Chintzy, Corny, Kitschy, and Imported – but Classic!

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

Uncharacteristically, I bought this 21-Piece “Deluxe Tool Kit” by Dynamic Classics, Ltd., New York, NY, at the flea market yesterday morning.

If you’re wondering why, you’re not alone.

By all rights, it should have had nothing going for it with me. Cheap, brightly handled, imported tools in a faux leather-clad case and marketed as a gimmicky kit by a mass merchandiser in the 1960’s at a time when US tool manufacturers were conglomerating and Japan was just starting to dump cheap hand tools on the market.

But, it’s a tool kit, it's 100% complete, it’s in exceptionally good condition for its age, it had the original tag inside, and something about it just seemed too effin’ cool - artifactually, to leave behind!

:pimpflash

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

Using the old collectibles rule of thumb (100 years old is antique, 50 is vintage…), this kit turned vintage two years ago.

And let me tell you, they ain’t kidding about it being “nationally advertised” on the tag. I found ads for this kit in every newspaper from the west to the east coast and everywhere in between in 1968. Here are a couple examples.

Judging by this snippet-only view I can’t fully open, they even advertised in high-class rags like the New York Times Magazine.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

It sure isn’t Snap-on. Heck, it’s not even Oxwall! And the original utility seems extremely limited and doubtful. The wrenches are pressed steel, of course. The worm screw inside the adjustable wrench and the bit holder in the multi-tool handle are pot metal. The bits are decent steel, but the handle is brittle plastic. The jaws of the adjustable are forged, but the handle is pot metal. I don’t know how they even managed that. The hammer is decent, but it’s almost toy-like in size. The soldering iron is the type you might find in a craft or boy scouts learner’s set. The pliers are the only legit tool.

But dang it if it didn’t win me over the same way a dumpy Datsun B210 with a neon pea green finish might turn my head now when it wouldn’t have stood a chance of doing that in 1972. They’re both neat to look at in a vaguely nostalgic sense, like turning a corner at the Smithsonian on a family outing and realizing that the leisure suit next to the lava lamp in the glass case that your kids are laughing at may have been yours.

Here is the flip side of the tag...

And some close-up views of the tools.

First, the combination wrenches...

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

The bit handle and bits...

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

The bigger tools...

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

And a coupe more shots of the case...

southalabama · Mar 7, 2020

It does have a cool factor.

Put it in the back of an Aston Martin along with a bottle of wine, collapsible gun in a case, picnic basket - looks like something Sean Connery would use.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

Haha. That's the spirit!

By the way, for some good contextual background reading on the incursion of cheap Asian nonpowered hand tools in the US and the Antidumping Act and follow-up legislation enacted by Congress in the mid-1970’s to offset the trend, try this….

“Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, First Session, 95th Congress", April 26-28, 1977, available on-line and linked here (see pages 73-79, 85-90, 101, 510, 521, and 531 in particular).

…and this…

“Trends in International Nonpowered Handtools”, Report to the Committee on Ways and Means by the US ITC, Investigation No. 332-163, 1984 (60 pages), available on-line and linked here.

joel63 · Mar 7, 2020

As usual, you find the rare and and unusual. Beer

4xdog · Mar 7, 2020

Interesting detour, Lugz. I can see why you made it, and we're happy to have a look.

Those kinds of tools were common back in the mid 60s, before Japanese industries of all kinds made the pivot from "cheaper" to "better". As I recall, Hong Kong was took over the cheap market, then Taiwan, then China.

I've never seen one with a soldering pencil in it, though, nor a case that nice.

There are probably some bits and pieces of nearly identical tools in my father's old stuff, and I'd have used them as a kid. That screwdriver set is *very* familiar looking

Provincial · Mar 7, 2020

I knew it would be interesting if you bought it!

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

joel63 said:
As usual, you find the rare and and unusual. Beer

Provincial said:
I knew it would be interesting if you bought it!

Thanks, Gents!

4xdog said:
Those kinds of tools were common back in the mid 60s, before Japanese industries of all kinds made the pivot from "cheaper" to "better".

My understanding is that their move to the production of exacting low-tolerance spec tools came about a little earlier, aided, ironically, by a post-war recovery that allowed them to revamp all their machinery, just not yet applied at that time to mechanics tools as much as machinists and woodworking tools, and the "cheaper" phase was more of a deliberate marketing scheme. But I could be wrong about that.

Provincial · Mar 7, 2020

Japan was active in the "cheap" market before WWII, and that continued as they recovered from the war. They moved their way up the value chain, and were helped by the US Government who wanted to make them integrated with our economy with the intent of heading off any resurgence of their pre-war imperial ambitions.

By the 1960's, Japanese companies had developed the capacity for quality that allowed companies like Honda and Sony to make world-class products. Others still aimed for the low end.

four.cycle · Mar 7, 2020

Hilarious, Private Lugnutz! I love it! :thumbup:

I have seen many very similar sets listed on Ebay, including sets with the baffling 120-volt soldering iron. Baffling because the kits contained no solder, and were marketed (and marked) as "Emergency Auto Repair Kit".
(I must have overlooked those cars built in the 1960s that had 120-volt electrical outlets.)

We used to get small kits like that from sales reps as promotional items, almost always stamped with the name of the manufacturer that the salesman was representing. I always gave them to subordinate employees. Nothing quite that "complete", mind you - usually just screwdrivers, pliers, and maybe an adjustable wrench.

Next time I'm over at my mom's I'll poke around and take a look. It's possible she may well have a couple small kits like that kicking around.

You are a man full of surprises!

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

Thanks for confirming my understanding of the basic timeline, Jock.

four.cycle said:
You are a man full of surprises!

Surprised myself with this one. But again, that complete, and sitting there all forlorn with a bunch of liquidator's household bric-a-brac? For peanuts? And all that Kawasaki Enduro orange trim? Easy decision.

RTM · Mar 7, 2020

I have some of those stamped wrenches if you need a few more. Forget the COO tho.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 7, 2020

No, but thanks, RTM. The set is complete - all 21 pieces present and accounted for. But yeah, I imagine everyone has some of these wrenches - they're everywhere, usually Oxwall when I see them in the wild.

gpw_42 · Mar 8, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
But dang it if it didn’t win me over the same way a dumpy Datsun B210 with a neon pea green finish.....

Do you remember Mr. Leonard, from one of the NYC morning shows in the 80s? He allegedly drove a "lime green Pinto." Can't believe that I'm dredging up this tidbit of utterly useless trivia.

Crazy pickup, enjoy it!

Googling around about Mr. Leonard unearthed this artifact, and that the character probably originated somewhere other than NYC

Chintzy, Corny, Kitschy, and Imported – but Classic!

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