Who can recommend a cheap but useful drill

The 131A looks like the old brass body one from long ago, before the first one I bought.
The smaller one looks pretty modern.

 

These are still made in Germany. Only the 12" and 18" versions though. The big difference is that they now take the current standard 1/4" drive bits. I can check the prices next time I am in Germany, as I dont know them offhand.

 

The short one costs €39:90, the long €48:90. Wooden handles as well...

 

Looked at my 131B today, it was made in Britain, probably about 20yrs old.
I had an inkling the old brass ones were US imports but might be wrong on that, as I never had one.

They went out of fashion pretty fast once decent cordless drills, with enough torque, came on the market.

They also required a fair bit of getting used to in the days before pozzi screws, when the odd slip meant you dug a spinning screwdriver bit into what ever you were screwing together.

 

Handles are probably beech I think.

 

Immediate thought was to use Plastidip to restore the handle. Alternatively, its possible to buy ash tool handles, complete with meatal ferrule if needed. It may be possible to adapt one of those.

Theres a company in Berlin that not onlysells them, but ships worldwide and accepts Paypal. If you do get one from Germany, at least do it before Brexit...