The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I was recently kindly given a nice condition ABU Cardinal 955, and wondered what years they were made?

It is a beautifully smooth reel to use.

If memory serves me right it would have been late 1980’s. My late father would have known, he owned a tackle shop and I remember him stocking them…..

Thank you RBTraditional

Rockape wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 3:56 pm I was recently kindly given a nice condition ABU Cardinal 955, and wondered what years they were made?

It is a beautifully smooth reel to use.

Think the 955 was mid to late 1980's, a Garcia product so plenty of plastic and possibly a graphite type body, if it was anything like the 755 then run a mile, worst pair of reels I ever bought, a very marmite type of reel was the 755 and since the 955 was from the same stable it wont be any different.
I cut off buying anything Abu after 1983, the Cardinal 55 is still in my eyes the best reel ever made, still using mine from 1978, apart from the plastics they are bomb proof but the similar 755 which was put out to replace the original 55 was not even close, broke within 2 weeks of having them so back they went and a lesson learnt

I will agree, the 54,55, and 57 are bombproof, get some metal spools to replace the plastic ones, job done!

Thank you for your very knowledgeable input BeechmereLake, and for your additional comment SooperClooper.

This was a recent gift from my older brother, and so it has a lot of personal value for me.

A few months ago, my wife brought home a nice condition Mitchell (by name) Prince 40 for me from a car boot sale; a similar but smaller reel to the 955, but not quite as slick in my opinion.

My main interests lay in the early reels of ABU, Mitchell and The Morritt reels in general (ignited by my nostalgia for the Intrepid New De Luxe), but I am fast gaining a collection of more modern skirted spool reels; nice to have a different ABU though, even if it is not very highly regarded.

Cheers all!

Reels are a very personal thing Rockape as are indeed rods, bags, creels, floats etc etc etc… in fact everything we use or collect. That was a very nice gift from your brother, enjoy it and treasure it…….

I’m currently restoring a glass fibre Daiwa rod from the 1980’s. It is a 10’ entry rod and the quality is at the bottom end of the spectrum. However, it means the world to the chap who owns it, his first ever fishing rod, and he is looking forward to catching a few fish on it and it will be perfectly serviceable. As Rob says, it is a personal thing and that is to be cherished.