When Igor Polishchuk, owner of CAtuned in Sacramento, California, outgrew his old toolbox, he knew he wanted a custom Mac Tools Macsimizer toolbox. For him, the quality and durability were big factors in making his decision. He notes that the box is built “very strong” and if he were to open up one of the bigger drawers, he’d be able to stand inside it and have his weight supported.
“It’s definitely something I feel confident in,” Polishchuk says. “You load a bunch of tools inside. It gets really heavy.”
Down to the details
Polishchuk’s toolbox consists of the 75” long by 30” tall Macsimizer toolbox, two 16” wide side lockers, and a cabinet. He made sure the entire setup matched his shop’s colors with the custom MTO Red and black pulls.
The stainless-steel surface of his cabinet makes for a more versatile workspace, as the technician notes that he can use a Sharpie to write notes directly on the space, and it easily wipes away. He also utilizes this area for disassembling parts, cleaning them, or with the lighting instead of the cabinet, just to get a better look at them. If needed, he can also lock anything he’s working on inside the space.
Aside from the lighting inside the cabinet, Polishchuk has installed a light inside his top drawer where he stores all his sockets.
“Going forward I’ll probably get a couple more light bars to go into some of the other drawers,” he notes, “just because it makes it easier to see, and it lights up the whole drawer, so you can find things quicker.”
Getting organized
Though Polishchuk has his tools organized so that each type of tool has its own drawer, when over 90 percent of the tools you’re using reside in one space, further means of organization may be necessary. Polishchuk has some organizers he’s currently using, but most of those are the trays that come with the tools.
“Over time those trays kind of disintegrate,” Polishchuk says. “They're just not built to last forever.”
In the future, the shop owner would like to invest in upgrading his organizers, potentially to something with a magnetic base. Other than this and the drawer lighting, Polishchuk doesn’t think he’ll be adding to his toolbox anytime soon. However…
“I’m always adding [new] tools,” he says, “so you never know.”
Putting the tools to work
Polishchuk’s shop, CAtuned, has spent the last 22 years restoring mostly pre-2000 era classic BMWs, as well as expanding his business to include producing parts for these vehicles because some of them are no longer available.
The shop owner got his start in automotive at a young age from assisting his dad with performing repairs on the family car. As he got older, working on cars became something he did for fun, and eventually turned into running his own business.
For Polishchuk working on the German classics is more enjoyable than performing typical automotive service. When he tried that, he notes that “the everyday repair work left him burnt out.”
Additionally, by specializing in a particular type of restoration, he notes that he and his team are very confident in what they do because they’ve done the work so many times.
“It's definitely rewarding to work with clients on a restoration projects,” Polishchuk says, “because a lot of the clients become more like friends … having that bond with the customer in your restoring their vehicle for maybe a year, it's a different process [than typical automotive service repairs] and definitely rewarding to see something go from a dilapidated state to something that's super nice.”
