c. 1950 PENENS Master Wrench Set and Box

Private Lugnutz · Apr 18, 2020

As many of you may recall, I picked up a bunch of orphan PENENS master wrench set tools a few years ago (including the 1/2-inch drive handles and sockets, the midget set, and the DOE wrenches), all late 40’s or early 50’s, but no box, and I’ve been searching for a correct box ever since. In the meantime I picked up a couple more PENENS stragglers, like the 6-, 8-, and 12-inch adjustables and the pliers.

About a month ago DD T/A found a suitable box at a flea market in Florida, linked here, then the plague hit and he couldn’t go back to see if the guy still had it. It was a bit more modern than my tools, with a metal badge, and a metal ID tag with an owner’s name on it, but I was happy with “close”.

A few weeks ago Unaiu tipped me off to the same box – and believe it or not, it may have actually been the exact same box (seller was in Florida), being sold on eBay. I was too late, it was already sold, but, as luck sometimes has it, this box...

...which is much more suitable for the age of my tools anyway, had just been listed for sale as a Buy It Now for $20! SOLD!

The dimensions (17” x 6” x 5-3/4”) do not match the small hip roof in the 1950 catalog, so it may be earlier.

But the style and color and handle are just right. Some rust, but not too bad, and it still has most of its original finish. I will tend to the other paint splatter (black T on lid, and white drips on side) some other time.

I do wish the decal was just a tad better...

...but it’s fairly legible, and too good to replace with a reproduction. I will probably seal it to preserve what’s there. It reads “FLEET ALLOY TOOLS / MANUFACTURED BY PENENS CORPORATION”. I don’t recall seeing the “ALLOY” before, and “FLEET QUALITY TOOLS” was the trademark, but I’ll look into all that later. For now, I am happy with a very suitable home.

Here are a few more shots...

My favorite part of the box might be the magnet to help keep the lid shut tight and prevent rattling. Classic. Probably been there since the original owner had it.

Private Lugnutz · Apr 18, 2020

“Reunited, and it feels so good
Reunited 'cause we understood
There's one perfect fit
And, sugar, this one is it
We both are so excited
'cause we're reunited,
hey, hey”
/With apologies to Peaches and Herb/

Without further ado, here it is filled up with the PENENS Master Wrench Set PR-2000 (and a few extras)!

Private Lugnutz · Apr 18, 2020

A few more...

Oldtuleguy · Apr 18, 2020

Looking good!

woody 73 · Apr 18, 2020

Very nice good job. :thumbup:

captain14 · Apr 18, 2020

Some nice family photos there all lined up and smiling for the camera.

harley jim · Apr 18, 2020

Very nice set

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

Catfishdan · Apr 18, 2020

Nice. Glad you finally found one.

thehorse13 · Apr 18, 2020

Hey, that set looks very familiar!

Oldtuleguy · Apr 18, 2020

I like those old fleet sets

Private Lugnutz · Apr 18, 2020

woody 73 said:
Very nice good job.

captain14 said:
Some nice family photos there all lined up and smiling for the camera.

harley jim said:
Very nice set

Thanks, guys!

Catfishdan said:
Nice. Glad you finally found one.

Thanks, Dan. As you know, patience pays off - and sometimes when you least expect it!

thehorse13 said:
Hey, that set looks very familiar!

Oldtuleguy said:
I like those old fleet sets

I would eventually like to explore the small distinctions - and especially in terms of the production timeframe, with respect to the decal (you two have the outline style, whereas mine is solid yellow; yours says Quality whereas mine and Sonny's says Alloy), and the boxes (yours and Sonny's have latches on the left and right, whereas mine is center latch only; your tray handles are flat, whereas mine is concave...), etc, but for now...

:beer:

Cousins!

I like those combination wrenches, Otg. How are they marked? PENENS Corp. like the DOEs?

Oldtuleguy · Apr 18, 2020

I believe the painted outlines are earlier

r_olson_06 · Apr 18, 2020

Nice boxes guys. Love the logos.

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

ganymede · Apr 18, 2020

Great job putting all that together but that 1/4" ratchet and spinner handle are extra drool worthy.

bmwrd0 · Apr 18, 2020

I have this Fleet set

The box shows up , but not as a set box. Just in the misc. boxes listed in the back of the 1960 Challenger catalog. So, I couldn't tell you anything about anything.

Outlawmws · Apr 18, 2020

Awesome job pulling all those disparate parts together to be united Lugz!

d42jeep · Apr 18, 2020

Nice pickup on the box. The set looks great in it. My Challenger box is much more recent and didn’t come with a tray. That ratchet looks familiar. I used to have one just like it. :bounce:

I found a Penens No.1 Phillips today and added it to your pile.
-Don

Rileysan · Apr 19, 2020

Let me be the first to say "you ****!". That's a great find at a great price. Grats!

Brian

Private Lugnutz · Apr 19, 2020

bmwrd0 said:
I have this Fleet set

ganymede said:
Great job putting all that together but that 1/4" ratchet and spinner handle are extra drool worthy.

Outlawmws said:
Awesome job pulling all those disparate parts together to be united Lugz!

Rileysan said:
Let me be the first to say "you ****!". That's a great find at a great price. Grats!

Thanks, guys.

d42jeep said:
That ratchet looks familiar. I used to have one just like it.

Funny you should mention that. Just goes to show how many nuances there are with these old PENENS/Fleet sets and how difficult it is figuring out the production and sequence if you don't find them together. As you know, I have the ratchet that originally came with the rest of the 1/2-inch drive tools and sockets, but it was the only piece with an R part number (R-10) instead of a 16xx number. I like the low profile screw heads on the R-10, but besides the set-matching part number, I also like the way the blackface jobbie I got from you matches the black handles on the adjustables, cosmetically. :pimpflash

thehorse13 · Apr 19, 2020

I assumed that my Fleet box was from the 1940s based on the round cleats it wears on all 4 corners and from the back story from the seller. All of the tools are original to the box and came from the estate of the original owner. His son was in charge of liquidating the estate and had quite a mountain of vintage tools.

Private Lugnutz · Apr 19, 2020

That's good reasoning. Late 1940s, to be more precise, since Plomb claimed first use of the Fleet name in their TM application as August 1947.

Most of my 1/2-inch drive tools came together with the DOE wrenches, and the DOE wrenches are all dated 1950 (forged-in JP Danielson factory date coding), so I am fairly confident about my tools being made in 1950.

The box I just picked up I am not so sure. It's more of a candy apple red than your maroon red, no cleats, and, as already noted, it has a solid water transfer decal, as opposed to the racing stripe like outlined decal, so probably not the same year. But note, again, that your box and my box both say "Fleet Alloy Tools" vs. "Fleet Quality Tools", which is more commonly seen, and, more importantly, the term that was specifically TM'd (applied for in 1947, granted in 1950).

And yet Otg's box is identical to yours, right down to the cleats, except for the decal, which reads "Fleet Quality Tools". It's not like any company to be cavalier and flibberdigibbet with their branding when it comes to trademarks, especially not Plomb, so I am not inclined to believe "Alloy" was just some insignificant variant. But I have not found any evidence of a separate TM.

At any rate, I don't believe my box is much later than 1950-ish, but it would help to know when they went to the metal badge for the logo. I am guessing mine falls somewhere in between, because those are also more of a classic red.

Private Lugnutz · Apr 19, 2020

Otg

I think you may have missed this question...

Private Lugnutz said:
I like those combination wrenches, Otg. How are they marked? PENENS Corp. like the DOEs?

Also, let me know the date codes if they have date codes, and if they came in the box or not.

thehorse13 · Apr 19, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
That's good reasoning. Late 1940s, to be more precise, since Plomb claimed first use of the Fleet name in their TM application as August 1947.

Most of my 1/2-inch drive tools came together with the DOE wrenches, and the DOE wrenches are all dated 1950 (forged-in JP Danielson factory date coding), so I am fairly confident about my tools being made in 1950.

The box I just picked up I am not so sure. It's more of a candy apple red than your maroon red, no cleats, and, as already noted, it has a solid water transfer decal, as opposed to the racing stripe like outlined decal, so probably not the same year. But note, again, that your box and my box both say "Fleet Alloy Tools" vs. "Fleet Quality Tools", which is more commonly seen, and, more importantly, the term that was specifically TM'd (applied for in 1947, granted in 1950).

And yet Otg's box is identical to yours, right down to the cleats, except for the decal, which reads "Fleet Quality Tools". It's not like any company to be cavalier and flibberdigibbet with their branding when it comes to trademarks, especially not Plomb, so I am not inclined to believe "Alloy" was just some insignificant variant. But I have not found any evidence of a separate TM.

At any rate, I don't believe my box is much later than 1950-ish, but it would help to know when they went to the metal badge for the logo. I am guessing mine falls somewhere in between, because those are also more of a classic red.

Lugz, I'm surprised that you missed that my small 1/4 box inside the box says, "Quality" instead of, "Alloy" yet it's original to my box. With all the differences we've seen here one has to wonder what was going on with this brand between 1947 and 1953. Utilizing whatever was on the shelf? Mix and match?

Private Lugnutz · Apr 19, 2020

thehorse13 said:
Lugz, I'm surprised that you missed that my small 1/4 box inside the box says, "Quality" instead of, "Alloy" yet it's original to my box. With all the differences we've seen here one has to wonder what was going on with this brand between 1947 and 1953. Utilizing whatever was on the shelf? Mix and match?

Thanks for pointing that out. I am going to claim one- vs two- or three-cups of caffeinated thinking for missing that.

That is important, appearing together like that in the same Combination Set. Maybe they felt as if the winged logo and the words 'Fleet' and 'Tools' were enough coverage to afford them some leeway in adding a compositional flavor ('Alloy') to the branding instead of the 'Quality'.

Username already in use · Apr 19, 2020

Wow! I like that box better than the one I sent you after. Nice score and the tools look awesome in there!

:beer:

If you're interested, I've got a pair of slip joint pliers that would look better in that box than in mine. 6 and 8 inch with the Danielson grip pattern. If you want them, I'll put them in your toolbox for safe keeping here.

Private Lugnutz · Apr 19, 2020

Trade bait! Hell yeah! :thumbup:

CRTDI · Apr 19, 2020

Outstanding set Lugz.. :thumbup:

The 1/4" drive box with the included goodies are the icing on the cake.. :drool:

3baygarage · Apr 19, 2020

Nice set. I like fleet and Penens stuff, it’s well built. Last year I saw a Fleet metal carry box at an estate sale, the socket set came in a fitted plastic tray in the top. Must have been a later one. Seen a lot of them in just plastic blow mold cases.

d42jeep · Apr 19, 2020

Here is one like that I found at an estate sale in January. It didn’t last long on eBay.
-Don

Oldtuleguy · Apr 19, 2020

Lugz, Some are unmarked, some penens corp. chicago. I have been hoarding examples for awhile trying to sort it out.

Private Lugnutz · Sep 20, 2020

If you scroll through this thread, you'll see I was missing the 1/2-inch drive Sliding Tee for the this set. Guess what I found at the flea market this morning? Yup. 1678 PENENS Sliding Tee. :bounce:

Oldtuleguy · Sep 20, 2020

Nice find. Are you still missing any pieces?

Private Lugnutz · Sep 21, 2020

Oldtuleguy said:
Nice find. Are you still missing any pieces?

Thanks. No. That was the last piece to complete the 37-piece PR-2000 combination 1/2- and 1/4-inch drive set. For the longest time I didn't realize it was missing. I wasn't paying too much attention to the list, using the picture instead. Look where it's hiding balanced precariously up on the lid of the box. Who would do that? It's almost like the photographer or the marketing department was messing with me! :lol:

Everything else - the DOE wrenches and the adjustables - are extra. I will just keep throwing all the unique PENENS I find in there now.

Oldtuleguy · Sep 21, 2020

That is hard to see. Always nice to finish a set!

Private Lugnutz · Sep 21, 2020

Thanks. It's all extras from here on out!

Private Lugnutz · Oct 3, 2020

One teeny tiny update for the Fleet/PENENS master tool kit this morning from the flea market. A 5/16" x 1/4" DOE wrench. (See Pics 1 & 2).

That makes 7 in the set now (See Pics 3 & 4), all made by J.P. Danielson in 1952 or 1953 (see Pic 5). Not all the wrenches have a letter on the opposite end of the shank from the date code, but those that do, all have a "P" (see Pic 6). I don't know what that signifies.

Found it after fifteen minutes of digging through several different boxes and piles spread out on a tarp on the ground. It was in an old Union Steel Chest Corp cash box that a PO had been using for his guide-wire model airplane maintenance, mixed in with oil, tweezers, pliers, and several wooden Tru-Flite propellers.

From one of my favorite vendors, too. (Thanks again, Jules!)
:beer:

Private Lugnutz · Oct 15, 2020

I didn't need these, but I couldn't leave them behind. All from early 1955.

Private Lugnutz · Oct 26, 2020

I was doing some Fleet research on-line recently and these were one of the links that popped up on the big flea market in the sky for peanuts and it was like Pavlov's dogs to the Buy It Now button. I have some interesting plans for these that fit perfectly into some re-arranging of the furniture I've been doing in the Lugzsonian. More to follow in a few weeks or so hopefully.

bmwrd0 · Oct 27, 2020

Nice pickup Lugz.

I have to admit that I am slightly peeved at myself. When I passed my Craftsman stack on to Smoke, I kept a collection of spinner handles in it that a moved to... somewhere in the annex. Or someplace else in the Hole. And in that was an early '50s Penens spinner that I need to complete a set I picked up on eBay. I will find it eventually, but it is mildly annoying.

Private Lugnutz · Oct 27, 2020

Thanks, Beemer. I know the feeling well. And lately, all too well, two or three times per week. It's part of the reason I am re-arranging, and yet the re-arranging is temporarily making it worse, because I can only get to it a little at a time, so it's a bit maddening.

c. 1950 PENENS Master Wrench Set and Box

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