Mepps Magic

[Rockape]

3x

Yes,when you look at the Mepps with its removable side plate,it suggests ambidextrous but isn't.When I purchased my RHW model my intention was to change it to LHW but on removing the tail cap it was obvious it couldn't be done.Another learning curve.Sounds like you have a FSR fixation.Welcome to MY world.Your Record 500 is a lovely reel.Couple of weeks back I received a Centaure reel from the US with another two on their way.I try and keep my keep my purchases secret but if my wife gets to the front door first and our postman has a small square box for delivery I run and hide in the shed.

Lol!... No chance of keeping my reel purchases secret from my wife; she sees me on ebay, puts her head in her hands and says "Oh no!...not another one!"

Recently, I've been buying a lot of cheap Mitchells for spares, so I'm certainly keeping the postman busy, and my wife increasingly exasperated.

The Marine 500 is a nice example yes (thank you), and came about when I answered a local ad for 6 mint intrepids (unused with factory sleeved boxes; £10 each), and there was also mention of a swiss made reel available too. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, because I had previously been drooling over one I had seen online (already sold), so I nearly bit his hands off when he agreed to £30 for it! The little Mepps reel also had me hooked (more so I think), so here I am with even more vintage reel models to collect (can't remember its name now, but I'd love one of those big triangular bodied orange Mepps reels with the folding handle....and to think it was not so long ago that I thought Mepps only made spinners).

Cheers!

Ah yes,a beautiful monstrosity in candy apple red.The Mepps Super Meca.

This little reference book of vintage French reels has proved very useful.Lots of pics and info.Has an A to Z of all the makers,dates of manufacture and values.

The one thing I am very short on is reference books, though I do have a book on the first Mitchells, which was extremely kindly donated to me, and is a treasured addition to my collection.

My only other French reel is quite common and came as part of a small job lot (please forgive the white refin on the rotor; believe me when I say it was in a much worse state than you see it here, and I will do a more professional job on it when time allows).

The little FSR in your picture is actually Italian.I've had 3 of 'em.First one I had was in rough condition and i decided to strip it down.Inside was a very crude anti reverse mechanism featuring a tiny spring compressed by a tiny ball bearing.Yep.....you guessed correctly,the ball bearing launched itself across the living room never to be seen again.

Ah, yes of course it is...Doh!! (I do get a bit brain fuddled sometimes)

Lol!..it seems we both share a similar habit of loosing reel parts when servicing them (springs, ball bearings, E clips, or some other small but crucial part).

I have successfully rendered several reels inoperable because of my hamfistedness; almost guaranteed to lose something.

My worst habbit is not leaving be, e.g. something (an anti reverse lever on an Intrepid Regent and a Mitchell handle counterweight come to mind) is only just slightly bent, but my OCD says "FIX IT! ....NOW!
No one else would notice but me, and I'm almost there, but it must be perfect, so I give it that extra tiny bit of leverage and........SNAP!!!! I never learn from it (always tinkering for perfection with fatal results..lol!). "Well done" I tell myself

[Russell Howard Brown]

I have been burdened with the 'tinkering gene' for many,many years and have a permanent whiff of WD40 about my person.

[Russell Howard Brown]

Yes,when you look at the Mepps with its removable side plate,it suggests ambidextrous but isn't.When I purchased my RHW model my intention was to change it to LHW but on removing the tail cap it was obvious it couldn't be done.Another learning curve.Sounds like you have a FSR fixation.Welcome to MY world.Your Record 500 is a lovely reel.Couple of weeks back I received a Centaure reel from the US with another two on their way.I try and keep my keep my purchases secret but if my wife gets to the front door first and our postman has a small square box for delivery I run and hide in the shed.

Lol!... No chance of keeping my reel purchases secret from my wife; she sees me on ebay, puts her head in her hands and says "Oh no!...not another one!"

Recently, I've been buying a lot of cheap Mitchells for spares, so I'm certainly keeping the postman busy, and my wife increasingly exasperated.

The Marine 500 is a nice example yes (thank you), and came about when I answered a local ad for 6 mint intrepids (unused with factory sleeved boxes; £10 each), and there was also mention of a swiss made reel available too. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, because I had previously been drooling over one I had seen online (already sold), so I nearly bit his hands off when he agreed to £30 for it! The little Mepps reel also had me hooked (more so I think), so here I am with even more vintage reel models to collect (can't remember its name now, but I'd love one of those big triangular bodied orange Mepps reels with the folding handle....and to think it was not so long ago that I thought Mepps only made spinners).

Cheers!

Super Meca.....Pics for Rockape.The best feature is its overly engineered bale-arm return mechanism.The reel is ostentatious almost to the point of vulgar and very French.

[Rockape]

A very cool reel! Thank you for posting those photos Russell (one day I may have one of my own, fingers crossed).

One thing I would like to ask, is how did you manage to post such high res pictures!?
I thought we were limited to 500k on this forum?

[Russell Howard Brown]

Oh crikey my literacy level for all things technical is a big fat zero (I have no idea what 500k means).All pictures courtesy of my second hand Samsung phone.

[Rockape]

Oh crikey my literacy level for all things technical is a big fat zero (I have no idea what 500k means).All pictures courtesy of my second hand Samsung phone.

Sorry Russell, I meant 500kb (half a megabyte).
I noticed that your images appeared gradually in blocks, and that is usually a sign that the image file size is big and has to load up; also they do have a good resolution when zoomed in.

Most of my own pictures are very large file sizes (32mb and up jpegs), but they wont load onto the forum unless I resize them down to 500mb or less, thus losing a lot of detail.

Could it be that paying members get more data allowance perhaps? I'll have to check the forum rules again.

Back on the subject of Mepps reels, I'm on a bit of a vintage Mitchell mission at the moment, but as soon as I am happy with satisfying my wants in that department, my next target will be more (harder to find) Mepps models.

Cheers,

Paul