Collecting is a 'Snap' for local business owner

INGLESIDE – The unofficial headquarters for merchandise and memorabilia by Snap-on tools may have a home at Keith Brommelkamp’s Ingleside business.

When it comes to the collectible items with the popular tool company’s name, customers and friends say Keith Brommelkamp’s Water and Wheels boat and auto repair shop is a Snap-on museum.

Once the Ingleside business owner got his hands on a few of the memorabilia items, the collection “just started to snowball,” he said.

“I just started to do it because I thought it would be a challenge,” Brommelkamp said. “It’s a collection that gives me something to do and keeps me busy.”

The name Snap-on is a familiar one on the tool benches of professional and causal laborers alike. But the name also has found its way onto plenty of items one would never think to associate with a tool-maker.

A good percentage of those collectible items are in Brommelkamp’s possession.

Be it clocks, calculators, cars, chess sets or a host of other items, Brommelkamp has them all with the Snap-on name affixed on the front.

The company, which has been around since 1920, created the items as a way to provide collectibles with the Snap-on name to customers along with their purchase, he said. But Brommelkamp has taken a simple form of marketing to a whole new level.

“I’m finding stuff even people from Snap-on didn’t know was out there,” he said. “It could be never-ending for all I know.”

Brommelkamp became aware of the wide variety of Snap-on collectibles available through a book titled “Snap-on Collectibles” by Caroline Schloss. The book is an unauthorized guide to memorabilia with the Snap-on name.

Brommelkamp has found many of the items from the book at various swap meets and garage sales, although most of his purchases have been made on eBay.

The collection was never intended to get to the level it’s at now, he said. Ask him how many Snap-on items are in his collection, and Brommelkamp will just laugh.

He honestly has absolutely no idea.

“I wouldn’t even guess,” Brommelkamp said. “I had no intent of growing it. It just kind of happened.”

A gas pump, gumball machine and even a Ipod player are among the more unusual items in his Snap-on collection.

Brommelkamp’s sister-in-law Tammy Zalesny said she finds new Snap-on memorabilia every time she stops by Water and Wheels. The collectibles – all of which appear to be of high quality – are kept in prime condition, she said.

“He keeps everything so pristine and so perfect,” Zalesny said.

Even though the collection is contained in display cases and boxes upon boxes, she does not expect Brommelkamp to give up his hobby.

“I don’t see him stopping any time soon,” she said.

Stopping is not something Brommelkamp wants to do either. You just never when you’re going to find something new with the Snap-on name, he said.

“Everybody tells me, ‘man you got a sickness,’” Brommelkamp said. “But it’s just fun.”

Want to check it out?

Water and Wheels is located at 500 S. Route 59, Unit C, in Ingleside. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 847-973-9085 for more information.