American Brakeblok Workbenches

Brake components offered up with a work top bench and side cabinet storage. I have only seen two of these mid 40’s workbenches. They measure in at 4’ wide x 34” tall x 21” deep and have nice machine age rounded legs and trim.

As a Bonus; Here is a stylish Raybestos Brake Service bench as well.

AIR-BOY Lubrication Equipment

Produced in the 50’s out of San Fransisco, Air-Boy built these Oil Dispensing cabinets for dealerships. Most had four filling spouts, but we have seen one with six. Later models were smaller, lost the hyphen in the name and were manufactured in Denver, Co. There have been rumors of other AIR-BOY cabinets models, but we have yet to find any workbench configurations over the past decade.

Esso Map Cabinet

The Esso “Happy Motoring Travel Center”
Was a vertical cabinet offered to Esso Stations to display maps and help travellers.

Packard Workbench Display for Certified Re-Wiring Service

The 1940 Packard Wiring Equipment bench came with storage for spooled cable, battery and ignition cable as well as a soldering iron, voltmeter and bulb socket voltage adapter.

Sun Equipment Backgrounds

From 1948 into the ealry 50’s, the Sun Electric Corp. produced 5 different styles of Diagnosis cabinets. Built to house their varying testing equipment.

As touted in their ads;
”Modern as tomorrow, is the new eye-appealing Sun Utility Background that attracts customers to your new Diagnosis Department.”

I really enjoy that they were producing a large wall cabinet, with thought put into rolling your testers back in and out of these. Bumpers lined the lower alcoves, and the service desk area always had a catchy advertisement or wording.

3 Rare Cabinets Surface this Week

This week was a phenomenal one, as we got to see three scare units go up for sale, and gather some more history and images.

First up is this 1950/51 ARO Wall Cabinet

Next is a more intact example of this Unknown manufacturer, Alemite style doors, Oil Display Shelf Bench. This one still has history to give us, more to come…

Lastly is an extremely rare Borroughs Cabinet set. This is only the second Borroughs we have seen in the wild.

Aluminum Alemite Cabinets?

Yes, that is right! For a short amount of time, most likely in ‘46, Alemite built their side cabinets as well as back tool board area out of aluminum.

We are unsure why or if it was supply they had on hand. But this is yet another in a long line of oddities we have seen on the different makers work stations.

1945 Lincoln Large Emblem Workstations

When first introduced in ‘45 Lincoln’s new style Merchandiser posesed a large, concave back, emblem in the top center of the unit. In 1946, after the Series C’s, it was gone and the smaller emblem we all know took its place.

You can really see the size difference in this pic

Here are a few more images of the 1945 units.

 
 

Uncovered; New Style Workbench Found

This unique workstation has a 4 piece step-down roll door, side shelves, a top light-up window, small handels, and horizontal vents on the front of the bench.

Although sections of this unit, like the pull-down door, look similar to an Alemite I do not believe it was built by them. No known benches have flat stainless trim around them or venting. The side shelves and front vents make me think this may be repurposed from a kitchen unit, or was built as a mfg. display.

If you have ideas about a maker or what this cabinet may have been used for, please reach out!

Gilbarco Lubrication Cabinets

Gilbarco made a stylistic line of wall batteries and lube cabinets in the late 40’s. To date, we have not unearthed a merchandiser built by this company.

Here is a few examples of their smaller portable lubers and drains

New in April of 1948 the below Deluxe Tri-Lube Wall Battery was promised to speed up your work with Gilbarco’s heavy duty quality.

 
 

Kent-Moore stand alone bench

The seldom seen Service Bench that Kent-Moore produced with a tear-down backsplash and no side cabinets.

Lincoln Sectional LowBoy Merchandisers

The Lincoln Sectional Low Service Bench was built for under window applications and other areas where a shorter or smaller workstation was needed. Debuted in 1948, this Model 2766 came with a hinged roll-back cover for the “Tool-Locker” at on top of the bench, a parts washer, and two side cabinets.

 
 

The unit could be configured in many different configurations. Here are a few in their factory colors.

Modular Workbenches that were built to connect

Shure, Alemite and Excelsior built cabinets that could be ordered to attach on to one another to create long lines of Merchandisers.

You can see the squared off end on this Shure Work Station. The top and side was manufactured different, on these models, in order to allow this type of stacking.

I found this below image years ago of two Shures at a Brake Museum. I am unsure what state this display is in.

Excelsior and Alemite also built cabinets with this type of expansion in mind.

Look at what is buried over there

A collection of Workbenches covered or obscured from years of sitting in the shop

John Bean Prototype, Built by Lincoln

Measuring in at 11 feet long with 26” wide doors, this earliest Visualiner is 2 1/2 feet wider than the standard merchandiser it was built from. In 1946 the Lincoln Engineering factory in St. Louis fabricated this workstation for John Bean, to be used as their first trial Visualiner cabinet.

This prototype looks to have been shipped out to a couple larger car dealerships to be tested and refined. The above test unit stayed close to its roots and was used in Minnesota then in Iowa. The other cabinet was sent to a Buick dealership in Tacoma Washington, called Mueller-Harkins, as seen in the b/w photos below.

The desk is less deep than the other Lincoln’s and there is a thin chrome trim across the top. The top sign is not original, and didn’t come out til months later in production when John Bean decided to build their own purpose-built alignment cabinets.

I am honored to be the new owner/caretaker of this nearly lost piece of history.

 

New Work Station found in Canada

Strong’s Garage is a repair shop in Bruderheim, Alberta. The two gentlemen specialize in historic vehicles and use some equipment that predates the 50’s. Also in use is this unique merchandiser.

Consisting of a wide edge, reinforced work top, narrow side cabinets w/ piano hinges, a rolled pull-down door, many shelves and flat edged outer corners, this cabinet is special.

A few of the details look similar to Sioux Tools workstations, but based off of the construction we believe this unit was most likely scratch-built by a local company for its original dealership.

The owner added on the Model A shift knob handles. The original back panel was a solid metal, horizontal ribbed section like the Sioux’s have. We really like the roller door, sign placement, and recessed kick plate under the bench.

These guys have an AMAZING YouTube channel documenting some of their work, and we highly suggest checking it out:

Strong's Garage on YouTube


So happy to see these gentlemen utilizing this vintage cabinet in their shop!

Time Capsule; Some scarce unit finds

Here are a few newly uncovered and seldom seen cabinets.

First is a late 30’s full Alemite Lube Unit with an incredible original wall covering.

Next is this 1944 early Lincoln Merchandiser with the rare double door, flat sided lower bench.

And this Alemite with Aluminum side cabinets and tool board.

Rarely Seen Graco Cabinet Variations

Here are a few Merchandisers that Graco produced that don’t show up very often these days. Starting with this complete example of their Wall Luber, found in Belgium.

This red unit is one of the Service cabinets speciality built for the Graco Service departments. Used to repair their own products.

This Oil Bar was a stand-alone model without the side cabinets.

And how about this cabinet and wall surround configuration. Only one we have seen in this layout.