BLUEMOMENT

I wonder the origin of this term, spanners tend to come in nicely wrapped wallets these days.

Maybe she was a lass from before the time of plastic wallets?

A friend of mine, unlucky in his choices where love is concerned, referred to his first wife as having a face like a bag of spanners.
The second one, he said, had a face like a hard winter.
He thinks the one he is with now is a daft as a box of frogs....

Bloke I used to know said his missus was a lovely girl but smelled like a sh*t house door made out of fish boxes.

Sat there looking like a burst couch is one of my favourites, followed by a face like a dug chewing a wasp.

I understood that such a face would tighten your nuts, but I may have got it wrong.

It's debatable whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I keep mine in a box of frogs...

This thread risks opening a can of worms.

Alan_D wrote:This thread risks opening a can of worms.

The O.P. will probably find a way to wriggle out of any blame..

I find lightly coating the inside of the bag with grease stops the spanners rusting.

face like a melted welly
..... surprised that particular description hasn't made an appearance yet

Face like a half chewed caramel

Gardenshed wrote:face like a melted welly
..... surprised that particular description hasn't made an appearance yet

It has now

To spoil the fun and actually answer the original question, I think it refers to the noise made by an engine (usually motorbike) on its last legs, with many mechanical items clattering and rattling.

From the days when amateur mechanics kept their spanners in an unordered pile at the bottom of a kit bag. Said bag was dropped and sounded like a bag of spanners.

Sounds like Snap on Tools have stymied creativity with their fancy red tool cabinets