everybody in line. “You know these things rollover without warning, don’t you?” I was a bit flummoxed and people were staring, so I just shrugged my shoulders and with as straight a face as I could manage, told her, “I don’t think it’s going to flip over while it’s stopped here at the curb, but maybe you should back away just in case.” She got a confused look for a moment and that was just enough time to hop in the Bronco and pull away. I was tempted to saw the wheel back and forth as I drove off, but you know Bronco lls roll over without warning, so I refrained.

Have a great evening, everyone!

(Top Image: Hagerty/Cameron Neveu)