Old Britool Catalogues

[winchman]

Having taken the draw liners out it look to have been painted in a Hammered finish? So any one know of a source of colour matched hammers type paint?

 

[plewlandsbob]

Here are some pages , from a , Motor Factors catalogue, from about 1939, showing the Britool tools they could supply. Bit of a mix up , uploading pics, first pic is at the bottom.

 

[plewlandsbob]

Here is 1" Drive, Whitworth, Britool socket set , I got a few years ago, when the Marine engineers , I worked at closed down. Goes from 3/4" to 2" Whitworth. There was a couple of sockets missing, but I managed to get some S/H ones from Ebay

 

[winchman]

Here is 1" Drive, Whitworth, Britool socket set , I got a few years ago, when the Marine engineers , I worked at closed down. Goes from 3/4" to 2" Whitworth. There was a couple of sockets missing, but I managed to get some S/H ones from Ebay

Never seen one its lovely

Here are some pages , from a , Motor Factors catalogue, from about 1939, showing the Britool tools they could supply. Bit of a mix up , uploading pics, first pic is at the bottom. View attachment 132802 View attachment 132803 View attachment 132804 View attachment 132805 View attachment 132802 View attachment 132803 View attachment 132804 View attachment 132805 View attachment 132806 View attachment 132807

Thanks very much that very handy

 

[winchman]

Thanks to a very kind gent on garage journal we have a list and image of what the box should be like, the handle looks like a 1/4 drive tommy bar?

Contents depending if its metric or imperial

 

[winchman]

We now know the part numbers 446c Imp 447C metric

 

[theoss]

That set looks like it was 1970's, but in the 1980's similar sets were available. Britool became part of James Neill holdings and the miscellaneous items listed were supplied by other Neill companies, ie files were Stubbs, hacksaw and punches were eclipse, pliers were Elliot Lucas etc. The logo changed too.

Another thing to be aware of is their wolverhampton factory closed sometime in the 90's, and manufacture went abroad.

For example the prefix for a metric combination spanner was RJM, but the foreign ones became RJM A. Some sellers on ebay don't make that clear so look at pictures for a definite 'made in england'.

 

[winchman]

Britool was at Cannock in 1989, closed a couple of years later as Facom bought them out, the Industrial range looks to have been stopped and rebranded, the Hallmark range ( sometimes called Automotive) was then owned as far as I can tell by Trade mark tools who still sell it, I have an feeling it was one of the Automotive division managers who set it up but it was a long time ago.
We tend to use box colour and handles to date them but even then its only a rough guide

 

[winchman]

Here is the next project
We need help with
A Key
The correct colour
The missing oval badge
Missing from handle?
View attachment 132389 View attachment 132390

Small progress
Colours a special Hammered finish so we are struggling to get it mixed Hammerite wont mix colours?
Handles a 1/4 drive Tommy bar so we have a Teng one until he finds a Britool one.
Hinges are currently soaking to try and free them off

 

[winchman]

Now as Winchboy has a very nice 60s Britool box I have managed to find what I think is a 60's Gordon box so has any one any Gordon pages they could scan?
Looking for the tool chest contents list i can only find photos of the ad

 

[Dieselman 63]

I don’t suppose these boxes can be dated? I picked them up today and they’re just beautiful!

 

[winchman]

I don’t suppose these boxes can be dated? I picked them up today and they’re just beautiful!

Very nice, yes they can be roughly dated, winchboy will tell me more in a moment but paint could date them to decades, you can then possibly date them further by contents, post out on the Garage Journal Britool three a very help fun chap in your neck of the woods will post the catalogue page so that will help

 

[Dieselman 63]

Very nice, yes they can be roughly dated, winchboy will tell me more in a moment but paint could date them to decades, you can then possibly date them further by contents, post out on the Garage Journal Britool three a very help fun chap in your neck of the woods will post the catalogue page so that will help

They are both red hammer finish paint.

 

[winchman]

He will be back home soon I will ask him I think he might know the years for this finish, they look fantastic, worth quite a bit over here, Britool is slowly becoming collectable and its the rare stuff that's bringing big money

 

[Matchless]

I wonder what history is behind King Dick tools?

They also made motorcycles, Abingdon King Dick from memory, and I believe Britool is still going or at least the name, they had a stand at the classic car show at the NEC, I was on the federation of classic clubs stand with my 1914 MGC bike,

 

[winchman]

They also made motorcycles, Abingdon King Dick from memory, and I believe Britool is still going or at least the name, they had a stand at the classic car show at the NEC, I was on the federation of classic clubs stand with my 1914 MGC bike,

As far as I am aware King Dick is just an importer now?
Britool
1988 Britool Industrial split with Industrial as normal and the Automotive division sold via van sales ( Hallmark Range).
Early 90's Facom bought Britool, the Hallmark range was sold off I think to a big tool / motor factor and is still available today

 

[Dieselman 63]

As far as I am aware King Dick is just an importer now?
Britool
1988 Britool Industrial split with Industrial as normal and the Automotive division sold via van sales ( Hallmark Range).
Early 90's Facom bought Britool, the Hallmark range was sold off I think to a big tool / motor factor and is still available today

Britool industrial/expert is questionable rebranded etc

Hallmark is the good stuff I think.

I was surprised to see a drag link socket in my 1/2” set. They must be less common. Unused condition.

 

[winchman]

Hallmark Chrome ware was made in Cannock at the Britool factory but Facom closed it and I believe its now just bought in

 

[Olderisbetter]

Just found this thread again and adding a recent find, clearly it is a brittol tool chest, might be a nice restoration project

 

[winchman]

As out has two places for the badge I think its a service kit for a specific vehicle usually a tractor. The Handle look to be a beach one