Ocean City 300 series spinners, evolutionary dead end but quirky cool

[CincyDavid]

I now have 4 of them...2 are the two tone blue and green OC 300, one is a Montgomery Ward Sport King and the latest is a Hawthorne 60-6437 made for Montgomery Ward and the same pale gray and grayish beige two tone. These come apart like no other reel I have ever handled. The leg and top half of the outer shell come off with two screws from underneath.

[CincyDavid]

Here are the two color schemes I have.

[CincyDavid]

A/R lever on the gray one is reversed apparently and the shape of the upper shell is different...there is a gusset on the front of the leg that is absent on the blue and green one.

[Midway Tommy]

I have all of those. They are interesting characters! 

[Gfish]

That old-school wide rotor & spool diameter, with the low height, was good for a short oscillation distance, but is no longer common.
How is the build quality?

[CincyDavid]

Build quality is OK, simple, basic, not the smoothest reels in the world but I seem to recall that they were relatively low cost when they were new. My only gripe may be the pot metal crank handle, seems like it might be delicate.

[oldmanjoe]

  Not a saltwater fishing reel ,too light . Always made me feel uneasy with some bigger fish .

[Midway Tommy]

Not a saltwater fishing reel ,too light . Always made me feel uneasy with some bigger fish .

They made a larger model, the 320, which is black. It was supposed to be their saltwater rated spinner, but it's still not very large. After True Temper bought out Ocean City True Temper offered those same reels in the models Deluxe 300, 310 & 320.