Quote:
Originally Posted by mickmate
It looks like the first pic on post 36 is the correct style huh Bruce?
Dan makes a good point if it doesn't say West Germany on it it is likely post 1990 or too new for us. The Eloras are still available today but not the double open ended BSW's that I can find.
I think you're right Glen the English parts of the car were BSW and the American drivetrain parts are mostly UNC fasteners.
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Nick,
This West Germany versus Germany issue has been chased for years and somebody in my circle that is from what we call Germany today doesn't understand how anything could be marked just 'Germany' prior to the end of the Cold War because as we know the name it didn't exist in the 1960s. I have not exhausted every source but most sources indicated that the marking of parts a 'made in ...' some place originated when internal trade laws were developed and the United States of America was claimed to be a big reason anything headed to the U.S.A. was marked with its country of origin. Multiple low mile original or second owner cars have wrench sets marked just Germany. Some of these wrenches were in still never opened original pasteboard boxes when an investigator in this century opened the box and unwrapped the wrenches for the first time since they were new. (To be 100% original you need the correct box with wrenches, clamp, and protective wrap around the wrenches, that has never been opened. Can't be many left as eager investigators go after unopened packages in these cars with zeal to see what is inside
. Find a virgin and fix that situation. Non-intrusive investigations are possible. )
Elora is an old tool company and just a little investigation indicated that over many decades they had more than one manufacturing plant. The No. 100 series of wrench sets (there are several different ones including metric sizes) is a style like Ford Mustangs is a style of car said that way. Saying Elora No. 100 wrenches is almost like saying oak tree acorns, similar but different and with many variations.
Several people have found Germany and West Germany marked wrenches in Cobras before the modern rush to round up sets. The exact designs are different, the markings side to side between variations is different, there are different fonts, and different surface finishes. Makes sense, age old manufacturer making a 'style' of tool for multiple decades, produces variations over time. Makes sense, different plants different tooling even in the same time frame can often be quite different. I have a radial arm saw in the shop made by a company still in business. Mine is a fabrication of a collection of parts bolted and welded together. A similar saw same manufacturer made about ten years later is made up with cast to near net shape parts instead of a bunch of weldments. Similar but different.
I could never get a reply of any kind from the modern company when I tried to get answers to these questions. We may never know the entire story. I do have a theory. How about counterfeits? What if the genuine Elora company made tools marked W. Germany or West Germany and a forger (counterfeiter) made tools marked just Germany not knowing the ins and outs of what trade agreements were between governments across international borders? Counterfeiting of anything that can me profited on is a very big global business today and even national chain retailers fall victim occasionally. Maybe, just maybe the explanation for AC Cars getting tools made in a country that didn't exist technically was they were a victim of bogus parts? There has to be an explanation but we may, as I said, never know what it is.
So what do I tell owners of original cars looking for wrenches, 'get a set where they all match each other'. Singles are not very expensive and are for sale almost all the time. Rookie buyers might end up with a set of the correct sizes in two or more different versions and or they buy the sizes smaller and sizes smaller thinking they are AC Cars tool kit correct. I have purchased a bunch of singles across most of the size range for the shop 'Cobra toolbox'. They are good tools and fit the British Imperial hex nuts and bolts well. (They won't do everything on an original car. The lower front ball joint for Cobras/427 Cobras/AC 289 Sports requires box end wrench with an offset. I have worked on cars where users removed and installed the stop nuts on ball pins with hammers and pin punches.....)
AC Cars used fasteners with British Imperial hex sizes. All but just a few threaded parts are BSF or BA thread. There is one application for BSW threads. In the hydraulics systems there are some internally used standard threading. Working on original cars requires a good selection of tools to cover multiple tool and standard thread systems.
DC