If Festool was thinking they would have offered Tim a number he couldn't refuse and developed it into a product line that would have taken off. One that offers the possibilities for loads of options/add-ons and would be an excellent alternative to a MFT/3 for smaller more mobile jobs.
The chap who came up with the original Workmate (was from England I believe) licensed or sold his design (I don't know which) to B&D who took it worldwide and made them both a mint. Granted the current Workmate is a cheap copy of their better models from the 70s and 80s, but after almost 50 years they are still selling them.
I got my first Workmate (all metal, no plastic) in the early 70s, and have bought two more of the old ones off Craigslist over the past couple years when they popped up and didn't pay more than $30 for either one. Did you know the holes in the bench top are not 3/4" but 20mm and that the B&D benchstops fit snugly in the MFT/3. You can still buy (at least 2 years ago you could) replacement benchstops from B&D. I got a set of four for less than $10 + shipping. They offered options to mount a circular saw, jig saw, or router on the workmate back then and had a clamping system too. Can't say if they were any good I never tried them.
