Old Ford wrenches

I bought a couple old Ford Wrenches today at an auction and need help Identifying them and possible value.

The top one says Ford USA and Has an M on the Back.

The bottom one Just Says Ford on it in old script.

any help would be appreciated.

 

These wrenches were supplied in tool kits that came with the cars and trucks. Most of them that I have seen have a Ford part number on them. The part number will have a prefix like A, T, B, 18, 40- 78-, 81A- 91A. 01A, etc. The prefix will indicate the model number of the first application that it was supplied with. A tool that first came on '40 Ford cars, for instance, would have an 01A- prefix on the number.

 

Thanks for the reply. what about the one on the right without any part number or writing except Ford.

 

your missing the most important Ford wrench , the hammer .... , I have a couple of the type you have also , my Grandfather gave them to me they were in a leather roll , they are stashed in my storage somewhere , its funny as he had them for his doodlebug out in Iowa in the 1930's when he was a kid and later in life He worked at the Ford plant in Chicago ( torrance) in management .

 

They sell for around $3 to $5 ea. at the local old car meets.

 

Thanks guys. I bought them at an auction and thought they were cool.

 

wrench with the M on is a ford tractor wrench after 1940. Also MH is a ford tractor wrench after 1940. Before 1940 ford tractor and cars used the same wrench.

 

I've picked up several of those, plus some larger wrenches and a few pliers over the years. Like the fact that these were carried around in some old Ford way back when. What types of "Ford" tools have others found?

 

Adjustable wrench, it looks like an old style pipe wrench and not what an adjustable wrench looks like today.

Screwdrivers but they are hard to tell. They are wood handles, painted black with a B on the blade. if you find one that actually says ford on, they are rare and worth reselling.

My grampa used to collect ford tractors and had 2 4x8 plywood display racks with all the old ford tools mounted to it. Wish I knew what happened to them.

 

some of the wrenches for the ford tractors {8n or 9n} Had 9N prefix..

 

Lots of info on these over on the Fordbarn

 

The smaller one is a regular toolkit open end...each 1928-48 car got a 7/16-1/2 and 9/16-5/8. 1928-39 ones are fatter than '40-48...I think yours is the late sort, but hard to tell without handling it. For basic wrenches like the open ends, car and tractor got same ones, with other parts of the toolkit being more specialized.
The fat wrench is very interesting...I think it is very old, maybe first few years of Model T.

 

thanks Bruce, great info!

 

They make nice door handles, too (unless your car breaks down & you need a wrench).

 

I like the fact that Henry went to great trouble so that no one could copy his design. If you notice, the letters on the tools are raised. That is a harder process than most tools (with the letters sunk in) and it set Ford tools apart from the rest. Henry strived to be in a league of his own, and he certainly was.


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Also...from about 1929-33, apparently most toolkit wrenches were NOT script. Same wrenches, mostly from M and circle M and K suppliers, but no Ford logo. Ford apparently made some of this stuff itself, though most standard type tools came from those forges, and those few would still have been script. I think this was some sort of foolishness prompted by European copyright rules...
Stamped rather than forged-in scripts appear on all sorts of things--I have an elderly Snap-on socket so scripted, for instance...and I would assume these are tools once used in Ford plants marked to discourage theft.
If you were caught with script scissors in your lunchbox, Harry Bennett came right downstairs and dragged you out back for a makeover...

 

... and then you have your Fordson wrenches which is a whole different story.

 

A machine shop I worked at one time had a set of precision gauge blocks (Jo blocks) that had the Ford oval emblem, a persons name and the title "Toolmaker" underneath the name, all engraved into each piece.
It would be quite a feather in your hat to have a set of those with your own name on them I would think.

 

Never saw any Ford scissors!

The Jo blocks were THE standard for dimensions of everything, and all factory gauging and machining was checked against them. Ford was I think the driving force in making them the universal standard...he recognized the things as a very important tool for the levels of precision he required, and I believe became the main producer of the things as a natural outgrowth of the huge numbers he needed himself...they were used at all levels of design and production throughout Ford and sold worldwide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanssen_blocks

Stack'em up and put a jaw piece at each end and you have an insanely precise caliper for anything!

Ford wrenches and other tools existed on 3 levels:

Car toolkits...basic bundle of wrenches and hand tools, grease gun, jack, tire levers, tire pump, etc., enough stuff for general maintenance and tuning as covered in the owner's manual. As a historic note...Ford designed and patented a simplified timing fixture to be welded to the firewall of '34 Fords as a standard fixture...it didn't go into production, though.

Z series tools...carried numbers beginning with like 3Z and 5Z prefixes, made in ModelT-A-Early V8 period. This were in the general parts catalogs for over the counter sale and included many special wrenches for difficult fasteners, hub pullers, bushing tools, etc. for general repairs.

KRW/ KR Wilson tools, expensive, high quality, very specialized tooling to fit every damn bushing and press fit thing on the car. High end tools for dealerships and the best independent garages. If you have any, send'em to me right now.

 

from my collection

 

Cool!

Local question...did German Ford tools come from a German supplier?? I suspect so...in wrenches, the great majority of US ones are marked either M or an M in a circle, two big US forges, Manzel and can't remember...
I have some Canadian '32 tools, and they are forged by a presumably Canadian source.

 

Interesting thread. I got a few Ford wrenches in an auction box last summer. 2 are open end with 90 degree socket on the other end, a 'monkey wrench', and a couple of open end combinations. All Ford scripted. Been told they're not worth a bunch, but still cool to have.

 

My dear departed friend, Scott Bowser, ran a lathe on a US Navy ship in WWII. He said that there was a set of Ford gage blocks in the ship's tool room, and he was sorely tempted to make off with them but never did. He did say that they were so finely machined that the blocks would stick together, and to get them apart, you slid them to one side. They were in a wood box, lined in purple velvet, and each block was marked with "Ford". What a treasure!

 

There are pictures of some Ford built gage blocks in the wiki article I linked, and a bit on the wringing fit! I bit that two days after your friend was demobilized in 1945, someone with a clipboard walked into the tool room and said "You guys!! Pitch all that stuff overboard...the old bucket is being towed to Bremerton for scrapping tomorrow!"

The open end/90 degree socket ones sound like Model T sparkplug/head nut wrenches. I used to use the '48's monkey wrench for damn near everything, as I had few tools beyond the original kit when I was young and poor...with some determination, there was little I could not do with that little kit!

 

I've got 3 old Fordson tool boxes full that I've picked up over the years. I know a couple are tractor like the "S" handled adjustable and the one with the gas gauge markings on it. I have been looking for a set of pliers for a long time, the tire pump and Schraeder pressure gauge but never seem to come across any.
I have a friend with a couple whole sets for model A, one in the original roll and the other roll he made. (Just like Henry did, out of leftover top material).

 

Special tools for German pre-war Fords were sourced from VLC Löwener.
Their flathead tools are KR Wilson look-a-likes. I'm just in the process of restoring one of their original flathead engine stands.

 

some cool looking wrenches

they also look like they make good door handles ( gives it a bit of personality ) ...

 

I own a few


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wow....cool thread....think I have some in a misc bucket I need to pull out...the pipe wrench and screw driver....have a few others but - dyna whoaaaa.....

 

Setting up estate sales I see a lot of Ford wrenches, pliers and Ford/Alemite grease guns. Earlier this week I found a Ford oil can.