Car-Gem was one of the major Italian manufacturers of spinning reels. Its origins have an interesting story. Its founder, Sergio Carnevalli was taken prisoner in Hungary during WWI. He worked there as a mechanic, got married and had a son. He returned to Italy in 1921 and began construction of engine parts for cars, mopeds and airplanes in two locations. One of the locations was Gemonio, Italy. He later became the sole owner of Meccanica di Precisione (Precision Mechanics). In the late 1930s Mr. Carvenalli manufactured a fixed spool reel similar to the the most copied reel of the time, the Swiss BERN. This reel was named the CIGNO. After WWII, in 1946, MR. Carvenalli founded Car-Gem, the name consisting of the first three letters of his last name and of the town, Gemonio. At this time two more models were devised, the 2 Fishes and Stella D'Oro. In the mid '50s Sergio became ill and his son, Emilio, took over running the business from his father, expanding it into what became one of the more prolific and important reel manufacturers in Italy. Their various models were many over the years. Some of the most prominent models were various versions of the 11, 17, 22, 23, 33, 44, 55, 66, 402 & 600, just to name a few. Most included a name in conjunction with the number. Car-Gem was one of the last large Italian reel manufacturers to succumb, in 1984, to foreign and Asian competition.
You should write a book Tommy. But you better get started, I hear it takes a couple years.
Nice piece of history; a lot of us forget the Italian manufacturers, especially from the '50s and '60s, who really "cranked" out some interesting products. I suppose they are all gone now.
Frank