1960's Garcia Mitchell 300's restoration
These two reels belonged to my grandfather originally and have been passed down to me by my dad. I began the restoration yesterday.
Opened up
Setup shop outside with my two boys playing around in the warm spring air. These guys will get these reels eventually.
The next step is a deep cleaning. Pics to follow.
Opened up
Setup shop outside with my two boys playing around in the warm spring air. These guys will get these reels eventually.
The next step is a deep cleaning. Pics to follow.
The two best times to fish is when it’s rainin’ and when it ain’t. –Patrick F. McManus
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The new style 'straight' AR lever & appearance of engraved Garcia appeared in ~1972. The black plastic AR pawl & later drag knob suggest mid 70's vintage.
Can't tell for sure from the pic, but it looks like reel might have never been opened & still held only its original grease.
Be careful with the delicate shims.
The 7th version main determining factor was that the anti-reverse lever has changed to a straight lever. The “3-0-0” is now enlarged with the dashes omitted making it “300” on both the Garcia and European release of this version. On very early 7th versions for a very short period of time; you will find a straight A/R lever on cover plates with the 3-0-0 still being engraved.This version was produced from 1968 through 1976 with serial numbers starting in the 7900000 range up to serial number 9999999 in 1970/71. In the 1971/72 production season they made a decision to go back to letter prefixes on serial numbers. This would mean easy identification of dating reels starting with 1971/72 have an “A” prefix, 1972/73 having a letter “B” prefix and so on. More on this later as time permits.It’s important to note that you will find other distributor’s have their name and or logo engraved on this version including Arca, Albatros and Balzer. Pictures are being taken and will be added as time permits.
I will look into it further though. As of now my main reference is my father's memory of when the reels were purchased.
I also think this is the first time they have been opened, and those shims are delicate looking.
Looking forward to watching this restoration
Good luck with the resto.
I did some more research into the production dates of my reels. I've been meaning to do this for a while. The original title of this thread stands as a 1960's reel restoration. The serial number on one of the reels confirms it was manufactured in 1968. The other reel unfortunately has lost paint due to corrosion where the serial number is located. The reels were purchased at the same time so I believe it to be a '68 model as well.
Easy reels to service too.
Member #10822
1968 – SN 7959216 to 8570524 (SN 7959216 was the earliest 7th Version I’ve found)
1969 – SN 8603501 to 92447331970
1970 - SN 9295633 to 9963012
When nearing 10 million "Classic Egg-Shaped" reels made; in 1971 Mitchell reverted back to their original alphanumeric serial numbers with a wide variety of digit combination's. This makes it very easy to date these reels by just the serial number letter prefix. These started in 1971 with the letter “A” prefix and so on. Interesting to know that in 1971 Mitchell also celebrated the 20-Millionth Mitchell reel manufactured in Cluses, France.
Thanks for some great memories.
Any thoughts?
Pompano Joe does excellent work with the paint.
https://www.facebook.com/pompanojoes.reelworks
http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/2821305-post1.html
So does this guy - cajun creationz.
http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/2806601-post13.html
Oh.....I agree with the others about not re-painting the reels. Keep them as they are.
Interesting reel. Customized by yourself?