Professional Distributor - 41

Have you sold an impressive
TOOL STORAGE SYSTEM?
Nominate your customer for PTEN's Big-Time Box column and
they could be featured with their toolbox in the magazine!

Room to grow

Starting from scratch and heading towards big-time.
by Vesna Brajkovic, Assistant Editor

Sparing no expense
A custom built toolbox for a state-of-the-art facility.
by Stefanie Von Rueden, Assistant Editor

hen Boris Said, Owner of
BMW of Murrieta, was building his state-of-the-art facility, he knew he needed a top-notch
toolbox to fit the space.
"We built a new building, a $25 million dollar facility," Said says. "We wanted to have the best workshop in America,
so we spared no expense when we built
our 46-bay workshop."
After researching the different toolbox options available, Said went with
a custom built Sonic Tools box specifically designed to fit his shop. The custom
workstation is approximately 14' wide
and 7' tall.
For Said, this toolbox choice really
came down to quality and functionality. "We liked the look, the efficiency, and
the amount of storage we could get with
this toolbox," Said says. "It's state-of-theart with rolling carts, and there's a place
for everything."

PTEN

MAY 2019

OWNER:

Boris Said
BMW of Murrieta
Murrieta, California

"The rolling cart fits flush with the
rest of the box and looks really nice," he
adds. "All the other boxes I saw like that
didn't have the same quality."
The toolbox is well organized, with
like tools grouped in each drawer. Said
utilizes Sonic Tools' foam inlays to keep
everything neat and tidy. He appreciates
the efficiency this system offers, and that
it is easily apparent when a tool is out
of place. "All of the tools go into custom
cutout foam trays," Said says. "Every tool
has its own place in the foam."
Said has owned this toolbox for two
months, ever since his business moved to
the new facility. The business does everything from taking out and rebuilding

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p Said keeps his toolbox organized, with like
tools grouped in each drawer.

motors to changing oil. With a toolbox
this size, Said has no plans to upgrade
in the future.
"You really can't expand it," he says.
"You don't need to expand it."
Sonic Tools recently redesigned and
rebuilt their automotive toolboxes, Said
says. "Now that they've bought into the
auto dealer big toolboxes, I think they've
built, first pass, the best one," he says.
"And they were really easy to deal with,
nice people."
For Said, upgrading his tool storage while upgrading his facility made
sense, and he appreciates the organization and overall aesthetic his Sonic Tools
box offers.
Want to see more photos of Said's box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21078409
Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.

hen John Wyatt retired from
the Army, he became the
lead installer and sole technician at a performance-focused shop
in North Carolina called Hypermotive
Performance. At the time he had a full
set of tools, with enough extras to fill
a whole toolbox and then some.
That's when he accepted a contract
to work in the United States Special
Operations Command in Afghanistan
for two one-year deployments. Not wanting to leave his friend and Hypermotive
owner with no tools, Wyatt left his entire
tool setup as a parting gift for leaving the
job suddenly.
While in Afghanistan, knowing he
had to replace everything once back in
the States in order to start his own shop,
Wyatt used his downtime over the last six
months to research tools, tool organizers
and (most importantly for you Big-Time
Box readers) toolboxes.
Replacing everything was no small
task, either. Wyatt was on the search for
quality and affordability. That's when he
came across an online video review of
Homak's 72" H2Pro from 'Do It Yourself
Bri' on YouTube.
Wyatt loved the box, but needed different drawer configurations. He ended
up choosing the Homak 72" RS Pro
Combo, which has deeper drawers and a

PTEN

FEBRUARY 2019

OWNER:

John Wyatt
Performance Over Style Motorsports
Fairview, Pennsylvania

wider center drawer. He says he couldn't
be more impressed.
"I had six months; I'm doing all the
reviews, doing all the research I can,"
Wyatt explains. "And I just committed and I bought it. And when I went to
pick it up, I was like, 'Oh my God, this
is absolutely the greatest toolbox I have
ever bought.'"
Wyatt's setup includes an RS Pro
Combo, which looks like a roller cabinet with a top chest, and another 54" RS
Pro Roller Cabinet in matching orange.
The top chest has a flip top with three
outlets where Wyatt stores battery chargers for electric tools, clamps and some
lubricants.
He says his Homak rivals even the
"big tool truck brands."
"On some other boxes, the drawer slides, even if they're double or
single; they're just not really smooth
when you're pulling them out," Wyatt
explains. "These are absolutely incredible. You pull them out, it's nice and
smooth, even with the tools in it.
And they're full-pull drawers, meaning when you pull them out, the back
of the drawer is even with the front
of the box. There are some toolboxes
when you pull them out, an inch or so
is still recessed into the box ... So that's
the other thing that's great about the

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Homak box. When you pull the drawer
open, it's all the way open."
All together, his new tool setup has
37 drawers and a flip-top. He says he is
happy with the purchase.
"Even though it's not American-made,
where else are you going to get a quality
box like this for the price?" Wyatt says.
American-made is a big factor in purchasing for Wyatt. This led him to purchasing SK Professional Tools, which he
says he couldn't be happier with. He uses
SK's wrench rails to organize, and he also
organizes his chrome and impact sockets
with U.S.-made Westling Machine socket
organizers. These are made using billet
aluminum and aren't magnetic, which
in turn keeps debris from sticking to the
organizers.
This is just the start for Wyatt, as he
continues to build his tool inventory back
up and get his performance-based shop,
Performance Over Style Motorsports
in Fairview, Pennsylvania, up and
running.
Want to see more photos of Wyatt's box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21032562
Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.

A big commitment

From a new box every month to the best-of-the-best.

Organized to perfection
A shop owner shares his "ungodly big" toolbox setup.
by Stefanie Von Rueden, Contributing Editor

urtis Detweiler is the owner of
Redz Auto Body, and he bought
his 60' long Snap-on Mr. Big
Toolbox about six months ago to provide more space for his tools.
"I'm not sure what made me want
to upgrade," Detweiler jokes. "I've got
an issue."
His upgraded toolbox attracts a
lot of attention due to its massive size.
The toolbox is set up in an L-shape in
Detweiler's mechanic's bay and features
lockers on each side, four hutches, and
two top boxes. He also recently added
an additional top piece. Each of the
stainless steel top boxes has a built-in
power supply.
Detweiler keeps his toolbox meticulously organized in what he calls a "borderline OCD" schematic. He keeps sockets and ratchets in one drawer, pliers in

PTEN

AUGUST 2019

OWNER:

Curtis Detweiler
Redz Auto Body
East McKeesport, Pennsylvania

another, diagnostic tools kept together,
and cordless tools kept together. The
tools he uses most often are stored in the
top drawer of the center cabinet, where
he has quick and easy access to them.
"That's one advantage to having such a
big toolbox," he says. "Everything pretty
much has its own place."
For Detweiler, the deciding factor for
choosing this toolbox over other options
was the number of storage areas.
"I like the efficiency of having multiple areas in the box for selected tools,
such as PDR tools, diagnostic tools, met-

p The L-shaped, 60' long Snap-on Mr. Big Toolbox

unit at Redz Auto Body in East McKeesport,
Pennsylvania, is made up of two lockers, four
hutches, and two top boxes.

ric and standard auto body tools, and
mechanical tools."
"My favorite part of the box is the
computer area," he adds. "I have three
monitors set up, and that's where I do
all of my ordering, diagnostic materials,
and that kind of stuff. I like the simple
ease of being able to access everything I
need right there."
"The toolbox tends to get a lot of attention," Detweiler says. "It's just ungodly
big. When you walk into the shop it's the
first thing that sticks out to you. I get a lot
of reactions to my toolbox."
Want to see more photos of Detweiler's box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21089755

Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.

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efore Michael Capozzio settled
on his 127" long Snap-on Epiq
setup, his wife referred to him
as a member of the 'Toolbox of the
Month Club.'
Capozzio worked out of just about
every brand of toolbox sold.
"I never kept one for more than a
couple months and they'd roll in with
another one, and I'd buy it," he says. That
was until Snap-on released their Epiq line
and he never looked back.
After purchasing his 68" double bank
main box six years ago, Capozzio has
since added a top chest, two side lockers
and a work bench. He's even thinking
he'll add a couple more lockers on for
additional bulk storage.
To Capozzio, a long-time technician,
previous tool dealer and current shop
owner of Classic Corvette Restorations,
the investment was worth it for how well
the boxes are made.
The toolbox features 23 drawers organized neatly by category, starting with
sockets and ratchets in one, wrenches in
another, and then screwdriver and pliers

PTEN

MARCH 2019

p The toolbox features 23 drawers

organized neatly by category.

by Vesna Brajkovic, Assistant Editor

OWNER:

Michael Capozzio
Classic Corvette Restorations
Chardon, Ohio

in their place and so forth.
"Everybody makes fun of me but
everything is laid out like super neat,"
Capozzio says of his spotless drawers.
"All the screwdriver handles have to be
laid with the label up. I like all my stuff
being laid out, not just in piles, so when I
open a drawer I can visually see if something is missing."
At more than 74" high, the flip top
storage space in the top chest is relatively
out of reach. Capozzio uses this space to
store pry bars and other lesser-used tools.
In this setup there's no room on the box
for work space. Instead, this shop owner
opts to perform tear down and assembly work on a separate Snap-on stainless
steel work bench.
"I'll tell you when I had just the hutch
on the toolbox and not the top chest ...

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To Nominate a Customer:
Send an image and brief description of their
"Big-Time Box" to editor@vehicleservicepros.com.

what would happen is by the end of the
day you keep setting things up there
instead of putting them in the drawers, and you'd have this big pile of tools
laying on top," Capozzio explains. "So
now ... the workbench is for working
and I don't have to worry about setting
things on the box. It forces me to put
things away."
Capozzio uses the two side lockers for
bulk storage. The eight drawers, four in
each side, store things like spray guns,
sanders, gaskets and gasket sealants. In
addition, the doors feature a peg board
which Capozzio uses to hold products like spray cleaners, chrome polish
and lubricants.
For power, Capozzio has added battery chargers in the left-hand locker, and
installed an outlet strip on the back of the
box for additional power.
Want to see more photos of Wyatt's box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21032562
Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.

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