PRESS RELEASE

Hein-Werner Announces Preliminary Results for 1996

5 February 1997

    WAUKESHA, Wis., Feb. 5 -- Hein-Werner Corporation (AMEX: HNW)
today announced that it expects to report strong gains in operating results
for both the fourth quarter and the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 1996.  Operating
profit for the quarter is expected to increase more than 10 percent over the
prior year's quarter, and the year is expected to increase more than 35
percent over the prior year.  Audited figures will be available in late
February.
    Net income is expected to increase for the quarter and to more than double
for the year 1996, reflecting ongoing improvement in Hein-Werner's core
businesses, collision repair and fluid power, which are expected to drive
future results.
    Net sales for the quarter and 12 months of 1996 are expected to be down,
reflecting weak business conditions in the U.S. engine rebuilding market and
markets served by our French and German subsidiaries.
    Joseph L. Dindorf, president and chief executive officer, said, "Our U.S.
collision repair business reported record earnings, and we made important
progress during the year in the implementation of a number of strategies
designed to both improve shareholder value and increase Hein-Werner's global
market leadership.  The acquisition in 1996 of the distribution, product and
trademark rights to Applied Power's proprietary Blackhawk collision repair
product line for the Latin American and Asian markets significantly enhanced
our positions in those key areas.  Hein-Werner now has strong distribution
agreements in place in a number of Latin American countries as well as in
mainland China and other Far Eastern countries.  These are expected to produce
important gains in 1997 and the years ahead."
    Hein-Werner Corporation is a leading worldwide manufacturer and marketer
of collision repair, engine rebuilding and fluid power equipment.  The company
has manufacturing operations and sales offices in the United States and Europe
with distribution channels throughout the rest of the world.

SOURCE  Hein-Werner Corporation