Garage Sale/Thrift Store or other "Best Finds"

[PICTUP]

I have enough in and around my garage to keep me going for some time, so I don't find myself yearning to go to see what more I can get to stuff into the space. But I do applaud your tenacity and look forward to seeing what other treasures you can come up with

I think my best "find" ever was a fully outfitted jeweller's lathe placed outside a tech workshop on Mills Rd in Sidney one day. I was driving along and saw what looked to be a nice wooden box. I thought about it for a few minutes while driving along, asked my girlfriend if she needed a wooden box for her shop tools(she didn't), but I figured I couldn't pass it up, so I swung a "U"-y. I went to pick it up and was stunned as to how much it weighed. Here I was thinking it was just a box. Turned out to be a Unimat SL- 1000 with a bunch of goodies. It must have come from one of the "tech" type shops along that stretch. It is pretty old, so maybe the last guy that knew how to use it retired… who knows?! One day I might even learn to use that lathe….

By best junkyard score was of course a $5 Early Bay clock that I took out of a Bus that sat in a yard just outside of Midway, BC. Only recently did I come to know of that behaviour as "picking". Yes, I sold my original Westy for a song and it had that happily ticking clock still installed

I was contemplating modifying the title of your thread Tom, then figured you might want to, so that other's feel free to contribute. What do you think? Maybe to something like: Your Garage Sale/ Thrift Store/ Junkyard Recent and/or Best Finds. I dunno, just a thought… I am sure some people have found some cool stuff if they were to give it some thought. 

[busaddict]

Don, how does this look? Trying to keep it short 'Garage Sale/Thrift Store or other "Best Finds"'  BTW, did that box have a "free" sign on it?

[PICTUP]

Looks good Tom! Yes, the Box did have a "free" sign on it. I was poor and living in a School Bus with my dog and cat, so it was a sign I could not refuse….

[Volktales]

I might have a few stories...

[Volktales]

The local Co-ops used to sponsor a once-a-year giant garage sale in their parking lot, in the days before Costco put their food stores out of business.  It was at one of these that I scored a complete Eberspacher gas heater for my '70 Beetle.  This was fortunate too, as my original had fried itself internally.  The replacement worked perfectly, and provided years of service until the car was permanently retired...   The cost was a extortionate $5!  At another one of those garage sales, I scored a beautiful looking Grundig Beetle radio for a whole dollar.  Sadly it was not in working order...  The final Co-op garage sale yielded one of those Beetle shaped booze decanters.  In very nice shape, I was relatively happy to fork over ten bucks...


The last item isn't VW related, but amusing.  One of the slider mechanisms in our bathroom cabinet broke and the '70's era cheezy plastic part was no longer available.  While pondering what the next step would be, I spotted some discarded household junk dumped on the centre meridian of the highway next to where I worked.  As the traffic stopped right beside this junk, I looked over and spotted EXACTLY the part I needed attached to the remains of a drawer.  I literally opened the car door, reached over, and picked up what I needed.  That part is still in service, approximately 15 years later... 

[busaddict]

Sept 19, 2016 19:38:38 GMT -8 busaddict said:

And now another installment of "Garage Sale/Thrift Store Finds"...

I came across this recently and though I didn't recognize the brand I did realize that it was a quality tool set. Elora turns out to be a well respected tool company, and as you can see here this set was made in "West Germany" which gives it a bit of collectability. Two of the sockets are not Elora and the spark plug socket and that other one on top don't belong, other than that it is complete.

Update: I found replacements for the 2 incorrect sockets in a bunch of random tools I had from another long ago garage sale. So though they aren't Elora brand they fit in just fine, that pic is the before shot. I even used the set to work on the bus...I liked Russ's story about how things find their way to you.
Update #2: Another Elora socket turned up in the mix, so there is only one non-original socket.

[busaddict]

And this seems bonkers:

[busaddict]

The accompanying tool box I bought at the same time continues to yield treasure. This time it's a bunch of "Made in England" "Terry's Spanners" that seem to have been aimed at the motorcycle market. These pics aren't mine, but much the same.


I love this little set which I think are magneto spanners which come with a screwdriver and a feeler gauge.
 

[bobloblaw]

Found on UsedVic. Hazet 804 tool box with some old school tools.

Was asking $350 for the box, $150 for the tools.

Got it all for $400.

I'm pretty happy with that.

Attachments:

[Wongai]

That looks like a pretty awesome score.
Classic old tools sin there.
Well done!
B

[Brenticon]

Scoooooore!!!!

[busaddict]

That toolbox is great shape. As we all know, Hazet tools are highly coveted in VW and Porsche circles, congratulations!