Mystery Mitchell reel

[Keston]

What I had has been on the shelf for 5 years, left just as it arrived; a Mitchell reel with great glossy paint on the body but rather poorer paint on the rotor.

The handle had 'France' stamped on it and I thought it just might be a half bail reel that had been upgraded to a full bail with a Garcia 808 kit, something I've always wanted for the collection.

It was a bit stiff to turn so I decided it must come apart. It was full of some spray on grease that had set like stone and took days to get out. The baffle had France on and so did the balance weight in the rotor.

I now know, thanks to George Saul that this reel was made in February 1953 and that full bails weren't in the shops until December that year in the U.S.

So I am now certain it is a converted reel the kit for which was only available through Garcia in the U.S. I doubt there's another one in Europe.


The one man who I thought might guess what it was did indeed guess right and he bought it.

Such an interesting reel Nobby , I probably won't come across another one so thank you very much for agreeing to sell it .
I must confess I couldn't resist stripping it down when I returned home . It was great to see all the parts as expected. With a good box too . Really great thanks .
John

[Nobby]

Good job I cleaned it inside then!

Did you see the 'France' in the balance weight? I didn't know about that.

I doubt we'll ever see another this side of the pond John.

[Keston]

Good job I cleaned it inside then!

Did you see the 'France' in the balance weight? I didn't know about that.

I doubt we'll ever see another this side of the pond John.

It is very clean inside , good job !

Yes I noticed the made in France parts , interesting with the new handle to move it away from the cover plate which provides adequate clearance for the new rotor and bail assembly . Its a well thought out kit as you would expect , I cant imaging they would have been sold for long .

I agree , I doubt I will see another one , let alone one in such nice condition .
John

[Wallys-Cast]

Is the reel itself rare or just the conversion kit.

Wal.

[Keston]

Is the reel itself rare or just the conversion kit.

Wal.

Essentially its a nice "B" serial reel and the original half bail has been replaced with the full bail conversion kit Nobby posted earlier .

John

[Wallys-Cast]

Thanks John. I often wonder what happened to the owners of these mint reels for them to never get used.

I have seen adverts for the conversion kit but cant remember which book they were in. I think Milbro used to sell them but I have never seen one unless it was already on a reel.
I dont suppose we would have noticed back then, it's only really the last 30 years or so since they became collectable.
I remember the local tackle shop doing servicing on Mitchell and other reels. Part of the service included painting any areas of missing or damaged paint. Imagine that going down well today haha. Heres your reel back, we've given it a coat of underseal to keep it looking good.

Wal.

[Nobby]

Wal the 808 kit was a Garcia offering only available in the US for a couple of years.

The Garcia thinking seems to be that if you had just bought a new half bail you'd be pretty miffed when a new full bail came out the next week, so this was a way of appeasing you and making some more money.

For some unknown reason the 808 kit main parts all had France stamped onto them, though reels of the time did not.


Garcia also offered longer handles, ribbed spool backs and cross-wind gear sets, the latter being the only item Milbro also offered.


You can see all of this in my image above.

If you look closely you can see that the kit came with just two shims and a smaller than normal washer to go under the baffle plate.

The baffle plate was also a shortly used offering, quickly changing to a plain metal one with no steel pins and the new one was soon dropped for a decade over an alleged. patent infringement.


All the items on that envelope were just what I found inside the reel, including the two scant shims. They totalled 0.20mm when the reel actually needed 0.45mm. in total, so fitting these kits at home might not always have gone too well.

[Keston]

Thanks John. I often wonder what happened to the owners of these mint reels for them to never get used.

I have seen adverts for the conversion kit but cant remember which book they were in. I think Milbro used to sell them but I have never seen one unless it was already on a reel.
I dont suppose we would have noticed back then, it's only really the last 30 years or so since they became collectable.
I remember the local tackle shop doing servicing on Mitchell and other reels. Part of the service included painting any areas of missing or damaged paint. Imagine that going down well today haha. Heres your reel back, we've given it a coat of underseal to keep it looking good.

Wal.

Hi Wal
I think you are right and people wouldnt have noticed back then , perhaps even with the collectability and information available today many people still wf bail to the new full bail ould not notice , I'm not sure many people who visited Nobby's table at Romsey would have known.

This reel isnt mint , it has some paint rubbing , but apart from that its in remarkably good condition . I think that makes sense too ? Mitchell provided kits for people to upgrade their half bails to the newer design full bail , perhaps its likely the anglers using the reels would have wanted to do this rather than those collecting tackle ?

John

[Wallys-Cast]

Wal the 808 kit was a Garcia offering only available in the US for a couple of years.

The Garcia thinking seems to be that if you had just bought a new half bail you'd be pretty miffed when a new full bail came out the next week, so this was a way of appeasing you and making some more money.

For some unknown reason the 808 kit main parts all had France stamped onto them, though reels of the time did not.


Garcia also offered longer handles, ribbed spool backs and cross-wind gear sets, the latter being the only item Milbro also offered.


You can see all of this in my image above.

If you look closely you can see that the kit came with just two shims and a smaller than normal washer to go under the baffle plate.

The baffle plate was also a shortly used offering, quickly changing to a plain metal one with no steel pins and the new one was soon dropped for a decade over an alleged. patent infringement.


All the items on that envelope were just what I found inside the reel, including the two scant shims. They totalled 0.20mm when the reel actually needed 0.45mm. in total, so fitting these kits at home might not always have gone too well.

Thanks Nobby, these kits are more likely to turn up in the US then.
I bet most people back then would simply bite the bullet and buy a new full bail version. Maybe the tackle shops did a part ex deal, then converting the trade ins and reselling them.

Wal.