emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
the protos i picked up today are all marked proto los angeles. never seen any before. whats the story on them?
Proto Los Angeles?
- Thread starter emeraldcoupe
- Start date
Mickey O
Well-known member
They're from Los Angeles.
OP
emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
lol, thanks. i found a link for alloy artifacts website and did some reading, great site and answered my question
OP
emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
thanks. i'm going to keep 'em
. i picked up the protos and some plombs at the flea market today. i REALLY like the plombs. pics are in this thread http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59193
OP
emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
here they are, don't know if you can see it good enough
mkdive
Well-known member
Alloy Artifacts should be required reading for GJ members who frequent the tool discussion.
mkdive
Well-known member
Those pebble grains are nice...you going to clean the double box up?
Packard V8
Well-known member
First there was Plomb, then very briefly Plomb Proto, then Proto Los Angeles for only a couple of years, then Proto, Challenger by Proto and Proto Professional.
thnx, jack vines
thnx, jack vines
Bolster
Well-known member
Geez, all these guys answering, and not ONE PERSON mentions that I collect and use Proto LA? It's in my farging sig line! Pff, thanks for watching my back, guys (sarcasm). And YOU, JerryW, why not just stab me in the back?
Proto LA started around 1949-1950 and ran through the 1960s I thought (altho Jack may be correct); never have been able to find a hard "stop" date. I THINK (just a guess at this point) that the Proto Chevrons followed the Proto LA Pebble Field.
Here's my set o' Proto LA Pebble Field combos...my "buy" range is between $2 and $5 per wrench. Every once in awhile you see some nut trying to sell one for $20 but mostly these are still inexpensive. They are seldom collected as they are too common. And virtually nobody knows to call them by their correct name on eBay ("Pebble Field Proto") so they're even kinda hard to find on eBay...you gotta look at all the photos real close like.
Notice the little shavers don't have pebble fields. I have never seen a little Proto LA wrench with a PF.
Also notice there are two shapes of the OE in this era: what I call slim, and "ted kennedy". The TK shape is very "jowly" and heavily reinforced around the neck; see example at the bottom of the photo. (Also one of my 1/2" wrenches has a serious case of the TK uglies. I found it underneath at bridge in Massachusetts.) I believe the jowl'd versions were the later PF Proto LAs. Personally I prefer the slim jaw OEs.
Emerald you Done Good getting that 3/4 PF Proto, those are for some reason harder to find than the other sizes. I've also noticed that in Plomb, it's hard to find a 3/4 in good condition. For some reason those 3/4 got thrashed, don't know why.
These Proto LA wrenches are IMO the most comfortable of all. The earlier Plomb are nice to look at but not fun to pull. And later, they went with a sort of snap-on style "butter knife" shape that is too sharp.
Anyway, now you boys know PF Proto is my thing, and you know where to dump yer spares.
Proto LA started around 1949-1950 and ran through the 1960s I thought (altho Jack may be correct); never have been able to find a hard "stop" date. I THINK (just a guess at this point) that the Proto Chevrons followed the Proto LA Pebble Field.
Here's my set o' Proto LA Pebble Field combos...my "buy" range is between $2 and $5 per wrench. Every once in awhile you see some nut trying to sell one for $20 but mostly these are still inexpensive. They are seldom collected as they are too common. And virtually nobody knows to call them by their correct name on eBay ("Pebble Field Proto") so they're even kinda hard to find on eBay...you gotta look at all the photos real close like.
Notice the little shavers don't have pebble fields. I have never seen a little Proto LA wrench with a PF.
Also notice there are two shapes of the OE in this era: what I call slim, and "ted kennedy". The TK shape is very "jowly" and heavily reinforced around the neck; see example at the bottom of the photo. (Also one of my 1/2" wrenches has a serious case of the TK uglies. I found it underneath at bridge in Massachusetts.) I believe the jowl'd versions were the later PF Proto LAs. Personally I prefer the slim jaw OEs.
Emerald you Done Good getting that 3/4 PF Proto, those are for some reason harder to find than the other sizes. I've also noticed that in Plomb, it's hard to find a 3/4 in good condition. For some reason those 3/4 got thrashed, don't know why.
These Proto LA wrenches are IMO the most comfortable of all. The earlier Plomb are nice to look at but not fun to pull. And later, they went with a sort of snap-on style "butter knife" shape that is too sharp.
Anyway, now you boys know PF Proto is my thing, and you know where to dump yer spares.
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JSharp
Well-known member
******** the Chalenger by proto was a lesser quality tool. Not a proto tool by my standards.
Bolster
Well-known member
Show it, man!!
cruiser808
Well-known member
Sweet set there, Bolster! 
I wish we could get the bottom of the time lines on Proto designs. Right now, it seems we're in the ballpark, but can't pinpoint them exactly by year. I'd sure like to know when Proto ratchet plates and gears went from silver to black. I know it had to be between the early sixties and mid seventies, but that's as close as I can get. 
I wish we could get the bottom of the time lines on Proto designs. Right now, it seems we're in the ballpark, but can't pinpoint them exactly by year. I'd sure like to know when Proto ratchet plates and gears went from silver to black. I know it had to be between the early sixties and mid seventies, but that's as close as I can get. lauver
Well-known member
Anybody have even an approximate year when Proto Professional first appeared? It seems to me that it was well after 1984 (Stanley Works acquisition and new logo style). Does anyone have Proto catalogs from the 1980's and 1990's?
cruiser808
Well-known member
I know it was at least 1984. That year, I received a 5449 repair kit from Kilgo's in Hawaii where the the plate was black, had the new logo script and "professional" on it.
lbgradwell
Well-known member
Something that came in a lot I picked up last week...
cruiser808
Well-known member
Something that came in a lot I picked up last week...
Very nice LG! Do you have any of those vintage Proto sockets with the hole to go with it?
Bolster
Well-known member
OK come clean now. What were you doing under a bridge in MA? You vagrant you!
I was making a sideways snarky comment about Chappaquiddick and the woman TK left for dead under a bridge. OK, it was a stretch.
lbgradwell
Well-known member
Very nice LG! Do you have any of those vintage Proto sockets with the hole to go with it?
I don't.
Also included in the lot was a second "Los Angeles" socket (instead of the "Impact Pinless Universal Joint" pictured) that was inscribed RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) that was split. But, that may give a clue as to what the former owner did for a living...