1950's Intrepid Deluxe

[John Cave]

Refer my post "Morning" in the new members section today where I listed out the tackle I bought at Auction yesterday in readiness for my return to fishing.

One of the items was a boxed 1956 Intrepid Deluxe complete with guarantee card. Unfortunately the reel is in a sad state being almost solidly gunged up and missing the plastic (?) knob off the handle.

However it holds a lot of nostalgia for me as the Standard was my first ever reel back in the day (early '50's) so I will try and fettle it if I can.

I have a photo but have not got a Scooby do how to upload it/them!!!

[Stingray]

Hi, John. Glad you found your way to the KP Morritts section.

What makes you say 1956 ? I've been trying to pin down the dates of manufacture for Morritts reels for some time (the internet being full of guesswork and dodgy info much of the time) - if you have picked up any dated paperwork it would be very useful to my quest.

Cheers,

DAVE.

[John Cave]

Hi, John. Glad you found your way to the KP Morritts section.

What makes you say 1956 ? I've been trying to pin down the dates of manufacture for Morritts reels for some time (the internet being full of guesswork and dodgy info much of the time) - if you have picked up any dated paperwork it would be very useful to my quest.

Cheers,

DAVE.

Dave It is the Guarantee card really that gave me the date. The Guarantee period is for 12 months and the purchaser (I assume) has written 10.5.56 on the top of the card. Not convincing proof I know but I cannot think why he would have written a date like that down on the card were it not to remind him when either a) that was when he bought it or b) that was when the guarantee period ran out!

Cheers

[John Cave]

Reel, box and guarantee card

[Stingray]

Reel, box and guarantee card

Hi, John.

That is a K.P.Morritts Intrepid and not an Intrepid Deluxe. It is an earlier and slightly superior reel to the Deluxe which the Deluxe was very closely based upon - it is also much rarer. I've heard many theories on Intrepid Reel timelines but it seems most logical to me that this one known simply as the K.P.Morritts Intrepid was in fact the first "Intrepid" - this also makes your reel's 1956 guarantee card entry fit better.

[John Cave]

Reel, box and guarantee card

Hi, John.

That is a K.P.Morritts Intrepid and not an Intrepid Deluxe. It is an earlier and slightly superior reel to the Deluxe which the Deluxe was very closely based upon - it is also much rarer. I've heard many theories on Intrepid Reel timelines but it seems most logical to me that this one known simply as the K.P.Morritts Intrepid was in fact the first "Intrepid" - this also makes your reel's 1956 guarantee card entry fit better.

How can you tell that this is not a Deluxe?

Should I be a bit more circumspect in trying de-grunge it given that it appears that it is a much rarer specimen than what I imagined?

[Stingray]

How can you tell that this is not a Deluxe?

Should I be a bit more circumspect in trying de-grunge it given that it appears that it is a much rarer specimen than what I imagined?

Well - from the photo I can see that it only has the name "Intrepid" on its nameplate whereas a De-luxe says "Intrepid-De-Luxe". The Mk1 De-Luxe looks outwardly almost identical to the "Intrepid" but has some internal differences; the Mk2 De-luxe has significant external differences too. Rarity wise - there are certainly far fewer "Intrepids" about than De-Luxes and this does usually make them a little more valuable though neither is particularly valuable unfortunately - as usual, condition, box, paperwork all make a difference.

[John Cave]

How can you tell that this is not a Deluxe?

Should I be a bit more circumspect in trying de-grunge it given that it appears that it is a much rarer specimen than what I imagined?

Well - from the photo I can see that it only has the name "Intrepid" on its nameplate whereas a De-luxe says "Intrepid-De-Luxe". The Mk1 De-Luxe looks outwardly almost identical to the "Intrepid" but has some internal differences; the Mk2 De-luxe has significant external differences too. Rarity wise - there are certainly far fewer "Intrepids" about than De-Luxes and this does usually make them a little more valuable though neither is particularly valuable unfortunately - as usual, condition, box, paperwork all make a difference.

Hi Stingray - thank you for your help.
Given that I have the 2 Mitchells in the lot I bought then the Intrepid is going to be tad superfluous from an actually usage point of view and I doubt I will become a 'collector' per se of vintage tackle then I suspect that it would be of more interest to a collector than it would me.

[Marc]

Lovely reels but as with a lot of morritts reels the bail wire seems to be made of inferior metal and gets a groove. I have a mint boxed edition that has the spare spool and paper work that will never see the bank for this very reason.

[Stingray]

Lovely reels but as with a lot of morritts reels the bail wire seems to be made of inferior metal and gets a groove. I have a mint boxed edition that has the spare spool and paper work that will never see the bank for this very reason.

Very nice - love the boxed spare spool.