Show Off Your Long Beach

[Aiala]

Thanks, guys! I'm feeling a little more secure now. Nothing like a bunch of expert input to set a gal's mind at ease. 

Fred, thanks for the parts offer, but I've already sent an order to Scott's, so I should be set for the time being. If not, I know whom to contact! 

Mr. Shark, that's it! My reel looks just like yours... how cool is that?    Does yours have the stamped parts numbers? Mine doesn't. 

~A~

[Shark Hunter]

I don't know Aiala, I didn't pay attention to that.

[Penn Chronology]

Hello Aiala,

I see you have a support group for the mechanics of your Long Beach rebuild, (this site is priceless).

I thought I would drop in and fill in some of the history of that reel. The fact that you have no parts numbers on any of the parts means your reel is pre-1950 or so. You said the tail plate was like the one on Daron aka Mr. Shark's    reel, which would probably put the reel just after the war, maybe, possibly, almost. It could be also be a 1942 model but no earlier than that, 1942 was the introduction year for the Model 68 and in order to place the particular reel as a 1942 model, I would need a box or catalog that was with it.

Anyways, the large Long Beach models have a sort of interesting past because they were sold as Trade reels and also had different tail plates depending on their vintage. From a few feet away they all look alike:
But if you start to look a bit deeper, things change (sort of just like people):
The reel on the left is a Long Beach 66 carrying the name Schultz, which was a well known tackle shop in the New York area that put its name on many Penn reels. And then there is the different tail plates:
The reel on the Right is the Schultz--Penn Model 66 with the plain tail plate and waffle cut style clicker button. This was a common tail plates for the Penn Long Beach Model 66 in its first generation build style.
               The reel on the left has that same old style clicker button but it is mounted to the more modern picture plate.
One more item and I will give this back to the engineers:
The bottom of the stands of these early reels were sometimes marked with line capacities and sometimes no. Your Model 68 should either be marked "600 YDS" or be blank.

Good luck with the rebuild.  

[Shark Hunter]

You are teaching us new things every day Mike!
I will have to check the bottom of the stand. I didn't look at that either.
A little birdie told me the pre war versions also have much thicker handles.

[Aiala]

Michael, you are so right about this site being priceless! Not a day goes by that I don't learn something new... it's wonderful.

My Long Beach 68 stand (the foot is rather chewed and I'm replacing it) has no stamp on it anywhere, but as you can see it does have holes for a clamp. I've no clue whether it's original or not... presumably it could've been replaced at some point:


One of the other interesting things I noticed is that the handle-side plate's lubrication port is labeled "grease" instead of "oil"... I've never seen that before.

As Mr. Spock used to say: "Fascinating, Captain!" 

~A~

[Penn Chronology]

Aiala,

Since you mentioned the Grease ports, I had to look. Who could remember all this stuff

So I took out all my old large Long Beach model and looked. I have one vintage example for each size. My early model 68 says "Grease" and my Model 67 also says "Grease". When looked at the Model 66 with the Schultz logo it does not even have a Grease or Oil port. It is just flat Bakelite.
          So now I am confused and I have to open the PENN VAULT!  I do not do that every day you know, but sometimes, """a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"""

So I break out the old NOS 1952 Penn Long Beach--Model 68::

This has an Oil Port but it is not labeled at all. So far, we have one reel without an oil port at all, two with oil ports that are labeled "Grease" and finally the first of the modern age Model 68's with a totally unlabeled Oil Port. So our first challenge is going to be to find at least one Model 68 that has correctly labeled Oil Port for, """OIL""". I mean the port is for oil, right? You would think that at least one the model years has labeled it as such................

OK, since I have opened the vault and removed one of the old NOS reels, lets see what else is different on this all original, never fished old timer.

Cannot miss the side plate shape change. There is now a bevel around the edge of the side plates that will stay that way for 50 years. I guess the ergonomics may have been improved or maybe it was just a new cosmetic effect. Whatever the reason, the Models 66, 67 & 68 are changed forever.

What's, next, oh yes, the stand. Aiala, your reel has a rod clamp stand and all my early large model Long Beach's have open stands. The stand on this 1952 model is a rod clamp stand:

This tells us nothing, except the fact that your stand may or may not be original. More than likely, your reel is a late 1940's that originally had an open stand. The original owner of your reel may have upgraded your reel with a newer stand when they first came out. Maybe that is why yours does not have a part number on it. Whatever the true history is does not make any difference because some crazy guy cut your stand to fit his little bait casting rod and destroyed it. I assume you have ordered a new stand from the nice lady over at Scott's. There are very nice people there. They even bought a copy of my book and mentioned it on their blog. Go Figure???
                  So what's next. OH yes, the pretty picture plate that everyone loves on the tail plate of all the Penn Long Beach models. Here is the upgrade of the beautiful picture plate for 1952:

Seems like Penn forgot the picture on the tail plate. That is another feature that will never return to the Long Beach.

OK, I am done for now.

            Sure is pretty, oh, by the way. Penn also eliminated the external drag in their new design. I guess they wanted to create some job security for the reel repair guys.

A little birdie told me the pre war versions also have much thicker handles.

Mr. Shark, that is one smart little birdie that confides in you. I put a caliber on the the first gen Model 66 handle blade and found a full .125 of an inch. You can knock off about .020 by 1940.
             

[Shark Hunter]

My 67 has no numbers on the stand, but has a clamp.
My oil port also says "grease". Its the word!

[Penn Chronology]

My 67 has no numbers on the stand, but has a clamp.

The handle counter weight and free spool lever style tells me the reel is pre-war. The stand can easily be changed out, that is probably not original to the reel.  A Squidder 140 and a Surfmaster 200 use the same stand as a Model 67. Both of those reels had rod clamp no number stands and were available as parts from Penn from 1940.

I just saw that. Very Cool, "Grease is the Word".......................

[Shark Hunter]

I figured with the swing away clamp, it was not original. No matter, I am still very proud of this reel.
It is the oldest one I own and will have a place in a glass case when I get around to it.
Keep that Nostalgia coming Mike!

[Superhook]

In the #9 catalog ,1941 , Crossplates with clamps were available in 1 & 5/8" , 1 & 13/16" , 2 & 1/8" and 2 7/16" for $2.00 . How do the LB's in question measure up?  If a size fits and has no part# it could be original.

[Shark Hunter]

ah Hah!

[Maxed Out]

   Hey Daron, I have penns that say "lubricant" next to that oil port. Go figure !

Ted

[Aiala]

All done! Here's my grand old lady, restored, refreshed, and ready to go fishing once again!  

~A~

[Shark Hunter]

More like Grand Old Beauty!
Good Job Aiala! It looks great!

[Penn Chronology]

All done! Here's my grand old lady, restored, refreshed, and ready to go fishing once again!

Amazing resurrection. Now, you need to catch something special with this old piece of history and take a photo with the fish and the rig in the photo.

         A few years ago, I received a request from a group of people somewhere in Southern California. They were entering a fishing tournament with requirements for all the tackle to be 1940's vintage or older. Somehow they must have been watching my EBay sales and they knew I dealt with old tackle, so they asked me if I had a half dozen Penn Long Beach reels from the 1940's or older. They did not care what models I had as long as they were from the right vintage and that I could make sure the reels were ready to fish with. I supplied them with the reels, someone else got them vintage rods and line. The requirements even stated that the lines be vintage, so only Linen line was allowed in this tournament.
        Your reel would have been a perfect fit and being that it is the largest Long Beach Model 68 with the upgrades of the spool and I assume modern drag washers, you would have had a definite advantage.
         I think the perfect mate for your 1940's Long Beach Model 68 would be a 1940's Split Cane or Hickory Rod, preferably Hickory.

You have now entered my world. My new tackle is from the 1960's.