Lets make an all vintage Snap-on tool picture thread!

[MShaw]

"A-157A Bushing Driver Set. Drivers stamped Snap-on and '60"
I wonder who really made these. This is my L O Beard set from 1962. Looks like the SO version

 

[snapmom]

I have one too, exact match for the Beard set

 

[d42jeep]

I found this rusty ratchet wrench yesterday. It came out of the evaporust and looks a little better although it has plenty of engraving. I can’t tell if it’s Chevron markings or from a Chevrolet dealer. It has a 1959 date code.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

After several minutes of digging, I plucked this wartime 1/2F-3/8M adaptor out of the bottom of a big old messy toolbox this morning at the flea. It was the smallest thing down at the bottom and the only thing worth grabbing. Cad finish. 1945 "E" code.

 

[MattVette89]

12pt Flare Nut Crowfoot Set from '65. No catalog I can find shows a 12pt set--only 6pt.

1965 industrial catalog.

And here is the 1965 price list.

Enjoy!

 

[Old Radar]

^^^ Thanks Matt! Did the catalog offer a complete set or just individuals?

 

[MattVette89]

^^^ Thanks Matt! Did the catalog offer a complete set or just individuals?

Unfortunately I do not know the answer to that. Sorry.

 

[snapmom]

What the heck? I don't remember seeing this one. model 20528 (looks like the 8 was factory added) 1947 code. 11/16 opening.

 

[3baygarage]

Never seen that one either. Hmmm, cross bar use only. Oddball military piece perhaps?

 

[MattVette89]

What the heck? I don't remember seeing this one. model 20528 (looks like the 8 was factory added) 1947 code. 11/16 opening.

Check out this post I found online. Says it's the spark plug socket from the tool kit for a G103 Stuart tank!

G103 tool kit - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I remember that kit! (I'm Wingnutt on that site..., and I asked the finder, an Italian collector, about the strange sticker on the Stanley screwdriver in that thread/kit.) It had a lot of 1941 tools in it. I presume they were still making them postwar.

 

[MattVette89]

What tool / vintage site are you not on....lol.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

HAHA. Seriously, that's it. I was not on Papaw's Tool Talk or the Garage Gazette. I guess they're both defunct now?

 

[RTM]

Maybe if you were, they'd still be functioning?

 

[d42jeep]

Tool Talk is still functional. I avoid Garage Gazette due to extremely objectionable political discourse. That kit discussion on G503 happened before I joined so it was news to me.
-Don

 

[Vintagenut]

Here are a few older Snap-on tools in my garage. I actually use the hinged mirror on a regular basis, but not the torque wrench and super-long socket driver. This particular torque wrench doesn't click like the newer ones and I don't often need to access bolts in my neighbor's garage from my house - lol.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a tm10 I picked up recently

 

[d42jeep]

It’s in great condition but with that nice chrome plating it must be late ‘45 or newer. I wonder why no date code?
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

It's a mystery! Here it is in 45 catalog

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I have alot of E code 1/4" stuff, but an e code tm10 still eludes me

 

[d42jeep]

Nice group!
Other than my recent wartime looking TM-10-D with just the patent numbers, all of mine have the 1945 date codes although the rest of the tools in the sets have the 1944 date code. Another mystery.
-Don

I replaced one of the G marked handles with this one.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

with that nice chrome plating it must be late ‘45 or newer.

Agreed.

...all of mine have the 1945 date codes although the rest of the tools in the sets have the 1944 date code.

Hmm. Interesting observation, Don. I've never thought about this before. My sets are the same.

Just spitballin' here, but maybe they weren't making the TM-10D until 1945? Admittedly, that seems strange at first blush, but I guess it shouldn't surprise us too much given the odd, incremental, almost reluctant way that they introduced 1/4-drive to their production to begin with. As you know, the 1942 catalog did not advertise an entire line of 1/4-drive tools. Just the ratchet, which was the 9/32-drive frame with a 1/4-drive innards plug, previously made available only to Industrial line customers as the GM-70-N. Ostensibly that's why there aren't any "2" tools and very few "3" tools. (I had a 1943 ratchet once, and, like an idiot, sold it with a Snap-on midget set I put inside a GMTK before I realized how rare they were.)

The 1945 catalog shows a full line of TM tools, including a hinge handle, but that was published December 15, 1944.

Maybe it was not an easy tool to make. And there is precedence for that thought, as well. They introduced Midget tools in 1931, but they didn't add the hinge handle until 1937.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I still find the quarter twist (45*) orientation that they put on the drive stud the most interesting aspect about their hinge handles from that era. Other than the hinge handle in my Eames Brothers 1920's set, I still have not seen another like it, although in an impromptu survey interruption on a thread up on the General Discussion board earlier this year, it was reported that MAC and Facom made them that way much later, though they were considered rare as well. From what I can tell only from catalog images, Snap-on discontinued that design practice in 1950.

 

[3baygarage]

Cornwell also did the 45 on early flex handles

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Interesting. Thanks, 3bay. Do you know how early? I traded a mess of Cornwell tools to UNAIU a few years ago, but in looking through my old pics, the hinge handles look standard. It does look like it might have the drive stud twisted in the 1946 catalog.

 

[3baygarage]

I don't, but the ones back with the yoke on head design .

 

[snapmom]

Most of the Snap on nut spinners have the offset, changed to no offset about 1945. you can find the NS4-C with both.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's my little cornwell with the offset, looks war Era

 

[d42jeep]

I spotted this one in an eBay listing this morning. Chrome plated with the patent numbers and a 1947 date code. It still has the offset drive. Too bad it doesn’t have the E date code.
-Don

 

[demiandvm]

Acquired this Snap On Ferret Set recently. The ratchet is dated 1947 and the sockets are 1948. I wonder if this was common to make up a set from available stock, no matter what year. The yellow handled 1/4 inch driver is not Snap On.

 

[demiandvm]

On the above Snap On set what is missing to make it complete as it was sold?

Thanks, Michael

 

[d42jeep]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the one year earlier ratchet was original to the set. Here it is in the ‘48 catalog.
-Don

 

[RTM]

I’m with Don, I have a Blue Point ignition wrench set, in the roll, with two different years in it. Depends on how large the batch sizes were, vs selling rate.

 

[bmwrd0]

Also, Snap-on wasn't in the business of selling collectables back in the late forties. They grabbed whatever was on the shelf and sold it.

 

[18granite]

Motor Tool Kit from Motor Tool Specialty Co. Original color was black. Found inside were remnants of a Motor Tool Specialty receipt. Possibly a crudely put together salesman case. Opening on the side, trays slide in.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice. That's a rare one

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's only the second one we've seen recently, and unless I'm mistaken, we didn't know they existed. The first one was posted on your Husky thread. New member @Steven 33. He said he used to have one but sold it. Link here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/husky-tools.479219/#post-9881635

 

[18granite]

That's only the second one we've seen recently, and unless I'm mistaken, we didn't know they existed. The first one was posted on your Husky thread. New member @Steven 33. He said he used to have one but sold it. Link here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/husky-tools.479219/#post-9881635

This is the same case as the one posted in the Husky thread. I did obtain it. Cleaned it up a bit, removed the green paint from the brass tag, completed the tool set with a few extras added for display.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Looks terrific. Congrats! That's a very special kit.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Couple of sparkplug shielding wrenches, one not stamped snapon but otherwise looks the same including the part number