Older metric tools

[DavidB]

How common are older American made metric tools? My dad has some early 70s S-K metric wrenches and I was wondering what my chances are of finding some?

Thanks,
David

 

[Packard V8]

How common are older American made metric tools? My dad has some early 70s S-K metric wrenches and I was wondering what my chances are of finding some

Slim and none.

My experience has been as inch fastener cars are pretty much gone from the daily driver world, the inch wrenches and sockets are now for sale everywhere and dirt cheap. Conversely, good old metric stuff was not common back in the inch days, so it is rare and seldom for sale.

jack vines

 

[philw]

Not very common. They have been producing them since the 40's but it's very rare to see one. Import cars didn't take off until the mid-late 70's. If you were a dealer tech at American dealership you wouldn't have needed any metric that I know of.

With that being said, I don't think SK changed their wrench design that much over the years. If yours is a raised panel then a wrench from the 80's would probably match. The only thing I can think of is they may be labeled "SK Wayne" and that may be hard to match. SK was bought out by Dresser Ind. in the late 60's so if you are correct on your timeframe then they should only be labeled "SK"

 

[philw]

Slim and none.

My experience has been as inch fastener cars are pretty much gone from the daily driver world, the inch wrenches and sockets are now for sale everywhere and dirt cheap. Conversely, good old metric stuff was not common back in the inch days, so it is rare and seldom for sale.

jack vines

Good point!! It's rare that I stumble upon metric at flea markets etc. Since they are in such widespread use I imagine anything for sale gets snatched up quickly.

 

[DavidB]

Yeah, I figured I didn't stand much of a chance of finding them. He bought them to work on his motorcycle originally. I think there are two sets. One is labeled S-K and the other S-K Wayne. I'll try to pull them out and see. I could also snap a pic if anyone is interested.

Thanks!

 

[jwitt]

Here is the oldest metric stuff that I have found. I would guess 50's.

Jim

 

[matthew]

I like that they put "Not for SAE or Whitworth" on that. For that matter, funny that Whitworth would even register as an alternative...

 

[rayzor32]

whitworth!!!! so thats what those are called, I always got frustrated when working on older MG's and other english junk when a bolt wasn't standard or metric!!! Or it was some weird x/32" size.


Hard to find older metric stuff, my dad has some older metric stuff but its cheap japan junk.

 

[larry_g]

Back in the mid '70s I bought a metric 'add on set' from Sears that consisted of only sockets and wrenches. The sockets were 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive up to I think 22mm and combo, box, and open end wrenches. If I remember the whole kit only cost $25-$30 bucks. They are still my main set of metrics as I usually only work on the older SAE stuff.

lg
no neat sig line

lg
no neat sig line

 

[snapmom]

s/o shows some metric in 38-39 cats. But I do not have any with these date codes.

 

[supertooljunkie]

I have some SK raised panel wrenches from the mid-70's. Snap-on combo mm from early 80's. Craftsman metric sockets from mid 70's. The oldest metric wrench I have is a Duro-chrome 20mm combo from the 60's.