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View Full Version : sidchrome tools or is it ABW tools



weeds
12th December 2011, 05:13 PM
just brought some ABW ratchet ring spanners and i see they are listed on the sidchrome website

i guess sidchrome as branched out to fill the gaps??

Bigbjorn
12th December 2011, 06:45 PM
ABW was A. Bruce Wilson. One of the Wilsons in Martin Wilson Bros, a long established Brisbane automotive and aviation firm. There never was a Martin in Martin Wilson Brothers. The two Wilson brothers who established the firm both had as their middle name their Grandmother’s maiden name, Martin. (There’s quite a lot about MWB on the www.) Martin Wilson was taken over/purchased by Elphinstones about 1980, asset stripped, relocated, and finally disappeared. ABW Tools was Bruce Wilson's own separate business. He imported and resold tools under his own label. I was at school with David Wilson whose father was one of the Wilson Brothers. Another of our classmates, Tom Foster, started work at Martin Wilson aged 15 in 1955, rose to senior positions and was there until about 1981. He saw the writing on the wall and found another job. As boys, the three of us lived in the same block.