Ryan Black started out at Joe Black's Sunoco in Conshohocken, PA, working for his father as a kid just out of high school. Now, 21 years later, he is the proud owner of the business, as well as the proud owner of a new, dark blue EPIQ Series Snap-on toolbox, an upgrade from the Snap-on Master Series that previously resided in his shop.
The toolbox features a Mr. Big rollcab bottom, a drawer set top, a hutch with built-in LED lighting, two storage lockers and three overheads.
According to Black, the thing he loves most about the new toolbox is the space it provides. "It makes it easy for me to organize all my stuff, so it saves us time when we go looking for tools," he says. "You start piling stuff on top of each other and you forget where you put it, and end up spending more time looking for that specialty tool than it does to get the job done. So with the bigger box, I'm able to keep the stuff together and it makes it better from an organizational standpoint. It saves us time in the shop."
Black stores a variety of tools in his new box. "A lot of the diagnostic tools I really like," he says. "I have a Snap-on Solus … a Power Probe, a Bartec tire pressure monitoring tool. We do a lot of front-end and suspension work, so I love my Snap-on ball joint press. It's phenomenal."
Getting the new toolbox installed wasn't easy, but Black says his Snap-on distributor, Brian Boccelli, made things roll as smoothly as possible. "He facilitated the whole thing and made everything easier," he says. "The top drawer section that goes on the bottom box took six guys to lift. We put it up on a lift and shimmied it over to the box. It's incredible how heavy some of that stuff is. Snap-on delivered it on a United Van Lines truck, and they couldn't have helped us any more than they did."
Not only is Black happy with his new toolbox, he also still finds enjoyment with his trade after many years in his business. "It's something I grew up doing, and something I still love doing," he says. "I have two guys that work for me full-time. They've both been with me over 10 years. We have a great shop environment. It makes it easy to come to work."
