sacman

How's about a 1 day roadtrip along the HW1 with lunch and dinner in your 993 so you both can enjoy?

dcdude

Drooool. Are the sockets proprietary or can I just get the wrench?

Germans with a zense of humor? Love these guys already:

dboeren

That Wera Zyklop set is off the hook! Little pricy for a socket wrench, but...

I don't know your dad or what he likes, but a "guys" road trip where you spend the day cruising around together just enjoying each other's company sounds pretty great for an old father. You can include a physical gift as well, but I'll bet he would really appreciate your time and attention.

High chance it's not his cup of tea, but one of the things I'm looking forward to when I eventually retire is having enough time for myself to enjoy the little things more. A while back I bought a straight razor set and really love it and the smooth shave it provides (it's like a mini spa visit for your face) but just never seem to have enough time to spend an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning. He might be too "practical" for that sort of thing, but I figured it was worth throwing in some less obvious suggestions too.

Kika

Chuck!

we missed you at the last Red Car gathering, Mike flaked too...

no suggestions, but you can't access OT unless you are a member, and it looks like yours expired.
see you soon!

BobbyT

dcdude: Yes, you can get just the Zyklop driver, but be warned, this is an extremely slippery slope. Wera make the best screwdrivers I've ever used, and I'm ordering a set of the Joker wrenches today. The design and engineering of these tools is astounding. Here is the site link so you can download the full catalog--just don't say you and your credit card haven't been warned:

http://www-us.wera.de/

mstolo

Two ideas:

1. a nice headlamp. I use mine all the time.

2. Kobalt Socket set. I just bought one to work on my rear shock pillars. It is very versatile. Bolt passes through the middle so you don't need a deep well. Does both metric and SAE with the same set. Wrench can be flipped around for better angles. If you had to grab just one box of tools, this would be the one. I got my for under $100 on sale...great buy. http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?...llow&cId=PDIO1

stace

I've wanted one of those for a long time.... where do they sell for $75???

dcdude

Was very close to pulling the trigger on the Wera stuff, but after spending time in a rabbit hole of research, it seems very likely that the sockets are made in Taiwan, which puts the price into question. Went with the Snap-on flex head comfort grip...'Murican! Shipping direct to me in VA.

He's also coming off his second knee replacement. I'll be with him for a whole week, including the lake trip and a bday party with friends and family from two countries and four states, neighbors and his favorite foods. I think we got it covered.

BobbyT

AFAIK, Wera is designed in Germany, made in Czech Republic. Where did you find the information indicating manufacture in Taiwan?

Sounds like a great birthday plan--have a wonderful time with your dad!

therossinator

How are you gonna do a Wera warrantly replacment? I've never seen a Wera truck driving around. I see a Snap on truck out and about at least once a week if I'm paying attention. The ratchet you showed looks cool. At first I thought it might utilize something like the Kobalt doubledrive ratchet (super useful for changing plug wires, btw) but it seems to me that the Wera it is nothing more than a Snap on FHNF100 with a head that locks at 180, quick release, a different handle, and a sleeve to hold onto.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=143596

nine9six

Cuz you never know when you're gonna want to kill something!

dcdude

Rossinator beat me to the Garage Journal link, which also includes the extensions. It seems like the ratchets are still Czech. Similar claims on Amazon. To me, Taiwan manufacture doesn't necessarily carry a quality implication, it just makes it seem overpriced and misleading when it's being touted as German.

Paul902

dcdude, looks like you are set at this point, but I'll just say that I got my Dad a ~700 lumen LED flashlight from Fenix a couple years back, with a Li-ion charger and batteries, for a real decent price considering the performance. It is lightweight, and super energy efficient so he rarely needs to charge the batteries. These tactical flashlights come with a couple light modes, tough Al bodies with orings for waterproofing, etc. The light power is unreal. Better than some car headlights! He has mentioned to me several times how it instantly became his go-to flashlight and how much he loves it.

As someone else said, time spent together is best thing ever!