here is my 1947 snapon bottom roller from my grandpa all original, 1947 top piece just bought rough around the edges but hard to find.. right is my craftsman boxes bottom 1990s and top few years old.
I know nothing about the year of that box. I am new to this "vintage tool box" addiction and am still learning. Can anyone help with the age of this? Does anyone have info on how to date the canadian boxes? they seem to have different model numbers from the boxes made in the states even though they look identical.
selohssa - Thanks for getting back to me on this. I think you are right about Canadian boxes having different model numbers. Attached are some photos of mine ... WHICH WOULD LOOK GREAT WITH THE ROLLER CABINET YOU JUST GOT RID OF!!! Anyway, the following is stamped on the back, left lower corner ... Snap-on Tools KC 532 MADE IN CANADA I bought it used in 1969 when I was still in high school. The Snap-on dealer that I bought it from was great. He said he'd give me a deal on the next good trade in he got and this is it. I paid $75 for it and he even took my tiny Canadian Tire box in as a trade. I would'nt be surprised if he tossed it before he got home. Regarding the colour, I'm certain that it was repainted a darker red before I bought it. The drawers are matt black and I'm pretty sure that's original. There is no sign that they have been repainted. I plan to restore it and it will be a tough call - I'd prefer an all red box. If anyone has a matching roller cabinet they'd like to sell I'd be more than happy to speak with you. <!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->
I think these is part of a Linclon masterlube Center. There is another cabinet that held 3 hose reels. 1 for grease, 1 for gear lube ,1 for air.
MBC top bought new in '67 for $93.00... MAC roll cab also new in '67...$131.00. The sidebox is an old Snappy of unknown vintage. Notice the Shag carpeting under the top box... Here's my Waterloo I bought and repainted about 10 years ago...
you can just see my favourite one on the far right.....it belonged to my grandfather who was an aircraft engineer for De havilland here in the UK all his life
the coolest thing is what i found inside when giving it a tidy up, it had slipped behind the drawers and was stuck right in the back......this ticket was for the first ever drag race event held here in the Uk in 1964, when K.S pitman and George Montgomery shipped their gassers over to show us limeys whats what.
In about 1980, I took some car parts I was restoring into the Redi-Strip shop near where I lived in Mississauga, Ontario. Along one wall they had about 100 new Snap-on top boxes and roller cabinets with the same graphics on them as this one. They were stacked on pallets at least 5 or 6 boxes high. I was told that Snap-on was changing the graphics and they were all into be stripped so they could be repainted (and presumably rebadged). I went back about 2 weeks later for my parts and they were shipping out the stripped boxes. It was pretty neat to see and I was surprised Snap-on would go to that effort.
I am fortunate to have a bunch of 1937 tool books with prices and ilustrations but unfortunate to have sold most of my old tool boxes, and really miss the little Snap On that i used for a pit box for stock car racing, just had a few parts and couple wrenches for minor adjustments, cleaned and painted it and it was real nice had it in the side box on the ramp truck
I have that same bottom box and I bought it used in 1961 for $25 with a few tools and a hein-warner floor jack. I never knew what year mine was but I'll call it a 1947,too. I don't think it has a serial # on it, but I'll look better when I paint it over. My wife is a 47 model and used to be a Ford.
I got this beautiful old Simonsen Metal Products (Chicago, IL) from the estate of my late father-in-law... and it was filled with vintage tools! Notice the home-made razor blade knife made from an old yardstick! A few years ago bought this Grip-Loc (Chicago, IL) box at a garage sale for $1.00...it also had some tools in it. My father-in-law passed last May... he had a very nice collection of woodworking tools... he kept all the hand saws and wood chisels razor sharp. I only found two tools that were imports... a "freebie" 1/4" drive socket set given as a premium from a local bank (Taiwan) and a 3/8" drive socket set (Japan)... everything else was US made with most tools being from the 30's to the 50's...
My latest score:a vintage Kennedy machinist's tool box found at a local antique shop for $18.75.No dents;a small amount of surface rust;and a key inside that is still not working in the lock.
If you still have the Zimmerman tool box I sure would like to see what you would want for it. My Father was a machinist and he had one just like it but my brother screwed me out of it when my Mother passed away. Tom Harmon Lebanon, Tn Tom_Harmon@Tacp.com
That looks just like the box I inherited from my Dad.....he got it while working in an aircraft plant during W W II. It still contains several tools he had from over the years. I occasionally use one of those tools.
heres a website u can use to look up models.... http://www.collectingsnapon.com/index.html yea theres no serial # i looked but it should be KR-377A
Step-dad gave me his old red one, other two I bought and cleaned up and painted. Love the old Craftsman stuff.
I recently bought a Craftsman machinist's chest that was built by Kennedy, it's pretty similar to yours. I've been told mine dates from the early 1960s.
I have one also;and the date sounds realistic.The basic differences between the Kennedy and the Craftsman boxes are the latch type(several styles were used)ranging from a single flush lock to a flush lock with two hasps to a single cam type lock or one with hasps.Also the positioning of the lock rods(the 2 little pins that push down to lock the drawers when the top is lowered)is closer together on the Craftsman than on the Kennedy.I tried interchanging fronts on them and they won't work. Got a great score on the Craftsman;it was paired with a Kennedy bottom cabinet(two drawers and a large lower space)that was missing the casters.Bought them at a church rummage sale for $5 for the pair!Even had keys with them.Cost me about $40 for casters but it was worth it.
Great Topic! And I thought I was weird to be so intrigued by old tool boxes and vintage tools. Either I'm normal or you're all just as goofy as I am. I just think it is neat to think of how many times the drawers have been open and closed and what interesting projects they had been used for. I have an old Remline 3 drawer top box that was my dad's that I will pass on to my son someday.
I know where there are a pair of old Lincoln shop stations similar the the 'tune up' cabinet/ bench combo unit posted by ChevygirlRox earlier in this thread. They are out of an old Jeep dealership in Freeport, IL so the owner tells me. They don't have the lighted 'tune up' sign but the look is real similar otherwise with the same emblems and some neat art deco type accents and trim. They are white, with red and blue trim. I have been trying to by these for a while but the guy never puts a price on them. They are buried in a garage with tons of other cool old cars and artifacts sure to make the members of this board salivate. Does anybody know of any information on old Lincoln shop equipment or does anybody else own something like this. I would really like to see more pictures of these.
Kiwi Kev, I think what you have here is a Lincoln shop station. I just posted a reply to a similar picture in a post from ChevygirlRox and then I saw this picture of your shop station. I know where there are 2 more of these units!!! The ones I know of have all of the emblems and trim like in your picture from the Nash dealership. DOES ANYONE HAVE MORE INFO ON THESE??? I know Linclon had a complete line of shop equipment in this era with workbenches and cabinets, etc. I would love to get my hands on an old catalog. It would be so cool to outfit an entire garage with this stuff. ANYBODY???!!
Heres my old one, my dad bought it new in around 1964, when he worked at a chevy dealership, its a MBC. I have had it for about 20 years know, the bottom is a old Crafsman I traded for at about the same time.
Does anyone know how I can tell the age of this Kennedy box I picked up tonight? The latch seems like an older style. I also want to know what you guys think is a fair price for this box. I hope I didn't over pay. Thanks, David
The round top boxes are the later style;not sure of exact dates but if I were to guess I would say around 1950ish.That one looks to be in excellent condition.Assessing a value is very subjective;lots of factors to consider.I have never paid more than $20 for one but I've been pretty lucky finding them.To a Kennedy collector it would probably be worth a lot more. As to whether you overpaid or not;if you are planning on keeping it what's the difference?If you bought it to roll it over,that is a different story.
I picked up one almost identical to that at Hershey 2 years ago for $25. I thought it was a smokin' deal. Kennedy makes good stuff, price up a new one sometime. Lots of guys who work at machine shops use them.
The Jalopy Journal
