Category: aluminium ute toolbox

It’s that time of year again. That time of year that I honestly don’t enjoy all that much, which could refer to quite a number of times, but…the family Ute Party has to take the cake. All the Jacoby clan come together from all over Australia, and I hear even Aunt Mabel is coming over from New Zealand. Her and Uncle Foster must’ve patched things up since the whole muddy pug wrangling wrestling racket incident.

Anyway, it’s all pretty straightforward. Everyone comes together to show off all the stuff they’ve added to their utes in the past year. So…Dad just got some new under body boxes fitted at the garage down the lane, since it was his fiftieth fitting for under tray drawers. He’s going to be glowing about that one. We all gather in a circle, with the only lights being from the headlamps, and there are a bunch of contests. First everyone gives speeches about the cool stuff they’ve added to their vehicle, and then there’s usually a contest to see who can pull a tree stump out of the ground the fastest, there’s a lot of drinking, and then…the bush dance. It’s probably the most important part of the whole event, and there’s never been a single way for me to get out of it.

Until now, that is. See, before the event when everyone meets up, there’s a exchange of gifts. New aluminium accessories, special additions to their ute canopies, some fancy new tools…and then they all have to leave a little bit earlier than they’d like so they can add them to their vehicles before getting up for farm work in the morning.

But what if I volunteered to be the mechanic for the night? I can’t service any car that isn’t a ute, but all of them ARE utes. So if I say that I’ll be busy fitting all of these new aluminium accessories, then it’ll leave me far too busy to get involved in the bush dance. I can skip the whole thing! And no one will notice me being gone anyway. Story of my life.

-Forrest Jacoby Jr.

I’m having a real problem with my son at the moment and I’m just not sure what to do about it.

He’s one of those kids that always has a mischievous twinkle in his eye, if he can do something to antagonise you he will, just because he thinks it’s funny. He’s forever climbing on things, running off just to dart back in, saying just the right things to annoy the heck out of his little sister. He does whatever he thinks he can get away with.

He’s always been a troublemaker, and most of the time that isn’t a problem, but recently he’s formed a bit of an obsession with Dean’s aluminium toolboxes. While in Melbourne, we only moved down here about a year ago, Dean’s risen to be one of the top mechanics around town and I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s never been one to leave work at work, though, and so our garage is full of all kinds of tools that are not fit for a five-year old boy to be playing with. When My kid first started sneaking into the garage, I begged Dean to keep the space nice and tidy, so the kid wouldn’t be able to get his hands on most of the heavy duty tools, but he just keeps hounding after his dad’s toolbox. I’m starting to get really worried that he’s going to end up getting his hands on something he shouldn’t and really hurt himself.

I’m half considering talking to Dean again, and asking him to keep all the tools and everything at work, on locked up tight in the aluminium trays Melbourne tradesmen have on the back of their utes, but I know he’ll think I’m just being overbearing. The truth is, I just don’t know how to keep my child out of there. Once that kid’s got his eye on something, it’s almost impossible to distract him.

My dad is not a very easy man to buy presents for. It’s not that he has everything, in fact, it’s kind of the opposite, he doesn’t want anything. When we buy him clothes he continues to wear the gray tracksuit he’s worn since the nineties; when we buy him books he doesn’t read them; homewares remain in the box; whiskey gets drunk but not enjoyed and the list could really go on and on. So when my brother phoned and said he had found the perfect gift for Dad you can imagine my skepticism. He started blabbering on about this great company he has found that produce custom aluminium toolboxes in Melbourne. They aren’t just toolboxes, they go on cars and utes and transform vehicles into huge tool storage and transport facilities. I had to hand it to him. Dad would absolutely love that. At the moment he carries some tools around in a rusty red toolbox that crashes around at the back of his truck making an absolute racket. I left all the details to my brother but said because this is probably the only gift we will ever get him that he loves we shouldn’t skimp on it. I keep getting messages about various accessories we are adding such as under body boxes and roof bars. I have no doubt Dad will really love his new decked out ute. We are actually going to fill a lot of the storage compartments with new tools. Although he doesn’t officially work as a tradie anywhere he is always off exploring and finding things to either rip-apart or build. The under body boxes that go in his truck can store so much, he could put whatever he wants in there. The idea really should have occurred to us sooner but I suppose ute toolbox doesn’t really spring to mind when you think of birthday present.