WilliamT081423
Member
This vintage Craftsman model 4370 toolbox and model 43581 rolling cabinet showed up on the marketplace. They looked to be in decent condition, and had the additional benefit of being full of vintage Craftsman, Husky, and a few other hand tools. The lady selling them told me her father had been a mechanic for Ford and Studebaker at different points in his life, and also enjoyed car restoration.
I noticed the differing logos, and found stamped behind the logo on the rolling cabinet that it was made by the Advertising Metal Display Company in Chicago. It was also stamped 59, so that made it easy to find in a '59 Sears catalog. It would have been over $40 back then. No mention was made of the drawers being painted red. All it said was a gray finish. Knowing what I know about the other logo, I found it in a '55 Sears catalog, and it was around $18. Also made by Advertising Metal Display Co, and no mention of anything painted red.
The rolling cabinet had a sheet of thin masonite covering its top Unfortunately, it had been exposed to moisture at some point, and probably never got all the way dry. So, while both the cabinet and tool box appear solid, there is some rust. The toolbox itself seems to have the worst of it.
I used a razor blade to scrape some of the bubbled and rusty paint off the top of the cabinet, and I might have seen remnants of that sort of hammered gray finish that Sears used on some of their toolboxes in that era. Is it possible this may have been repainted at some point and they went with a more plain gray color, or would it have been gray from the start? I'm planning to sand and repaint both items over the weekend in order to get the rust under control. I realize it's my stuff now and if I wanted to paint it metallic flake chartreuse or something like that, it's up to me, but I'm not going to do that. I do want it to look right and be durable. I'll also cut a piece of 1/4" plywood to fit in the space where the masonite was.
All in all, I'm glad to have found these items and will enjoy being their caretaker.
Edit: I just confirmed with the man's daughter that he worked for 37 years at the Ford Motor Company Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights, Illinois.
I noticed the differing logos, and found stamped behind the logo on the rolling cabinet that it was made by the Advertising Metal Display Company in Chicago. It was also stamped 59, so that made it easy to find in a '59 Sears catalog. It would have been over $40 back then. No mention was made of the drawers being painted red. All it said was a gray finish. Knowing what I know about the other logo, I found it in a '55 Sears catalog, and it was around $18. Also made by Advertising Metal Display Co, and no mention of anything painted red.
The rolling cabinet had a sheet of thin masonite covering its top Unfortunately, it had been exposed to moisture at some point, and probably never got all the way dry. So, while both the cabinet and tool box appear solid, there is some rust. The toolbox itself seems to have the worst of it.
I used a razor blade to scrape some of the bubbled and rusty paint off the top of the cabinet, and I might have seen remnants of that sort of hammered gray finish that Sears used on some of their toolboxes in that era. Is it possible this may have been repainted at some point and they went with a more plain gray color, or would it have been gray from the start? I'm planning to sand and repaint both items over the weekend in order to get the rust under control. I realize it's my stuff now and if I wanted to paint it metallic flake chartreuse or something like that, it's up to me, but I'm not going to do that. I do want it to look right and be durable. I'll also cut a piece of 1/4" plywood to fit in the space where the masonite was.
All in all, I'm glad to have found these items and will enjoy being their caretaker.
Edit: I just confirmed with the man's daughter that he worked for 37 years at the Ford Motor Company Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights, Illinois.
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