SnapOn toolbox ID?

[M J Peters]

Cleaning out the shop on the farm. Grandfathers retired abiut z40 years ago and shop really hasn’t seen use in probably 30 years at least. I’ve looked and don’t find a stamping that would indicate model or date. If I can get close on the date I’ll see if I can find some old catalogs that can help me identify the model numbers. One hinge on top cover is broken and one drawer slide is loose. Mother wise, it’s just rusty and dusty.

I plan on stripping and repainting when get it home.

I’m thinking late 40’s early 50’s.

 

[bmwrd0]

K55 on top of a K77, mid forties.

 

[M J Peters]

Thank you!

 

[M J Peters]

i looked through the 1946 and 1948 catalogs. I think the top box is actually a K-56-R, since it has the fold up, drop top. The bottom box looks like the K-77 in the 1946 catalog, but they don't show red as an option that year. In the 1948 catalog, there is no K-77, and the K-377 pictured looks slightly different - badge on top drawer instead of second and no finger holes on the cover panel.

Haven't found a 1947 catalog with the toolboxes.

 

[Shelbylex]

Agree with the top one - I have a 1955 KR56 - same layout

 

[thehorse13]

Mid to latter half of the 1940s. The drawer pulls and Snap-On emblem are dead give aways. You will not find date/model stamps on units this old.

As for painting these boxes, you have a metric ton of surface prep work before painting can be considered. If you shoot a spray bomb over what you have here it will look horrible.

Great boxes. Please treat them right.

 

[M J Peters]

Mid to latter half of the 1940s. The drawer pulls and Snap-On emblem are dead give aways. You will not find date/model stamps on units this old.

As for painting these boxes, you have a metric ton of surface prep work before painting can be considered. If you shoot a spray bomb over what you have here it will look horrible.

Great boxes. Please treat them right.

Thank you. On the prep, I was thinking of sandblasting them with walnut shells. Would that be too aggressive?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...., but they don't show red as an option that year.

Note that the page in the 1946 catalog is the same page, verbatim, as the 1942 and 1945 catalogs. They weren't always 100% accurate when they did this, and that's especially true of that timeframe, a period of great re-set upheaval for Snap-on and the entire industry. I have never looked at the "Coaster-Cab" colors across time, but I have done so for a few other Snap-on boxes, which went from some kind of "grey" to some kind of "red" in catalogs after the war. That KR-377 in the 1948 might have a slightly different model number and configuration, but it's the same 77-based "Coaster-Cab" line. If terms like "immediate postwar" or "mid to late 40's" is not tight enough for you, my hunch would be yours is a transition box from 1946 or 1947.

 

[thehorse13]

Thank you. On the prep, I was thinking of sandblasting them with walnut shells. Would that be too aggressive?

Walnut shells will work on metal of this gauge. The key is the post blasting clean up. A solvent based cleaner followed by a good rinse and dry will be required.