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Old PDF tool catalogue links,

Josiah_db

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Feb 15, 2013
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Tasmania, Australia
Just would like to look at old tool catalogues, does anyone have links to any in PDF form, brands like Proto, Snap on, hazet, gedore
Thanks
 
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uniballer

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bedford, va
For future reference, this needs sticky! Subscribed, this should cut down on threads asking how old this is?
 

zkling

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For future reference, this needs sticky! Subscribed, this should cut down on threads asking how old this is?

Just because the info is out there. Doesn't mean that everyone is going to actually exert the effort to go and do the research themselves. :sad: Many a questions asked can be solved by a ~5 min google search.
 
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Spudland_Dave

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Maine
Thanks & Very interesting...
21pc 3/8" Socket/Ratchet set in 1972 CMan Catalog - $21.16
22pc Set I could find on Sears.com today is $35.99
Using a quick inflation calculator I found online $21.16 back in 1972 should be $114.54

Sears cut some corners somewhere to keep the tools that cheap...either that or they were a cash cow back in the day.
 

jakemac

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Sears cut some corners somewhere to keep the tools that cheap...either that or they were a cash cow back in the day.

They were a cash cow.

Back then, there were no Home Depots, Lowes, or Walmart's around every corner. But there was a Sears store or catalog outlet somewhere available. Even if the catalog was nailed on the back of the outhouse door. (yes, some of us in Maine still didn't have indoor plumbing even in 1972)

Sears was the "go to" place to shop for all your household and shop needs back then.
 
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toolguynj

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Sparta, NJ
They were a cash cow.

Back then, there were no Home Depots, Lowes, or Walmart's around every corner. But there was a Sears store or catalog outlet somewhere available. Even if the catalog was nailed on the back of the outhouse door. (yes, some of us in Maine still didn't have indoor plumbing even in 1972)

Sears was the "go to" place to shop for all your household and shop needs back then.

Very True - at most of the estate auctions I go to out in the countryside, the only tools and machines a lot of guys had were Craftsman. As for prices, on benchtop and floor model machines, compare a late 1970's - early 1980's Craftsman catalog to what you can buy today for "comparable" machines - on many of them the prices today are the same or cheaper which accounting for inflation is very telling... Even though today's "comparable" machines are much more cheaply made and nowhere near as durable, you can see my point...
 

Spudland_Dave

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Maine
They were a cash cow.

Back then, there were no Home Depots, Lowes, or Walmart's around every corner. But there was a Sears store or catalog outlet somewhere available. Even if the catalog was nailed on the back of the outhouse door. (yes, some of us in Maine still didn't have indoor plumbing even in 1972)

Sears was the "go to" place to shop for all your household and shop needs back then.

Ummm...where in ME did/do you live? I wasn't born in 72, but I know for a fact that my Mom & Dad, and my in-laws all grew up in homes with indoor plumbing...I know for a fact you were south of me because north of me was Canada. I just get a kick out of it because when I came south for college, I got a lot of the "oh did you have to ride your horse down to Bangor?" type comments, personally I thought the East & West of ME were behind the times.

Back on topic...sure there was a Sears in every town, there was also an IH/JD/AC/Ford Tractor dealer in every town as well back then. That didn't last forever..Pricing on tractors has followed inflation...hard to quote like for like in a way, but safe to say people aren't buying ANY Tractors for 500.00 anymore :lol_hitti
Maybe Sears shouldn't have sacrificed the holy cash cow?

Anybody have any price sheets from a Pro/Truck tool from around the same time frame? I'd like to see if back then a Snappy ratchet was 7 times more expensive then its Craftsman counterpart? I'm betting not. Not because SnapOn has "increased" pricing, but because Sears has dropped theirs.
 

jakemac

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Ummm...where in ME did/do you live? I wasn't born in 72, but I know for a fact that my Mom & Dad, and my in-laws all grew up in homes with indoor plumbing...I know for a fact you were south of me because north of me was Canada. I just get a kick out of it because when I came south for college, I got a lot of the "oh did you have to ride your horse down to Bangor?" type comments, personally I thought the East & West of ME were behind the times.

I'm south of you now, after many moves. But if you let your finger follow rt201 northwest all the way up to the border, bring it back 16mi, you'll see the purple door that I painted when I was 6yrs old. I tore down the barn with the outhouse in it 8yrs ago. I've got indoor plumbing now, don't ask about the septic system. ;)

The reason I don't swim is because everytime I went near water, an adult was handing me a bar of soap. When I came south, in the summer, my friends would ask if I wanted to go swimming. My response was always "No, I took a shower this morning". They never understood the joke. :dunno:
 
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Gert

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Feb 21, 2012
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Location
Netherlands
Interesting.
I am looking for some old Stahlwille catalogue pdf as I have no idea how old some of my tools are. Thanks!
 
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