Pre war cars and jacks

[31 LaSalle]

Did pre war cars have jacks specific to the make of car ??

 

[alsancle]

Typically no.  Although some higher end cars had built in jacks like the RR PII later series.   Some cars had built in jack points with special jack.   Many of the Mercedes Benz of the 1930s had a square tube under each side center of the car for the jack to slide in to.

 

[30DodgePanel]

As you know, Auto Specialties out of St Joseph MI made many pre-war car and truck jacks that were originally sold with a vehicle in a tool kit, but I don't ever recall anything stating they were specific for any one vehicle. 

 

However, if you study tools you can trace the jack for my truck to be #951 and used a square tang to crank it.

It should be noted that #951 was used by other Dodge Brothers models (cars and trucks) and the jack had a u-shaped cradle top piece, while other makers like Studebaker (if memory serves me correct) used the 951 with oval tang for cranking and had more of a square or round cradle on top like in the second photo. 

 

Here's the 951 in this sample photo that Dodge Brothers used, note the u-shaped cradle.

(I'm still looking for one to complete my tool kit if anyone has one they'd like to sell)

 

Studebaker (and possibly others) were supplied the 951 with square cradle on top and the oval tang for cranking. 

My study is only a preliminary study and not in depth so keep in mind that many other makers may have been supplied with these jacks in tool kits. 

 

Edited July 1 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[kgreen]

Buick for 1940 -41 had a specific jack.  Not very safe, but it was provided.  

[TexRiv_63]

I do not know who made this 34 Packard jack and handle but it was painted the same color as the car and undercarriage.

[TerryB]

Some jacks, like early Cadillac had the name imprinted on the jack.

[kfle]

Through 1915, Cole had a jack with their name on it for their cars and then from 1916 on they used a jack without the Cole branding on it.  

[wayne sheldon]

Buckeye manufactured many models of ratchet jacks, everything from wagon jacks (high lift, medium weight), big truck jacks (shorter lift, heavier weight), and a variety of automobile jacks. A couple models for cars were commonly provided by automakers in their car's tool kits. SOME of them had the automaker's name on them. The only difference between a Studebaker jack and a Cadillac jack was the side panel iron casting (easily removed or swapped?) with the automaker's name on it. Dozens of other automakers also included name-badged Buckeye jacks. Studebaker and Cadillac however were two of the most common ones. With literally thousands of surviving Studebakers from that era, the Studebaker jacks were quite desirable, and prized by era Studebaker owners. 

Years ago, when I had my 1925 Studebaker standard six, I had a proper Studebaker Buckeye jack with it. Buckeye also sold thousands of the same jacks as after-market tools, without automaker's names. It was well known in nickel era Studebaker circles that many Studebakers apparently were originally outfitted with common no name Buckeye jacks rather than the Studebaker badged jack. Way too many nicely kept original Studebakers had no name Buckeye jacks to think their original jack was lost and replaced by specifically the otherwise identical Buckeye after-market jack.

[30DodgePanel]

18 hours ago, TexRiv_63 said:

I do not know who made this 34 Packard jack and handle but it was painted the same color as the car and undercarriage.

 

I believe that's a Walker 

 

Here's an exact match that's currently on eBay and clearly has the tag still in place. 

Flakes of red paint may or may not mean anything.

 

 

 

Off topic,

Something that really surprises me about some of the old Auto Specialty jacks is that a lot of the tangs are stripped out. Anyone have an answer to why such cheap metal was used for that part? I'm sure much of it was caused by force and neglect, but I would have thought it could withstand such abuse or overuse of the wrong tool. 

Believe it or not, this was oval at one point. Note the Walker Jack above doesn't ever seem to have this issue because of the reinforced design surrounding the crank hole.

 

Edited July 2 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

 

11 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Buckeye manufactured many models of ratchet jacks, everything from wagon jacks (high lift, medium weight), big truck jacks (shorter lift, heavier weight), and a variety of automobile jacks.

 

Some new Graham Brothers truck models were supplied with Buckeye in the original tool kits according to internal confidential bulletins. 

 

When studying topics like these you can't help but wonder how vital the upper midwest region of the country was with all the jobbers and suppliers in the region and how it made a positive impact on the growing auto industry of the era. Without that section of the country I doubt we would have seen the amount of progress we did. From MI to KC and St Louis, over to Indiana and the Buckeye state. Pretty amazing. Back when Americans used to work together...

Edited July 2 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

34 minutes ago, 30DodgePanel said:

When studying topics like these you can't help but wonder how vital the upper midwest region of the country was with all the jobbers and suppliers in the region and how it made a positive impact on the growing auto industry of the era. Without that section of the country I doubt we would have seen the amount of progress we did. From MI to KC and St Louis, over to Indiana and the Buckeye state. Pretty amazing. Back when Americans used to work together...

 

Why history is so very important to learn and understand.

[JACK M]

Bumper jacks of the 60s? I recall a bumper jack that had a hook like affair that went into a slot on the bumper. Certainly car specific.

Also, I recall bumper jacks that followed the contour of a specific bumper, hook the bottom of the bumper and basically "fit" the bumper as it went up.

 

But I forget what I had for breakfast this morning.