OCEAN CITY and Other OLD REELS ...

[Tightlines667]

My first Ocean City Cradle arrived all the way from Australia yesterday.  It is a 4/0 size cradle with a 604 reel (an 804 might be more period correct?), and came with the all important collet (marked 'A 1'?).  Now to find the correct Montague rod tip (A 706-6oz,709-9oz, or 712-12oz).  

Any tips here would be appreciated  

[Tightlines667]

A few more pics, and 2 pages from the 1950 catalog...

[54bullseye]

Nice looking cradle John !!  That was a hard find and for me the rod is even harder !! I have a new in the box 804 and I have been looking for a rod for a few years with no luck as those small bamboo rod were pretty fragile ! It looks like yours has a really long wooden butt !! Longer than usual ??  Cradle looks mint and you have the little shim adapter for fitting multiple rod ferrules. Really nice !!!!  I will post pics of my 4/0 tomorrow after the Patriots win the game !!   Lol !!   John Taylor

[54bullseye]

Another thing John don't think that being a 604 instead of an 804 makes it wrong or incorrect !! You could purchase just cradle alone from OC and I am sure a lot of people that already had the reels did just that ! Good luck finding a tip !  John Taylor

[mo65]

Great find John!

[54bullseye]

Here is the Ocean City 4/0 cradle NIB it is one of my best finds and I thank Brian "Oceanreels"" for letting it go !!
Notice the letter explaining that the guy won the cradle in 1948.   Thanks for looking.   John Taylor

[54bullseye]

A few more pictures.   Thanks  John Taylor

[oc1]

There's lots of info about Iddings.  Sounds like a colorful dude.
-steve

[steelfish]

its nice to have found this thread, I just got a old ocean city 1600 all beatup and I though I have a cheapo/non valuable reel (like those made by sears, etc long time ago), a good old friend had it laying on a tool/reel parts box and I asked if he wanted to sell it to me, he just gave it to me NC, I know its not a expensive collector item but finding the history of those reels in this thread just gave it a good value to me and it automatically became a piece in my really small old reels collection (just some reel in my office desk, which are my only non-fishable shelf reels)

the new addition OC1600 needs lots of TLC asap to make it look bit better.

[Swami805]

nice big graphic on the side, cool old everyman reel
nice mustang too, 350gt?

[steelfish]

nice mustang too, 350gt?

Thats correct Señor

[Penn Chronology]

You could purchase just cradle alone from OC and I am sure a lot of people that already had the reels did just that !

Hello John,

I did not think Ocean City ever sold the cradle alone. All I have ever seen is the 800 series offered in the cradle reels. The 800 numbered big game reels originated in the cradle reels before the war and before the 600 series big game reels existed.
             If you have any documentation about cradles being sold separately, I would love to see it.

Best;

Mike C.

[54bullseye]

Hi Mike
I know you and I have talked about this before and I am not arguing the fact that the 800 series was around before the 600 series that's fact. I also know I have posted this page out of an Ocean City catalog before so I know your familiar with it and I just noticed this morning that 804 cradle parts were not shown on this list. I also looked at a few other year catalogs and the 804 was not there I don't know why ?? All I am saying is that because that cradle of John's has an 604 badge doesn't make it "incorrect"!!

The catalog pictured did offer cradle parts partial and complete "except for 804" and it has prices that go with them all which tells me they could be purchased. So after the 600 series came out why couldn't some one buy a cradle to fit there 600 series reel and if they did that the badge would be the only thing different !!! Actually only one number in the badge was different "8 vs 6" so in my mind it is still period correct. You can also see on John's cradle the butt seems extra long. Factory maybe not ?? I haven't seen one that long but it probably fit who ever owned it's fishing application. That's what people did back then and some still do to make things work !

All I am saying is in my mind a cradle with a 600 badge on doesn't make it wrong when parts were available and interchangeable. Mike I can also see where your coming from so I will say no more !! Lol !!    John Taylor      You could always put a rivet through the 8 Lol !!!!!  That's another story.

[Penn Chronology]

Hi Mike
I know you and I have talked about this before and I am not arguing the fact that the 800 series was around before the 600 series that's fact. I also know I have posted this page out of an Ocean City catalog before so I know your familiar with it and I just noticed this morning that 804 cradle parts were not shown on this list. I also looked at a few other year catalogs and the 804 was not there I don't know why ?? All I am saying is that because that cradle of John's has an 604 badge doesn't make it "incorrect"!!

The catalog pictured did offer cradle parts partial and complete "except for 804" and it has prices that go with them all which tells me they could be purchased. So after the 600 series came out why couldn't some one buy a cradle to fit there 600 series reel and if they did that the badge would be the only thing different !!! Actually only one number in the badge was different "8 vs 6" so in my mind it is still period correct. You can also see on John's cradle the butt seems extra long. Factory maybe not ?? I haven't seen one that long but it probably fit who ever owned it's fishing application. That's what people did back then and some still do to make things work !

All I am saying is in my mind a cradle with a 600 badge on doesn't make it wrong when parts were available and interchangeable. Mike I can also see where your coming from so I will say no more !! Lol !!    John Taylor      You could always put a rivet through the 8 Lol !!!!!  That's another story.

This Illustrated Parts Brochure slipped my mind. Of course you are correct. The cradles were offered independently as a item. I always thought of these brochures as parts lists. I guess I never thought of them as a place a customer would go to buy just a cradle that he would custom build himself; but, why not? Cannot agree or disagree with that fact.

In my opinion, you cannot find the 804 cradle in the 1950's because I believe Ocean City used them up. I suspect that these cradles were ordered in large batches and at some point Ocean City stopped ordering them. If you look in the later years of the cradle reel offerings in the catalogs, not the brochures, the 804 and 806 disappeared from the catalogs. I feel that happened because the stock to put together complete 4/0 and 6/0 units was used up. That is possibly why Ocean City started offering the parts. I could be wrong about this because it is conjecture; but, I feel it makes sense.

When I look at a OC cradle reel and see a 600 series reel in the cradle, I see it as a cradle rig with a replacement reel in it. Does that make it incorrect, not really; but, if I was asked to put an estimated value on a OC Cradle rig with a 600 series reel installed in the cradle, that would lower the value of the rig in my estimate, simply because no catalog ever offered the rig that way. To me, a OC cradle rig should have a 800 series reel in it, even though the only difference is the data plate on the head plate of the reel.................... But, who knows, maybe OC ran out of 800 data plates and rather than make more, used 600 plates instead on the rigs........... Stranger things have happened.

I have seen OC cradle rigs with the long rod butt. I assumed that the owner changed to the longer butt because of personal preference. I do not believe OC ever marketed them that way or even offered a longer butt as an option. I know that OC purposely used only a screw mount for the rod butt to allow for a 90 degree rotation of the butt if the gimbal on your boat did not match the single slot orientation of the butt tip provided by OC.

Yes John, we have probably discussed this before and I am more than likely being redundant on some of my opinions. I reserve that "Right of Redundancy" because I am getting old and that fact alone allows me to forget things and / or repeat things. At least age gives me the excuse for forgetfulness, lately my Senior Moments seem to be occurring more often than in the past............................<:O(

[54bullseye]

Mike if I had two OC cradles in new condition any size and one had a 600 badge and the other had an 800 badge I would pick the 800 !!   Lol !!!!    John Taylor