The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!

[WagonHo!]

I couldn’t place the make of these boxes by the picture but the price was right so I went to meet the seller anyway. Was very happy to see these doors drop down!

You are a very bad man!

 

[WagonHo!]

Nicely done. I'm going to do something similar to mine once I decide on colors. You used spray cans?

Beautiful, looks like it might hold kryptonite.

 

[TruckJunkie]

I don't know if I can include a link to another site here, but got the information I shared from the Vintage Machinery site. It seemed to be the most coherent info I was able to find. They had a picture of a advertisement from a 1935 edition of Popular Science regarding the tool. They also said the company moved to Plainfield, NJ in 1931. It is doubtful the box has any real value, just thought it was pretty neat to find one of that vintage in such good shape.

31 is where my records pick up walker turner. You may be right about the earlier time/location. The Driver line was a Sears trademark brand that ended about 32/33

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Would be cool to find the tools for it

 

[RedVise]

freudianfloyd - here is my Mac box, pulls are different.

Brian

 

[TheCraneGuy]

Picking this one up tomorrow. Don’t know any model numbers, and have no idea what it’s value is, but I couldn’t pass it up.



I couldn’t pass on the price either.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Sweet

 

[Shelbylex]

TheCraneGuy, this looks like KRA 429. Stamp should be in the middle of the back side. Please add it to KRA 428,429,430 thread under vintage.

 

[s1911f]

I've been looking for a decent older toolbox to organize my lathe tooling and thinking all along that I wanted a nice vintage grey/red Craftsman. On the way home from work Friday I ran across a garage sale down the road from my house and found this. It's not the Craftsman that I was after but it should be more than up to the task . I bundled it with a three piece Mitutoyo Mic set he was selling, handed the man $50 and considered it mission accomplished! A little scrub down, slide cleaning, a couple new slide clips and some elbow grease and it will be good as new. It even has a key.

 

[Shelbylex]

Great deal, s1911f!
Now you need the bottom box to complete the set!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

50$! I think you have earned a you **** on that one.

 

[s1911f]

Great deal, s1911f!
Now you need the bottom box to complete the set!

50$! I think you have earned a you **** on that one.

Thanks guys! I think you are right Shelbylex, now I need a matching bottom. Unfortunately the search has become pretty specific.

I don't know much about the 70's/80's toolboxes, but it looks like either a Matco or Mac bottom of the same generation would work. Are there any others that have similar drawer/handle configurations I should keep an eye out for?

Guess I'll keep hitting the garage sales, CL, etc... The search is the fun part!!

 

[TheCraneGuy]

TheCraneGuy, this looks like KRA 429. Stamp should be in the middle of the back side. Please add it to KRA 428,429,430 thread under vintage.

It is a KRA429. Haven’t cleaned it up enough for the date stamp. I haven’t found the thread you were talking about. I will look more today.

 

[Shelbylex]

S1911f: I am not sure if any other configuration would work as well. MATCO seem to be a little more common in MA. There are couple for sale now, but they are overpriced. So on the best deal I had was 100 for MATCO bottom (I want MAC (not sure why, they are identical - may be because I see less of them...). I should have probably went for it, but decided to wait for MAC. There is one now in RI, but for 250 and given its condition, I am not going for it. Never mind that there is also a middle box : ). Keep your eyes open for it: do not see them for sale often...

TheCraneGuy: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=401885
I thought I was getting one, but it ended up being another brand. I decided to start a thread so we could see those great boxes and have some references.

 

[AtticusGOB]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thought I'd share my collection thus far. The Craftsman has quite a bit of underlined C, crown, v and double vv tools in it. Picked up an old Craftsman shop manual and an underlined c rotary gun too. Plan on restoring most of these. Let me know if you are interested in a particular box and I can post more pics. Enjoy!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's quite a hoard!

 

[930dreamer]

This MAC is for sale on Facebook it looks new.

 

[Rileysan]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thought I'd share my collection thus far. The Craftsman has quite a bit of underlined C, crown, v and double vv tools in it. Picked up an old Craftsman shop manual and an underlined c rotary gun too. Plan on restoring most of these. Let me know if you are interested in a particular box and I can post more pics. Enjoy!

Great collection! Where are you located?

Brian

 

[FJ 432]

Great collection! Where are you located?

Brian

My question as well. Nice collection.

 

[Outlawmws]

I brought home yet another rusty cruddy old carry box...

This was why!

A closeup:

It also had one of the support arms off the rivet it pivots on, but I got that fed back in and peened so its on again so the tray actually moves without locking up.

 

[AtticusGOB]

Great collection! Where are you located?

Brian

Thanks! Phoenix, AZ.

 

[Shelbylex]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thought I'd share my collection thus far. The Craftsman has quite a bit of underlined C, crown, v and double vv tools in it. Picked up an old Craftsman shop manual and an underlined c rotary gun too. Plan on restoring most of these. Let me know if you are interested in a particular box and I can post more pics. Enjoy!

Welcome! Nice collection!

Please make threads when restoring and add mid boxes to the thread I am trying to start: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7427201 (I texted you as well so that once you restore some of them you could easily add the final product)!

 

[LesNewcomer]

Interesting. This ones definitely all steel. Built like a tank. Probably weighs 25 pounds empty.

Apparently this box went through several iterations, I have the same box and its little brother, but mine are AL20 and AL16, both have a steel cabinet but aluminum drawers and dividers, and yes mine were full of electronic parts.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thought I'd share my collection thus far. The Craftsman has quite a bit of underlined C, crown, v and double vv tools in it. Picked up an old Craftsman shop manual and an underlined c rotary gun too. Plan on restoring most of these. Let me know if you are interested in a particular box and I can post more pics. Enjoy!

That craftsman stack is in my short list to find next ! They are made by amd and are very stout ! They also made a very rare mid box that I have only seen one picture of online but never in person!



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[WagonHo!]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thought I'd share my collection thus far. The Craftsman has quite a bit of underlined C, crown, v and double vv tools in it. Picked up an old Craftsman shop manual and an underlined c rotary gun too. Plan on restoring most of these. Let me know if you are interested in a particular box and I can post more pics. Enjoy!

Dam-n great collection! How bout some zoom-in photos of that snappy roller with the S handle on cabinet door. Do u have dates on the chest and cabinets?
Thanks

 

[Motochick]

Thanks! Phoenix, AZ.

Hello from a friend up north! There are some smoking' good deals in our state. Nice stuff you have.

 

[smokeyburb]

Thanks! Phoenix, AZ.

Nice collection...and greetings from Cochise County, AZ

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[Rileysan]

They are made by amd and are very stout ! They also made a very rare mid box that I have only seen one picture of online but never in person!

Which reminds me - I managed to get a hold of scanned pages of Craftsman tool boxes from the 1959 catalog, which did not feature that middle chest. That leaves the 1958 and 61-63 catalogs to look through. Anyone here have a Craftsman mechanic's tool catalog from one of those years?
Brian

 

[Smokeshow69]

Which reminds me - I managed to get a hold of scanned pages of Craftsman tool boxes from the 1959 catalog, which did not feature that middle chest. That leaves the 1958 and 61-63 catalogs to look through. Anyone here have a Craftsman mechanic's tool catalog from one of those years?

Brian

Wondering if anyone has one of those mid chests ? Wondering if there is a date stamped behind the craftsman crown top logo ?


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[leg17]

Which reminds me - I managed to get a hold of scanned pages of Craftsman tool boxes from the 1959 catalog, which did not feature that middle chest. That leaves the 1958 and 61-63 catalogs to look through. Anyone here have a Craftsman mechanic's tool catalog from one of those years?
Brian

Looked 1956-1960 (when the switch was made to the familiar full width pulls).
The mid chest is ONLY found in the 1958 catalog.

When was the badge shown on the picture come into use?

 

[Rileysan]

Looked 1956-1960 (when the switch was made to the familiar full width pulls).
The mid chest is ONLY found in the 1958 catalog.

When was the badge shown on the picture come into use?

I believe that 1958 is the earliest year found by any members here. I have a few that date from 1957 and they have the Heritage logo. That being said, there's no definitive way to determine the exact month/year of transition. I suspect one could find boxes stamped with same month/year of manufacture with each having a different badge (crown top or heritage).

Any chance you might be willing to scan or photograph the pages of the 1958 catalog showing the middle chest?

Brian

 

[Smokeshow69]

I believe that 1958 is the earliest year found by any members here. I have a few that date from 1957 and they have the Heritage logo. That being said, there's no definitive way to determine the exact month/year of transition. I suspect one could find boxes stamped with same month/year of manufacture with each having a different badge (crown top or heritage).

Any chance you might be willing to scan or photograph the pages of the 1958 catalog showing the middle chest?

Brian

I was just getting ready to request a scan of that catalog page but you beat me to it! Sick minds think alike


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[leg17]

Any chance you might be willing to scan or photograph the pages of the 1958 catalog showing the middle chest? Brian

I have it in PDF format on DVD.
Will try to figure out how to get this up here.
Tom

 

[Smokeshow69]

I have it in PDF format on DVD.
Will try to figure out how to get this up here.
Tom

I just sent you a pm with my email in case it is not working and I can try to post it ?


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[fowldarr]

Picked up this old router box. Missing the router, but has the bits and pieces for a couple of bucks at the habitat store. Now I just need to find the router to go in it


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[leg17]

Any chance you might be willing to scan or photograph the pages of the 1958 catalog showing the middle chest?
Brian

Sorry, no luck.
Can't extract a single page from the original and can't get a .doc format to work either.
Maybe when the grand-kids come over I can get this.

99 H 04372K . . . . $17.95

 

[Jnmario]

Older 3 piece Craftsman. In the process of restoring it now. What is interesting is that there is a panel that slides out and covers the middle box. Love these older Craftsman boxes.

 

[Jnmario]

This looks newer but it isnt. The original owner was in his 80's and kept this in his basement with no use. Note the key style. Came with the original manual sheet from Sear's. Not sure of it's exact age as the paperwork isn't dated. Cool none the less.

 

[Jnmario]

$30? That's a great deal. Love these boxes. I have a few of them. Check out my pics.

 

[smokeyburb]

This looks newer but it isnt. The original owner was in his 80's and kept this in his basement with no use. Note the key style. Came with the original manual sheet from Sear's. Not sure of it's exact age as the paperwork isn't dated. Cool none the less.

Hmmm. What are the dates on the actual boxes? Logo on boxes began around late 80s but paperwork has logo from 70s-80s; key is from 60s-70s.

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