old Metabo advertisements from the 1960´s
"Men have Metabo !"
...and one from Bosch:
Monte, i will look into my old magazines, to find some danish examples of the opposite picture, 80´s ads showing "the soft man" with pibe and hotpants..
Bahco to a certain extent is, or at least was, a premium brand for woodworking tools. They used to be the go to company for the cabinet scrapers used by woodworkers. I haven't actually seen a dedicated woodworking store in the USA that even carries the Bahco EX saws. Most places that list them seem to be industrial supply places that just list most Bahco stuff.
I think that Bahco still has a good reputation here in Scandinavia. The local Bauhaus shop has recent opened a large Bahco section. But since they moved most production to Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Russia, i find them to be too expensive, their COO in mind...for me, it´s Bahco made in Sweden or no interest, to put it frankly.
Regarding Bauhaus (my local kindergarten...)...The Matador mystery continues...
View media item 29291Two of some wrenches bought yesterday (all with genuine matador-labels) from the Matador display...one marked Matador, but no Germany - maybe from HR India (I have seen HR wrenches with Matador labels before!).
But then, looking closer:
View media item 29290Printed, not forged, a very blurry, hidden by the label - "Wisent" - Bauhaus private brand

- So Wisent used to be German Matador then?
Some "bone style" double ring wrenches:
View media item 29287
Two of them are stamped Matador, made in Germany...but then the third:
View media item 29289This one is definately not forged by Matador - the shaft is a different style and missing the name - but it´s made in Germany

The wrenches of same size, beneath on the hanger, was the more glossy, new style - not made in Germany...
Must go there again soon to get the last German Matadors...