Vintage Tune-Up Cabinets

jim · Jun 12, 2017

Bought these two tune up cabinets at a rummage sale over the weekend, the guy was remodeling his garage. Unbelievable condition. Very heavy, both cabinets have the original paint. Does anyone know about what year they were made?
The white Borg Warner is 30 inches wide, 30 inches high and 13 5/8 deep.
The orange Niehoff cabinet is 30 inches wide, 35 inches high, and 11 inches deep.
What would these sell for in your neighborhood? Any info on these cabinets would be great!
I will break up the photos into two sessions.
thanks
Jim

jim · Jun 12, 2017

White Borg Warner.

jim · Jun 12, 2017

Orange Niehoff

marubadu · Jun 12, 2017

Nice. They almost look like repos.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

disston · Jun 12, 2017

They look real to me. I remember such cabinets in full service garages back in the 60's and 70's. Not sure what vintage those are tho.

You didn't say how much you paid. Such boxes in that sort of great condition are highly desirable.

jim · Jun 12, 2017

On the orange cabinet it is stamped Advertising Metal Display Co. They have been out of business for many many years. These cabinets are the real deal.

1982fxr · Jun 12, 2017

Out here $75-125 each

thehorse13 · Jun 12, 2017

They appear to be 80s vintage. AMD Co. was still operating into the mid 80s.

Your cabinets look unused. Around here you can expect people to ask $125-$150 for them and they would go pretty quickly.

lostmymanual · Jun 12, 2017

Nice find.
I'd love to come across similar. I'd ****** them up and put them back in use for my shop.

toolnut · Jun 12, 2017

Great find! Should make a nice addition to your shop.

captain14 · Jun 12, 2017

Back in the day, did the distributor keep the cabinets full of tuneup parts (maybe weekly/monthly visit?
Or did the garage owner make his own order up?

Neat cabinets. Have you decided where to mount and display them?

Davefr · Jun 13, 2017

I love those cabinets. They aren't heavy duty like Lista but they'd good for small parts. I bought this pair a couple years ago for $25/ea.

Last weekend I saw the Niehoff just like your's except it wasn't near as nice for $30 - I passed.

twertsy · Jun 13, 2017

AMD Co changed their name to AMD Industries in 1982, so they are pre-82.

jim · Jun 14, 2017

Dave fr, those are great cabinets in great shape. What did you do with them? Did you hang them in the garage? What did you store in them? Jim

jim · Jun 15, 2017

How about some pictures of your vintage cabinets hanging on the wall and what you put in them. Jim

00fxd · Jul 3, 2017

I have a couple of those Niehoffs, yours are much nicer .....

Cope · Jul 3, 2017

disston said:
They look real to me. I remember such cabinets in full service garages back in the 60's and 70's. Not sure what vintage those are tho.

You didn't say how much you paid. Such boxes in that sort of great condition are highly desirable.

Typically a garage became a stocking dealer for ignition parts. The parts house would do an inventory and bill for missing parts and replenish.

jim · Jul 4, 2017

Davefr, I bet you would not sell them for $25 today!!!

Outlander · Jul 4, 2017

These are fore sale near me. $125 for the pair! Tempted.

Richard Cranium · Jul 4, 2017

I like the one with the pull out shelves.

Outlander · Jul 4, 2017

I am sitting here about to message the seller thinking, where will I put them I have no available wall space! What's wrong with me!

rmalkow2 · Jul 4, 2017

Jim,
Thanks for starting this thread. I'm subscribed and vintage parts cabinets are some of my favorite finds at sales, auctions and, on CL. I love using them and finding different brands. I think they add flavor to any garage over what you can buy new these days. And generally they are much better built than the common brands you would find at the big box stores and about the same price or less.

I would agree with earlier comments on pricing for your two that $100-$125 would yield a quick sale. You might get more if you are willing to wait for that right buyer. I sold the GM Performance Parts cabinet shown below for $80 because it doubled my cost and did not fit my theme. (I'm a Ford guy) It was not listed on CL long and someone gladly paid that price. Could have asked more but I don't like to keep items listed long if I can get a decent price.

Looking forward to seeing more vintage cabinets from GJ members.

Mintgrun · Jul 4, 2017

There is one listed locally on CL.
NMNA.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/hsh/6203339234.html

GP auto parts vintage locker/cabinet - $150 (Bremerton)

I have a nice vintage GP auto parts locker/cabinet good condition. I have no use for it anymore. It is in very nice condition for how old it is. Would be a nice piece for shop, garage, or man cave. $150

jim · Jul 5, 2017

I was surprised that the owner still had the original key for the Borg Warner cabinet. It almost looks like he never put anything inside it. No scratches on the inside of the drawers. Jim

senlow · Jul 5, 2017

Outlander said:
These are fore sale near me. $125 for the pair! Tempted.

They are pretty cool, but light duty. I have one, and it's made from 24 gauge steel.

Motorman55 · Sep 27, 2017

Just found this 'Vintage Tune-Up Cabinets' Thread.

Here's a pic of my Motorcraft cabinets.

lincwelder225 · Sep 28, 2017

captain14 said:
Back in the day, did the distributor keep the cabinets full of tuneup parts (maybe weekly/monthly visit?
Or did the garage owner make his own order up?

Normally the cabinets were "given" to wholesale customers who either A) bought $*** amount of product or B) were stocking customers of product and itvwas inventoried once a week by the stocking parts stores outside salesman and replenished.

Common cabinets are ignition parts, brake cabinets ( I have a raybestos one in my garage at home), body shop supplies, filters, spark plugs, wheel seals and bearings/races for front disc brakes etc. Belts and hoses were mostly hung in the wall (no cabinet).

jim · Sep 28, 2017

Thanks for bringing my post back, It's been awhile. Jim

Private Lugnutz · Jan 22, 2018

Ack, I should've known there was a thread for this topic before I posted! I don't want to spam my photos everywhere, but here for future reference is a link to a vintage P&D tune-up cabinet I just picked up.

eddieK · Jan 22, 2018

Couple I've had for about 30 yrs...

Alienbaby17 · Jan 22, 2018

These were in an old driveabilitty shop we moved into a around ten years ago. They’re not super old but probably from the 80’s or 90’s. There were about half-a-dozen of them at the time. Owner of the shop didn’t want them so another employee and I took them all home.

MShaw · Jan 23, 2018

Coming from Connecticut I would love to see an Echlin cabinet. When I worked in a garage (1958 - 1963) that was most of what we used for tune ups. They were located in Connecticut

I just checked Google and they are now NAPA Echlin and located in Branford Ct.

Cf mtn · Jan 23, 2018

hi all, not really a tune up "cabinet" but a tune up parts box. picked it up at a goodwill outlet store, little weathered boxes always catch my I. i was surprised to see the condition on the inside. posted this on another site looking for info on the company's, my search turned up zilch. any info would be great.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 23, 2018

That's a cool box, especially with the labels being so intact. I don't have time today but I'll help you out, because I have never heard of Fertig or what appears to be their brand name, Regal.

Cf mtn · Jan 23, 2018

Private Lugnutz said:
That's a cool box, especially with the labels being so intact. I don't have time today but I'll help you out, because I have never heard of Fertig or what appears to be their brand name, Regal.

thanks, lugs. i didn't really take a close look at it until i got to the car. always cool to find stuff that's been around for awhile. looking forward to what ever you dig up on the 2 companies.

Jbullfrog · Nov 23, 2019

I have some old and new cabinets around the shop. I started with the American Parts cabinets at our previous house. They came from an auction. When I moved into this shop, I had the middle Napa cabinet and bought the other 2 from thru my local store. The Niehoff cabinets came from a mentor's shop.

lardy1 · Nov 23, 2019

I recently lost an auction for this one.

IMCA38 · Nov 23, 2019

I got these two P & D wall cabinets at an auction last year. I’ve never seen any others for P & D.

hasco · Nov 23, 2019

Here is a Tune-up cabinet on Nashville Tn.Craigslist.

https://nashville.craigslist.org/pts/d/gallatin-antique-neihoff-auto-parts/7026056573.html

Private Lugnutz · Nov 24, 2019

IMCA38 said:
I’ve never seen any others for P & D.

I found an older P&D wall cabinet a few years ago, GJ thread linked here.

(And I just made a reminder to myself to add this thread to the Sticky Index.)

Vintage Tune-Up Cabinets

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member