Vlchek

[l_bilyk]

Has anyone ever heard of this brand? It is what I found branded on some ancient wrenches i found

[dink]

Has anyone ever heard of this brand? It is what I found branded on some ancient wrenches i found


Never heard of that line....I will google it....is the correct spelling V I C H E K ???

[dink]

This is the only thing I found concerning this....supposedly they supplied tools for the Jeep during WW2

http://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=buswrench&a=read&read=1084452235

[l_bilyk]

I found this

http://www.geocities.com/chevrolet1940coupe/tools.html

[dink]

Hmmm are they a nice quality antique??

[kartracer55]

Well I dont know too much about this brand, So I asked a few guys who would...

I found out that they were founded by Frank Vlcheck in the 30s, producing average quality hand tools, mainly sold in autoparts stores. I read that in the 60's thier sales really slowed and they stopped producing tools and went on to produce molded plastic things, mostly fishing tackle boxes.

Thier wrenches have a rather unique shape to the "handle" of them as well

Jim

[l_bilyk]

Hmmm are they a nice quality antique??

lol no not really

[l_bilyk]

Well I dont know too much about this brand, So I asked a few guys who would...

I found out that they were founded by Frank Vlcheck in the 30s, producing average quality hand tools, mainly sold in autoparts stores. I read that in the 60's thier sales really slowed and they stopped producing tools and went on to produce molded plastic things, mostly fishing tackle boxes.

Thier wrenches have a rather unique shape to the "handle" of them as well

Jim

Thanks Jim... but I dont understand what is so unique about the handle?

[BetterDays]

Can you say Ebay to test the waters?
People are always looking for collectibles, especially anything inscribed as the website mentioned.

[kartracer55]

Well its thier open ends that have the distinct deisgn...

The handle tapers in width from the larger end to the smaller end, which is one of thier trademarks.

As far as quality, you dont really see them around that much, so once can only imagine why. In doing further research on the brand, i found out that the quality can really vary, as some of thier wrenches were forged with worn out dies, so you could barely read the name.

And the wrenches arnt THAT old, I mean 70 years at most. Its old, and I wouldnt use them as a pro mechanic, but kinda cool to have.

They were also producing service kits for GM until the 50s


Jim

[kartracer55]

Oh, and As far as resale, I dont think there is really much of a market for them, because they arnt really high end tools ya know. Id just hang on to them as part of the "cool old tool" collection.

Jim

[dink]

Oh, and As far as resale, I dont think there is really much of a market for them, because they arnt really high end tools ya know. Id just hang on to them as part of the "cool old tool" collection.

Jim


They would be good probably just for as a antique collection

[l_bilyk]

Well one is definately of the 46-54 vintage.... it has the V logo on the handle
The other wrench has VLCHEK ALLOY STEEL stamped on the head but no V on the handle... and it looks like an offset head wrench... it also has a casting number on the shaft

Third one looks REALLY old... no discernable markings other than some triangles on the handle

I know I have more somewhere

I have no intention of selling. Just wanted to know how old they are

[kartracer55]

Well, You got it... 70-40 years old

Jim

[Thumper]

I've got some wrenches..........put em through hell when I was a mechanic years ago and NEVER broke one. They are not pretty to look at but they are tough.

[Coach James]

I've got several of their wrenches and use them once in a while. They've held up fine so far. I like too because I collect old American made tools.