1954 Shopsmith Dealer Manual Contents

[jpdalton]

1954 Magna Engineering Corp Dealer Manual

Several months back, I acquired an old Magna dealer binder - everything you need to know to successfully sell Mark 5s through your independent hardware dealership. It really had some fascinating insights into the philosophy that Magna had for selling, and all the ways they were helping their dealers connect with potential customers, sell machines, and keep ‘em coming back for more. No social media or email - just good old-fashioned phone calls, postal mail, and face-to-face interaction!

I took the time to scan all the pages and organize them in the chapter order from the binder, and I invite you to take a look…

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... qZtOUS4UTV
.

6239509D-E473-46CC-A0D3-18D83A3AFDCA.jpeg (539 KiB) Viewed 733 times

[chapmanruss]

John,

Thanks for sharing. Your copy of the Magna Engineering Corporation Confidential Dealers Book. Yours is in much better condition than mine. Yours also has the Schools section mine does not have which is interesting since mine is a later version with the name Magna Power Tool Corporation on the cover. Mine does have a section for Manuals. It includes the manuals for the Mark 5 (4-57), the Jigsaw (10-56), the Jointer (10-55), the Bandsaw (3-56), the Belt Sander (10-55), the Magna Sprayer (10-56), the Magna 9" Table Saw (9-56) and other miscellaneous instruction sheets.

The later Shopsmith Inc. Dealers Book I have from the 1970's included all the sections yours does and the Manuals section plus a Demonstration section. It has the manuals from that era for the Mark 5, Bandsaw, Belt Sander, Jigsaw and Jointer.

Everett had done a restoration of the Service Section from the Dealers Book provided by amboyna several years ago. His Dealers Book is closer to yours and in better condition than mine. His (amboyna's) has the same cover and has all the sections you provided plus his has the Manuals Section. I have a digital copy of his that he gave me.

Lots of great reference material in those Dealers Books.

[jpdalton]

Mine does have a section for Manuals.

Mine has the Manuals section as well - I just didn’t bother to scan all those, or the various brochures that it also contains.

One big exception is the Magna 9-inch Saw, an owner’s manual for which I’d never seen. So I did scan that. It’s posted on Vintage Machinery, for anyone interested: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfginde ... =338&tab=3
.

668B356A-BCBD-4AB5-8E93-01ACE07F80FA.jpeg (711.18 KiB) Viewed 710 times

[jpdalton]

Magna “thrifty-three” Brochure
(Low-budget Magna-Line!)

Something else very interesting that came out of the dealer binder is this brochure for the low-budget versions of the Magna-Line tools. Wow, these even look junky in the brochure! No wonder few if any have survived to today…

With this penchant for cheap knock-offs of their own tech, what would be next?! The Mark 5 Yugo edition??! Oh yeah… Mark 2…
.

91E5C6A3-27BD-48F2-BD3A-6B86C178AF62.jpeg (662.71 KiB) Viewed 591 times

73AFF006-E2B0-499F-AE28-A6C1647EDD5A.jpeg (529.36 KiB) Viewed 591 times

026562E2-571B-407A-8F0C-489256BD4FB3.jpeg (537.94 KiB) Viewed 591 times

35E45A6D-E6BD-4A15-8149-59C9ABA3C56B.jpeg (586.79 KiB) Viewed 591 times

E0B9A0B8-3B5D-4172-8B88-421A869FE2BA.jpeg (632.57 KiB) Viewed 591 times

8B33F496-83B7-4082-96DE-8512C522F20E.jpeg (541.48 KiB) Viewed 591 times

[chapmanruss]

John,

I don't think the Magna Line tools were a "cheaper" quality tool. I believe they were designed to fill a different part of the tool market for those wanting individual tools. I believe calling them the "Thrifty Three" was more for marketing. There were a pair of the Table Saws for sale near me about 5 years ago and I wish I had at least gone to see them in person.

Don't forget the Magna 12-1/2" Drill Press.

_

Magna Line Drill Press.jpg (42.54 KiB) Viewed 576 times

.
Other than the 5 SPT's (Jigsaw, Jointer, Bandsaw, Belt Sander and Magna Sprayer) available at the time the Magna Line Tools included those listed below.

Model 710 Magna 9” Tilt Arbor Bench Saw 71 000 (Floor Model - 71 008)
(Combination - 71 009 with Magna 4” Jointer 62 000 - SPT Mount)

Model 730 Magna 12-1/2” Drill Press 73 000

Model 735 Magna 12-1/2” Jig Saw 73 500

Model 740 Magna 30” Wood Lathe 74 000 (Floor Model - 74 008)

Model 745 Magna 4” Belt Sander 74 500

Model 780 Magna 10” Contractors Saw 78 000 (Floor Model)

As for the Mark 2 that is a different story.

[jpdalton]

I don't think the Magna Line tools were a "cheaper" quality tool.

Generally, when people think of the Magna-Line tools, this is the image that comes to mind:
.

9264CE78-FB61-45DE-9C5D-4AECC4081C32.jpeg (611.81 KiB) Viewed 536 times

…cleverly designed, well-built tools (all the SPTs I run today are from that era, so let’s not forget: durable) being offered in stand-alone versions for those users without a Mark 5. I don’t think anyone would reasonably consider these cheaper quality, and I know I’ve never said that.

What I did say in my post above is that Magna demonstrated a “penchant for cheap knock-offs of their own tech”. The Mark 2 is a great example of this - a cheap knock-off of the Mark 5 by any measure! And as my earlier post in this thread points out, they did in fact make low-budget versions of a number of the starting lineup in the Magna-Line family, and even came up with the “thrifty” branding to avoid the understandable conclusion that these were “cheap” tools.

And they were cheap tools - look at these prices!
.

CFCAC3E7-B470-4416-8A6C-1F5028EDDED6.jpeg (555.6 KiB) Viewed 536 times

2FB50C22-AB2D-476F-9985-35605D4AEF5B.jpeg (500.69 KiB) Viewed 536 times

$25 for a belt sander?! $28 for a jigsaw?! $67 for a table saw??!!

Even for the times, those are low-priced! The old adage of “you get what you pay for” I’m sure held true in those times, and the only way you get to that price point is reduce quality, just like they were going to do with the Mark 2, a year later.

So, while I absolutely believe Magna when they tell me that Magna-Line are “America’s Finest Power Tools” (I have to believe this, or my insatiable compulsion for collecting vintage Magna items will be rendered meaningless!), they absolutely had some cheapies in the lineup!

And for those with a keen eye, you may note the primary resources I use in this post include a Magna-Line part number missing from someone else’s list above. I guess we can all learn something…!

[jpdalton]

Flash-in-the-Magna-Line?!

One last note on the “Thrift Three” - they don’t appear to have stuck around long…

A July 1957 dealer reference mentions these low-end Magna-Line options, referring to them as “MAGNA-LINE TRAFFIC TOOLS”. I’m assuming that’s another way to kindly describe products at a low price point that can bring foot traffic to your store - anyone with retail experience out there who can substantiate this??

And by March 1958, they were gone from a similar reference. The market had spoken!
.

7772B222-1518-43A2-9CF7-7D70DE5121B7.jpeg (832.76 KiB) Viewed 459 times

630B30CC-B992-4157-94D9-B58F3C1C6B96.jpeg (373.91 KiB) Viewed 459 times

6388ACE2-C932-4505-BEDA-57AA16150BEA.jpeg (913.9 KiB) Viewed 459 times