Intrepid Magazine Advert from 1963...

[Martin James]

Personally I thought they were pretty poor, I continued to use my Mitchell 300's I had all the intrepid reels sent for reviewing over the years of production, I sent them back as I felt I couldn't give them a good review

[Gary Bills]

In 1978, I had the choice of buying an Intrepid Deluxe or a Mitchell 324 - you know, the sort with the plastic flyer - and I went for the cheapie Mitchell and didn't regret it. The Deluxe in the shop felt horrible when I turned the handle...

[StalkingLuke]

I possibly owned one, swapped for my no longer used hamster cage at the local junk shop in approximately 1980. The style was certainly very similar but mine was a pale blue colour?
Whatever it was, the gears would jam up under the slightest load, so was pretty useless.

[Mark]

I have an Intrepid Elite just for posterity as it was the first reel I purchased as a kid. The original is long gone but I found one on Ebay for about a tenner a few years ago, I have never used it.

http://www.traditionalfisherman.co.uk/v ... ?f=43&t=71

[Michael]

I`ll not have that, he said with a very big smile on his face.
I still have a collection/pile of Elites and occasionally use the odd one. Yes, they are liable to shatter or crack, if dropped onto a hard surface, and yes I`ve had this happen. The gears are liable to strip/grind to chunks, if overstressed, though I`ve never experienced this. But I love`em. This is due to the fact I was given a new Elite, around 1964 by my father, and it remained a treasured possession for years. It still resides amongst others in my tackle room. A few years back I landed a common, just a tad over 30Ib no problems at all. No two appear to be the same, this is true,but I`ve managed to keep them going, swapping bit and pieces around. If it was supposedly good enough for “Mr Walkers crew” it`ll do for me!......

[Mark]

Thanks for putting up the pictures and info Weyfarer, from what I can see it looks a lovely rod. :thumb:

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

If only!!!

[Davyr]

I remember a Chris Binyon who was a regular contributor to "Coarse Fisherman" magazine in the early 1980s - maybe Jim was his Dad?

[SeanM]

I can remember the Elite well as it was my first "proper" reel, bought around 1970. It was the last version with the squarish body and red plastc. The bail arm roller used to groove in less than a season (I was using it for swing tipping a lot then) and in the end I sold it and got a Mitchell 308.

Do you still get the grooving problem Weyfarer?

[Nobby]

It's true you know, ..he's still got that Seventies moustache.


Though, like mine it isn't quite the same colour anymore.