My dad worked at North American Aviation during WWII as a warehouse superintendent who was in charge of all government furnished tools and equipment. At the end of the War, they were told to scrap everything. They sold partially finished P-51D Mustang fighters for scrap. He filled 55 gallon drums with all kinds of tools and sold them for scrap. He personally packed for himself a couple drums with hundreds of small hand tools and about 200 pieces of Snap-on, Blue Point, Williams, etc. He bought them by the pound.
Funny thing was, he couldn't use tools or fix anything. When I became a teenager and needed tools to work on my first car, he gave me these tools. Most were still factory wrapped and packed. Been using them for fifty years.
About a two months ago, the side of a deep 13/16" socket blew out. The socket had a date symbol of 1945. Before calling Snap-on I remembered a ratchet that had been broken since my dad gave me the tools. Called Snap-on. When I read them the part number off the ratchet, the guy said, "Those aren't in my system." He came back on the line and said, "That is a really old ratchet from the 1940s and isn't made any longer and the parts aren't available." They sent me a prepaid label. I sent both items in hoping for the best.
About three weeks later, I received a new socket, nice but not nearly the quality of 1945, and a brand new 15" ratchet. Checked on the Internet and found out the MSRP on the two items was in the $200 range!
Thanks Uncle Sam, Snap-on and Dad!
Funny thing was, he couldn't use tools or fix anything. When I became a teenager and needed tools to work on my first car, he gave me these tools. Most were still factory wrapped and packed. Been using them for fifty years.
About a two months ago, the side of a deep 13/16" socket blew out. The socket had a date symbol of 1945. Before calling Snap-on I remembered a ratchet that had been broken since my dad gave me the tools. Called Snap-on. When I read them the part number off the ratchet, the guy said, "Those aren't in my system." He came back on the line and said, "That is a really old ratchet from the 1940s and isn't made any longer and the parts aren't available." They sent me a prepaid label. I sent both items in hoping for the best.
About three weeks later, I received a new socket, nice but not nearly the quality of 1945, and a brand new 15" ratchet. Checked on the Internet and found out the MSRP on the two items was in the $200 range!
Thanks Uncle Sam, Snap-on and Dad!