Determining the vintage of Penn Reels

[sandbar]

Is it possible to date a Penn reel by the design of the side plate?
I picked up a Long Beach 65 and was wondering how old it is.
Mystic says they were produced "Before 1941-1999".
Trying to narrow it down a bit.

[sandbar]

Pictures

[Swami805]

Judging by the logo I'm thinking the last generation of long beach. Don't know when that logo first appeared but not super old. Nice reel, it should fish just fine once cleaned up

[Maxed Out]

Yes, what Swami said

[ExcessiveAngler]

Thought most side plates had a timestamp in them?
Or is that something that came along later?
I was just looking for a pair of old minty Penn GLS 25's that I had laying around.
Forgot I broke them up and sold one.
Now looking at the reel again, it has double dogs, didn't realize that! Anyway, it's got a time stamp in the side plate.
They always just kind of felt, dare I use the word, let's just say clunky lol. I originally bought them to modify them into surf casting reels, just didn't like the way they felt.
Oh, I know a better word, grindy feeling.
So I was just looking to harvest some parts out of it, and that's when I noticed it had that timestamp.

[sandbar]

Judging by the logo I'm thinking the last generation of long beach. Don't know when that logo first appeared but not super old. Nice reel, it should fish just fine once cleaned up

I appreciate the input.
I didn't think it was super old.
Surely Penn has records on the different side plates they produced and when. I can look up a Chevy Silverado and there is documentation on model changes and the years they took place.
Were the side plates Bakelite through 1999 or did they switch to another plastic product at some point?
Just curious and trying to learn.

[Bill B]

Your best bet on dating the older reels is Micheal Ciacioppo's books on the history of Penn Reels, at least up to 1957.  Bill

[sandbar]

Your best bet on dating the older reels is Micheal Ciacioppo's books on the history of Penn Reels, at least up to 1957.  Bill
[/quote

Your best bet on dating the older reels is Micheal Ciacioppo's books on the history of Penn Reels, at least up to 1957.  Bill

Hey Bill,
I was looking at that earlier today Bill. The book is very expensive but probably well worth it. 1958 to 1999?

[Maxed Out]

 There is no archives from Penn on various subtle changes on certain reels. They really don't care much about that aspect of their product. They just focus on the here and now. The important thing is most the parts from the 1930's reels will fit the modern version of that same model. Trying to date a Penn reel is mostly guesswork. Some info online talks about the color of the knobs that relate to certain era's, but that's total bs. Some models had different looking logos, and some had different colors thru the years. Mike's history books really don't cover that aspect. You just hafta find reels still in original box and compare them to see the minor changes. I've had so many Penns go thru my hands, I can narrow down certain era of a Penn to a handful of years, but it would take me all month typing to explain what to look for. Some models are easier to date than others. Bottom line is the guts mostly all stayed the same no matter the era they were built