The File mystery

[Squirrel]

I pulled the tank from the 27 so I could weld the crack in the firewall, etc. It rattled. I eventually got the rattling bits to move to the other side of the baffle, so I could extract them with a magnet on a stick.

Who broke that file? why did he hide it in the gas tank? And, when? Mysterious.

.

[Rich Bingham]

Professor Plum. Because there was no place to hide it in the library. Last trip to the gas station.

[Adam]

I opened up an engine once that obviously hadn’t been touched for decades. There was a serving spoon inside the crankcase.

[Jim_PTC_GA]

I suspect it was there for a prison break. LOL

[Henry K. Lee]

Coke bottle in the door from the factory at the time was not invented.., "Hey Johnson, Wheres your missing File"?

[Henry K. Lee]

Coke bottle would not fit?

[Susanne]

Shortly after it was used as a prybar to align something on the car...

Gee, boss, I have no idea where that file went...

[DanTreace]

Just about the right length to be a dip stick......

so old Buford grabbed the file off the bench, opened the lid and removed the gas cap.

Stuck the file down to see gas level, you know a file has nice grooves to help see the fluid on the surface of that tool.

But, Buford dropped it, as there was no file handle, and kerplunk, it fell in the tank. In desperation, Buford just could reach the tang with his fingers, but that dang file was stuck in the baffle. Trying to pry it up, it broke.

Disgusted, Buford just tossed the tang end back into the tank, and headed to town to get gas and likely a beer

[TRDxB2]

Did you know that Buford used to be a surgeon

[frontyboy]

I've lost files on my computer but never in a gas tank!!!!

frontyboy

[Chad_Marcheese]

Sacrificial anode to keep the gas clean.

[Dan B]

File in the gas tank is an old racer trick to help the motor run smoother.

[RichardG]

DID JOHN'Y CASH HAVE ANY THING TO DO WITH THIS GOING;S ON ?

[RustyFords]

Maybe a kid broke it and was in a rush to hide it from dad.

[RxGPoblet]

A file in the tank smooths out a rough idle. Everyone knows that.

[Duey_C]

Welcome to this side of the forum Jim!

[Squirrel]

Thanks!

it's fun

[Henry K. Lee]

Did anyone get a "HANDLE" on it?

[Wayne Sheldon]

When I was a kid, I was taught that files were very valuable, and had to be treated like a fine instrument. It was basically true, good files were expensive, and using them incorrectly or tossing them in with wrenches and the like would ruin the edge quickly. I can see a kid being taught that way, and being careless, breaking a file then hiding it in the nearest perfect place dad would never find it!
I still treat files well. Modern files are not nearly as good as files were fifty years ago. I have most of the ones my dad still had when he passed. I also have a couple dozen that used to belong to my grandfather! Many of those are likely sixty to eighty years old, and many still as good as new. Nothing I have bought new in the past thirty years comes close to working as well. You can bet I keep them nicely protected, and use them with care.

[SteveTN]

Reminds me of a screwdriver found inside the wing of an A-10 at an Air Force Base here in the south east a few years ago.

Maybe we all need to get tool mats and count our tools when done with a Model T job from now on.

[ModelT46]

Unusual things in unusual places. 30 years ago a 100 year old home was torn down here in Excelsior.. In side the walls were several 100 year old, empty wisky bottles. When they remodeled A. Lincoln's home 20 year ago, inside and under a stairwell they found a variety of items including several letters that never got mailed.

[RustyFords]

Unusual things in unusual places. 30 years ago a 100 year old home was torn down here in Excelsior.. In side the walls were several 100 year old, empty wisky bottles. When they remodeled A. Lincoln's home 20 year ago, inside and under a stairwell they found a variety of items including several letters that never got mailed.

When I was in college, I was working on a crew remodeling an old building in downtown Gainesville, TX. We were ripping out an old ceiling and one of the guys swung the claw end of a hammer into a void and smashed a whiskey bottle that still had whiskey in it. It rained down on him and was good for a nice laugh for everyone.

That caused us to go upstairs and examine the floor above the spot where the whiskey was. Sure enough...in a small office....there was a loose, easily removable floorboard there and worn spots in the floor that showed where a desk and chair had been for many years. Some office worker had a stash under his desk where he hid his daily snort.