A possible date for an early Speedia

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Match Aerial
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Match Aerial »

I am not looking at speedias Nobby the prices have gone crazy for what was a budget reel in my opinion
For the money there making now you could buy an Aerial

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Nobby
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Nobby »

A couple went for cheap money in the last month, it's just that there are some dreamers offering them for daft money...not many of them actually sell though.......Ok some do......

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Vintage-Fishi ... =1&_ipg=50

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Match Aerial
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Match Aerial »

I know mate just hope the high prices level off.
They are never worth that money.Not when you can pick up a good rapidex or trudex for half the money

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Nobby
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Nobby »

I've now made contact with a resident of the area who has looked at some Council records for us and discovered that W.R. Products Ltd. reached an 'agreement' with 22 Goodwin Road giving them access to the passage behind No. 52 Boscombe Road. This would also give access to the rear of the possible workshop in Westville Road.

I was wrong about the school 'still being there'. It was totally destroyed by a bomb in February 1944. The 'new' school was built in 1950 in under a month!
Image



Amazingly, the resident in question, a lady, knew BB ! It's a small world!

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Beresford
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Beresford »

Speedia reels have recently piqued my interest. Edward Barder listed an early narrow reel in unused condition – the date of 15 August 1950 is clearly stamped on inside of the box lid. It appears to have very thin line lays.

However, a bit more Googling threw up further information which might be of interest, especially the third paragraph that provides a tantalising glimpse into the past. A vintage tackle dealer listed an early reel noted very precisely as a Mk1.3 with the following description:

W. R. Products 'SPEEDIA' 4'' narrow drum, Mk1.3 1946-48. Exquisite restoration by a brilliant craftsman using all original parts to BETTER THAN NEW condition – this may seem an exaggerated claim but the finish truly is better than when it left the factory c. 1947.

All aluminium back and spool flanges, the front with 8 ventilation holes and trademark attractive orange waisted bakelite handles. Rim check lever operates a 'V' spring check. This model is the immediate predecessor to the Mk2 (1949-54) and is the first model to feature 10 line lays (8 previously) and the last to have screwed handle fixing. It also features the brass foot and brass rim mounted check lever which were both replaced by aluminium in the Mk2. This is also the first model to feature the 'raised tit' on the centre boss – previously they had been plain 'pill' shape.

The SPEEDIA had begun to take on a different look with the death of the original senior engineer who was killed by a V2 bomb in 1945. From here on the spool flanges and backplate were cast and finished by hand (new chief was a castings engineer) whereas the first version (flat back) reels (1943-45) had been entirely turned by hand. This is a wonderful example and will be a joy to use and own.


If the death of the original owner/engineer was indeed as a result of a V2 rocket here is a list of all those killed by such attacks (link below). However, it is my assumption that the owner and senior engineer were one and the same person, a reasonable possibility in such a small company. If so then he/she is one of those listed as a V2 casualty. Given wartime exigencies the first engineer may well have been a woman.

https://www.wrsonline.co.uk/big-ben-roc ... asualties/

However for now I've assumed the engineer was male and on that basis I've read through the 1945 entries to see if there might be any suggestion of a W.R. None are immediately apparent but our original engineer would be in this list, if that V2 rocket reference is accurate. Incident 951 lists a George William Ramsey. Who knows he may have used the WR part of his name. I only mention this as I have work published using my middle name and not my surname. GWR was 69 at the time of his death. Old enough to have a lifetime of engineering skill and knowledge.

Similarly incident 441 Lists a George William Reid age 61.

Incident 532 Robert Williams. Age 58 – reverse the initials. Clutching at straws – perhaps but Walker reversed his initials to become 'WaterRail'.

One further thought, with the workshop's postal address possibly/probably in Westville Road that's another source for the WR of WR Products and one I think that is a 'highly plausible'. If that assumption is correct then the list of possible first engineers from the V2 casualty records is very much larger than the few I've detailed but not impossibly so. Shortlisting to all the males of appropriate ages cuts the list down significantly. It's quite likely that he was over 60 to have avoided any sort/level of military service. I'm always amazed small engineering firms were permitted to continue to make fishing tackle during WW2. Although I have read of some troops being issued with fishing gear!

Using Ancestry it would be possible to discover the profession of possible people. Since full name, address, spouse and day of death are generally listed Ancestry is quite accurate.

Like Nobby I had a look at Companies House but that failed to turn up anything. I looked before reading the early part of this thread and had I known he had already searched Companies House I'd have not bothered to duplicate the effort.

One question if I may, when was the Deluxe model, with the multi position ratchet first available?
The Split Cane Splinter Group

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Nobby
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Re: A possible date for an early Speedia

Post by Nobby »

I don't think anyone knows about the Deluxe introduction. Indeed I'm not sure that name wasn't given to it by the late Steve Deveraux.

There's always been a confusion about 'Marks' too with some appearing on eBay that might have been in their wrong boxes!

I had always believed the pill preceded the 'tit' as it is referred to above, so it's nice to have that confirmed in your finding Tim.

But the bit about the engineer dying in '45 did grab my attention as the school mentioned earlier was destroyed by a V2!

Image

But this was on 20th February 1944, so might not be the cause at all. Incidentally, the school was rebuilt to a design by Erno Goldfinger, the inspiration for the Bond villain and the designer of famous Trellick Tower:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trellick_Tower

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