Magazine ads: "Fluke breaks the old mold. The Fluke 37. A bold new shape emerges with more features than any other bench DMM. Period."
$229 in 1986 ($558 today), 30kHz AC, 0.1% basic, autoranging etc., it had a new feature set.
In the 80's multimeter safety standards were in their infancy. Fluke 37 certified to IEC-348 which became 1010 (Cat. ratings) around 1988. So multimeters of the era have varying HV design (creepage and clearance) and input protection. Some are not great, others quite good. Fluke obtained the patents, which made it hell for other manufacturers.
Also, EMI susceptibility varied and total shielding was present in the decent brand multimeters.
In the Fluke 37 I see EMI-coated plastic for the cover and front panel, just beep it out with an ohmmeter and if aluminium flakes are coming off that would be bad.
For this form factor, the big "accessory compartment" is where your leads, probes or optional battery pack would go. It was only around a few years because you could put you lunch in there as well lol.
I remember the pipeline and electrical industries wanted the big battery pack because they spend all day on ohms/continuity and 9V battery life was too short. It was out in the bush, remote areas. So you will see other brands in the same FF have D batteries ~15,000mAh
there.
Fluke 37
hinge clip fix stl files (4654920)
note, there's also 3D printer files for Fluke parts knobs, wall mount, magnet hanger etc. on Archive.org