Speedia date?

[Cat]

Morning All, I picked up a wide late model (three screws) Speedia at Redditch...very nice, and I now get it / them! Whilst giving it an oil and clean I noticed what looks like a pencilled on date on the ratchet wheel - F 70 - could this be consistent with the date of manufacture, and has anyone seen this before? Regards Cat

[Dave F]

I have a narrow drum and a wide drum deluxe Speedia. No marks inside at all. Both spin beautifully.

[Nobby]

The only date that we have come up with so far is a stamped date on the inside of the box lid. I had an early one, like yours, that had the date 1951 in:

[Cat]

Thanks Nobby. Lovely reels, and I'm thoroughly enjoying using it (our season started 16th May)!

[Old Man River]

Last Sunday I was on holiday and browsing a car boot in Norfolk ,I discovered a battered and folorn Speedia wide drum, it was siezed up, had some surface corrosion and in a sorry state , the spool release was siezed up, and the reel foot had half snapped off . Sometime in its past it had been hand painted matt black but it wearing away.I could not resist bartering the booter down to £2.50 p for it .




I managed to clean it up a bit and eventually get it apart, inside it was suprisingly clean .
It was set aside , we arrived home on Friday, and since then I have been messing around with it . I took some wire wool to the corrosion and mostly it was just on the surface. After a good cleaning and oiling I managed to get it spinning again, and it spinns rather well !

Next job was the reel foot , rummaging around in my box of bits I discovered a reel foot from a Tatler Multiplier that was trashed years ago, after cutting , measuring, cleaning etc the reel foot was polished up and looking a good ‘un , next job was fitting it to the Speedia, again this took a bit of bodging, but eventually everything came together.



Now I am wondering, should I strip it back and polish it up, or maybe strip it back and give it a few coats of black paint, or should I just leave it as a battle scarred veteran . It will never win a beauty contest , and I have no idea how old it is , maybe one of you Speedia experts could have a stab at its age ? It is once again working as it should do and for £2.50 p I think it was a good deal .

David

[Banksy]

Nicely fettled there, David.


I'm no Speedia expert, all I can offer is a photo of this similar (?) reel which carries the date on the underneath of the box lid.
1951 must have been a good year!







This reel appears to have very little use, if any. I know it belonged to a gentleman from Newark who liked to keep a spare reel in case his usual one broke.

That reel does not have the 'wheel in the hole' adjustable brake, like my favourite Speedia.
Special, because mine also had the handle broken, and it was replaced with a beautiful hand-crafted brass reel foot by Watermole.
Like yours, it's a bit tatty, but it's a cracking user.
I'm assuming that this is a later reel, perhaps someone can confirm?

[Dave F]

Yes, looks like a later reel as the Name/Insignia is embossed. The earlier reels had the Name/Insignia “Engraved.”
Can’t find out much about Speedia, infact, can’t find anything about them.

[OldAngler]

David,
I recently stripped a Speedia back to bare metal using Dettol and fine wire wool. I am happy with the result.
I know very little about re-painting reels but assume that if you were to plan to re-paint you would first need to strip it to bare metal. At that point you could decide whether you like the bare metal or want to re-paint.
Either way you can't lose.

Good luck!

[Old Man River]

David,
I recently stripped a Speedia back to bare metal using Dettol and fine wire wool. I am happy with the result.
I know very little about re-painting reels but assume that if you were to plan to re-paint you would first need to strip it to bare metal. At that point you could decide whether you like the bare metal or want to re-paint.
Either way you can't lose.

Good luck!

I really cannot make my mind up re painting, stripping it back or leaving as is .
To be honest I am really leaning toward leaving it with the evidence of years of use , ( and a little neglect ) to be seen.
I am not precious about my own tackle really, so long as it is clean and works efficiently it will do for me .

The fish do not care, and tbh I dont really care what others think about my rods, reels etc either .
Sometimes my gear brings a smile to the face of others bankside, and when an ageing warrior be it a rod , reel, or whatever matches or betters something shiney, blingy and new by handling a fish equally as efficiently as the modern rods and reels, well, what more could one ask for ?

I am now itching to test my £2.50p boot sale find against some of the small carp in a local pond .I see no reason why it could not bring in an 8 pounder along with the best.

Having said that, thanks for the Dettol Tip, if I change my mind I now know how to prep the Speedia for a paint job

David