Difference between 44x and 44 express

[Woodytia]

All questions answered, many thanks.

[WindJammer]

I used to have a green 44x,a green 66 and a brown 66. Unfortunately they disappeared from my folks shed one day.

[BeechmereLake]

In my last reply I forgot one of the most important reels of this high speed 44X series and that was the one which was made for only a couple of months, in reference to Marco Malevasi's excellent books history shows this reel was made from Oct-Dec 1974 only and is a seriously hard reel to find.
The name plate has almost what you would call a frame for the name plate to sit in and is not like the others which were just glued to a flat spot on the side plate and the bail wire was also important to be correct

This is one of my favourites of my collection

[Woodytia]

Oh good, I think mine looks like that although it isn't in the pristine condition yours is though.

[BeechmereLake]

As you probably know the best way to collect a Cardinal is in the best condition you can, OK you pay a premium for them but I am prepared to do that, many of the 400 Mitchell's I had were in the best condition I could find them in too.
One of my philosophies is that IF the reel looks good on the outside then there is a 95% chance it will be good on the inside. Only twice was I proved wrong when I won the reel cheap and when inspected on arrival the insides had been removed for old used parts, hard to prove but it does happen