Henry, thanks for all the great insights on this.  Are you able to share any insights you might have on the approximate years that this transition from Great to Inferior occurred? 

Thanks!!  Great post, appreciate it.

It is difficult to say but when they started making changes and putting New & Improved  in their ads that  meant NEW Maybe but CHEAPER COMPONENT QUALITY .
So in the 60's I think they were Gasping For Air in the OCEAN of REEL MANUFACTURING
  It is clear to me now that PENN made better Quality and Cheaper priced Reels thus contributing to the Demise of old OCEAN CITY Company  plus OCEAN CITY buying out so many other reel companies in the past along with MONTAGUE it just was too much .

This is a Damn close or exact copy of an OLYMPIC  DOLPHIN and the DOLPHIN is pretty much a COPY of the PENN 9/209/309's .  Internals are pretty much just like em except for a FEW  differences .

Anywho here are some pix of it Before and After .





You can Barely see the dog spring which is below the dog and goes over the screw and is a BITCH putting it back together ..........





The idler gear for the Level Wind had this  Brass Drag washer  in it ........... NO CLUE why this would be needed and I did NOT reassemble it with it .
Somebody messed up !!!!








  This  is a Real CHEAP ASS TRICK .
When the Reel is together it looks like the Crossbar is like the newer Penn's BUT it is just pinned on ONE side and one Screw  on each side



NOT KOSHER







The Spool has a Neat Red line at the outer edge to use to Fill the line on!

Completely Refurbished Ambassadeur 5500 C
This was stripped down to the Gunnels and  ALL Parts  Cleaned, Polished, Lubed and Greased to better than New Condition.
All Corrosion removed ,NEW CARBON TEX DRAGS , Replaced  outer  Spool Bearing . Has New 12 pound Test Mono.
This thing is Smooth as it can be and has a much Higher Drag Rating Now  than factory with the NEW CARBON TEX ones installed .
The Serial Number 89-0  90-91 on Foot according to info makes this Manufactured over 30 years ago !
It has some boat rash but for over 30 years not that bad ........
 

 Others may sell one Cheaper but they know what their Shit is  Worth



























 All Buyers will get a 2 Year FREE SERVICE Consisting of a Complete Disassembly ,Clean and Lube,and any Drags /Bearing Replacement needed will be included but buyer will pay for any additional parts or upgrades .  Buyer pays shipping to me and I pay return Shipping to you .
MEMBERS PRICE
 Is 85 dollars shipped to  U.S. with Free Shipping !!!

NON MEMBERS
Pay 105  Dollars and Shipping Costs

Which Should be an Incentive to Join Up Here .
It is FREE and Easy to do Plus you get to see a BUNCH MORE BOARDS

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER



MEMBERS can contact me via Personal Messaging or  in this Thread Post 

NON MEMBERS can contact  WompusCat@oldreelcollectors.com for purchase

Holy CRAP !!!!!

LOTTA DOUGH paid for a pretty common Reel.it started out out 9.99  then went CRAZY .

That is a Very Nice Fish for sure .
The record here at Lake Whitney is a little over 39 pounds set back in 1989 and I am sure there are some 40 plus here as they were stocked in the 70's . They now have HYBRIDS (cross of Sand Bass and Striper) and a 15 pounder was caught here last year.
I have caught some Stripers over 10 pounds  here on Perch and Big Top Water Plugs back in the Day however we have had several what they call  GOLDEN Algae Bloom episodes that literally WIPED out the fish here and they said it did not harm anything but rough fish which is BULL SHIT . Right now the Lake is overpopulated with them and Most  are just Skin and Bones for the most part as they are Voracious Eaters which wiped out our Small Mouth many years ago . I have caught Stripers with 3 pound Black Bass stuck in their throats . Most Guides limit out in a few hours every day and out of 3 fish you MIGHT get enough usable meat to make a small sandwich .....lol I would say one in 20 are Healthy and Fat .
While the Striper is a Formidable and hard fighting fish I personally wished they had not put them here  .
Lake Texoma a few years back had so many there was NO Size or Number Limits on them .

They are HARD fighters as even a six incher will tear up a Light Weight Rig . But they overdid it here I think .