Selling on behalf of executors in 1975

[Oven ManParticipant @ovenman]

Thanks Ady 1 for this. It makes you wonder how they did it for that price even in those days.

Peter

[Oven ManParticipant @ovenman]

Posted by Samsaranda on 12/07/2020 12:04:49:

The ad lists a “monodex sheet metal cutter” how many readers remember or owned one of these, it was a very crude shearing device which was extraordinarily hard on your hands to use, I had one and during a recent workshop reorganisation I came across it, surprising how many gimmicky tools there were on the market then.
Dave W

I've still got one of these. Haven't used it for years but it has had a lot of use in times gone by.

Peter

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Somewhere there should be a Monodex in among my stuff.

Shan't look to hard for it; the blisters healed long ago!

Howard

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Dad's ML7B long bed, with clutch, three jaw and four jaw chucks and brazed carbide tools cost £168/10/5d in January 1965.

It got close to causing a divorce, since he added it on to the mortgage for the new house without consulting with mum. The house was £2000. I still have the lathe…

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Oven Man on 12/07/2020 20:08:51:

Thanks Ady 1 for this. It makes you wonder how they did it for that price even in those days.

Peter

If you look objectively at the Myford it becomes obvious they were built down to a price. Flat bed for easy machining. Mazak pot metal casting for all ancillaries such as motorising unit, apron, covers etc. But some quite clever design features that helped it punch above its weight. Plus the skilled workers were paid a pittance (and lived in 'ole in middle o' road). When released in 1946 it sold for about 5 quid less than the old M-type it eventually replaced.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Did those prices in those days after the war include purchase tax? that dreaded variable rate tax. My Ml7 in 1968 was listed as £82 basic spec ie no motor and only supplied with faceplate,catchplate,and centres and 3 spanners and oil gun,not sure about a backplate,by the time I bought the motor ,3 & 4 jaw chucks ,tailstock chuck, plus some other bits the cost was £120 exactly the same as a basic super seven. Skilled wages were around £20 per week gross in the south of england. I also rode in motor cycle trials at the time and a Greeves alloy cylinder barrel and head to improve the performance of the iron barrelled Villiers 250 engine cost cost over £50 so I thought the Myford lathes were very good value at the time.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

No idea about the dreaded tax. But your figures make for an interestng comparison. 120 quid for Ml7 with basic motor, chucks and steadies when wages were 20 quid a week. So six weeks' wages.

With today's average wage at 500 quid a week that would be equivalent to 3,000 quid today. Still not cheap. And more than double what youd pay for a Seig SC4 or similar. And way more than a minilathe. 

The youth of today dont know how good they've got it.

Edited By Hopper on 13/07/2020 09:17:51

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

When this thread started I looked up the blue collar wage in 1975 and found it quoted as £48 or thereabouts on several sites. so taking todays average wage of £500 as the equivalent then a factor of 10 looks good – so a bare ML7 in 1975 at about £120 becomes £1200 – perhaps a bit low if these machines were still in production.

But there are two factors to consider – the cost of production which nowadays would involve CNC and less skilled and hence less well paid production workers and the easy availability then of quality castings and other materials. CNC machinery is a considerable expense to the manufacturer, but software and computer updates may give it a shorter useful life – compare this with the late John Stevenson who maintained that the machine that ground the beds of the latest Myford lathes was the same one that produced his 1947 model.

The second factor in looking at inflation is to consider what job role compares with what. A manual turner today would not be as common and may be seen a a more skilled technician and so not have the same status and pay as his previous counterpart ie he may be a specialist and paid as such.

In a different context, classic camera collecting, it seems to have become accepted that similar wage/price comparisons have no real meaning and I suspect that may be true with machine tools too.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 13/07/2020 10:24:52

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, the earliest P60 that I still have is 1979 which indicates that my weekly pay average (before stoppages) was £101.129, so trending downwards I think in 1975, I was earning around the £50.00 mark, which puts it in the bracket that Nick Clarke 3 has pointed out.

Regards Nick.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

In the late 50,s I was unable to afford a basic 1/4" hand drill, price £3 in Woolworts, since my "Wages" was £2-1-6d per week, no kidding. Now I have a shop full of stuff, mostly from a land across the sea, at a price I can afford.

Ah yes, Them were the days, no doubt about it !

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by JasonB on 12/07/2020 07:27:38:

I would also think that a lot of model engineers had little need of bigger industrial machines as the average models were also smaller, certainly a 4" and definately a 6" traction engine was a very rare item back in 1975. Now 4" is very common as well as the smaller prototypes in 6".

Most stationary engine designs are still based around a 9" max flywheel diameter which was a comfy fit in a Myford gap and still is. Loco wheels don't need a big capacity machine and cylinders van be done on the cross slide.

+1

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Jim Young 2 on 12/07/2020 12:42:18:

Re Advert……A J Reeve & Co still seem to be trading all these years later, but at a rather different address. Google street view suggests that the old location might have been redeveloped. Company current trading name suggests perhaps a financial hiatus at the turn of the century, but they still seem to be here, not many that that is true of!

The original reeves went to the wall at the turn of the century, and were bought out by Anker Towbars as Reeves 2000, which is why they moved .

Neil

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