The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I acquired this Speedia recently and it appears to have a factory fitted sliding eye line guard.
The sliding eye line guard is made of copper and is free to move within the confines of the wire pillars.
The reel has a brass foot, 10 line spokes and is finished in grey paint and I believe is one of the earlier models.
Is this original and can anyone shed some light on this?
Best regards
Mem

Having difficulty keeping the photos in the original post, so here they are...

Your Speedia is indeed an early model, with the triangle name logo being typical. I have seen some with a brass foot and some with a chromed foot. Some of the earliest models have unusually large handles in the distinctive yellowy/orange finish. I have never seen an original Speedia with a grey paint finish, but I have seen several that had been repainted grey. I have also never seen that type of line guard on a Speedia, although I have seen it on other reels. It is believed that these earlier models were of a better build quality, but that is about all I know.

Lea Dweller wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:30 pm Your Speedia is indeed an early model, with the triangle name logo being typical. I have seen some with a brass foot and some with a chromed foot. Some of the earliest models have unusually large handles in the distinctive yellowy/orange finish. I have never seen an original Speedia with a grey paint finish, but I have seen several that had been repainted grey. I have also never seen that type of line guard on a Speedia, although I have seen it on other reels. It is believed that these earlier models were of a better build quality, but that is about all I know.

Hi LD, at first I doubted that this reel had been resprayed in grey paint but after looking at the reel it looks like that this is indeed the case.
And somewhat shabbily too because the paint is also on the nice brass foot, which I doubt would be the case if the grey paint was original.
Strange that there are many Speedia reels that are repainted grey....

Jardine wrote: ↑Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:36 am

Lea Dweller wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:30 pm Your Speedia is indeed an early model, with the triangle name logo being typical. I have seen some with a brass foot and some with a chromed foot. Some of the earliest models have unusually large handles in the distinctive yellowy/orange finish. I have never seen an original Speedia with a grey paint finish, but I have seen several that had been repainted grey. I have also never seen that type of line guard on a Speedia, although I have seen it on other reels. It is believed that these earlier models were of a better build quality, but that is about all I know.

Hi LD, at first I doubted that this reel had been resprayed in grey paint but after looking at the reel it looks like that this is indeed the case.
And somewhat shabbily too because the paint is also on the nice brass foot, which I doubt would be the case if the grey paint was original.
Strange that there are many Speedia reels that are repainted grey....

Because the Speedia has been such a popular reel over the years, I have seen many that have been repainted, some well some poorly. The earlier ones did not have a tension adjuster, but are considered by some to be better made than the later ones!

its being a latter mk2 ,they came as either black or grey ,(usually you only get the hennery ford option ,in that your reel could be any colour you like so long as its black) but there was a few (probably a customer choice) unpainted ,and with the mk2 we have the greys ,where grey was a option ,theres a good few out there ,was it a specific colour for a retailer ,was it to signify it was for flyfishing (speedias was sold as general purpose reel suitable for fly or coarse fishing ) or did they just run out of black paint ? .I have the same model as yours grey mk 2 ,mine doesn't have a line guide ,I have seen a few with a sliding eye type guide ,some with a strikerite style little square single screw type but the most common is the bickerdyke type .I think line guards was a customer option or there was a third party fitted items via a tackle shop etc and you got what they had too hand .

due to some recent findings of dates stamped under the lid of box's (been hiding in plain sight) its been possible to narrow down dates of manufacture ,this reel is rather special ,its the last version of the broad rimmed reels and has the new style riveted on fixed handles ,soon to become the norm .(must of ran out of the old style handles and started using the new mk3 stock .these are the third mk2 incarnation mk2.3 and date between 1948/9 .there's not many of these made. as far as can be determined the earliest mk3 was 1950 .So thank you Jardine for sharing this ,I've been cheeky and borrowed those great pictures for my database site for a staring role .

I think the line guard might be from an earlier wooden reel or possibly from a Dowling offering.

I found these pictures with what I think maybe a genuine Speedia factory line guard. If it is aftermarket it is very well made as it fits so well on the back plate and even has a line roller built in.


Wal.

I have seen a few fitted with that particular line guard so it could well be a factory fit. But like a lot of things it's really guess work as that info has been unfortunately lost in time.
Nice reel by the way .