Tools of the Trade

No not wrenches, screwdrivers or scan tools, but writing tools. Except for the Sharpies, the pens in the photo are retired now. Yes that's a Mont Blanc ballpoint pen I got in a deal with the then parts manager at the dealership I work at. The green celluloid Visconti is a morph of broken mechanical pencil and ballpoint pen a late friend put together for me. And yes this Grease Monkey used to write with a fountain pen at work.



During the early-mid 90s when I first started using a fountain pen, I brought one to use at work. I was probably the only automotive technician that wrote with a fountain pen. Back then we used to actually write on paper repair orders. So when I had to write my "story" I would do so in script or cursive writing. I think some customers got to see my ROs and gave comments to the service writers.



That pen is a Rotring fountain pen with a steel nib that wrote fairly well. I still have it but rarely use it. It is rather stiff compared to the soft solid gold nibs of vintage fountain pens. There is quite a bit of wear on the Mont Blanc, Visconti and the Rotring from the rigors of use in an automotive repair shop environment. But they do bring back memories.

I use the Sharpies and now a cheap ball point pen. Sadly we now use electronic repair orders or EROs, everything on a computer. And so it is with personal correspondence these days. Texting, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, e-cards. There is a place for those, but I prefer handwritten letters...

A Lost Art!