Just picked up a nice older Fin-Nor off "the bay" and was very pleased when I opened the box !!! I haven't cleaned reel yet but will over this weekend. Many old Fin-Nor's seem to have sticky drags and sometimes there not working at all but this one is smooth and everything works great !!! I believe it to be an early 1950s reel. Serial # F 166 and I have a friend that has the exact same reel serial # F 165 that is a cool find for the older Fin-Nor's !!! I think it is one good looking old reel that seems to work like a charm !!!! Thanks for looking. John Taylor
couple more pics. To me these old Fin-Nor's are art work !! ;D John Taylor
Wow John,
That is beautiful reel,
Congrates on your find.
Col
That's quite a piece of engineering! Very nice.
Cheers,
Leon
Nice reel John,great shape!
Good score ! They look to be a quality machine !
Great find John, your one lucky man, cheers Don.
It should be "Fin Nor reels just as John Taylor finds them" LOL Nobody else has a chance
All right John! You and I gotta talk! I scour the Bay EVERY morning! I check big game, vintage big game, Fin Nor, ?/0 sizes, and every other configuration known to man, never did I see this beauty listed! You have to share that secret! That's a true beauty! Congratulations.
Reeltyme,
Randy McConnell
It wasn't on there long enough for you to see it !!!! Lol !!! No shared secrets either !! John Taylor
Last year You folks here helped me ID a Regal 20 that came in a pail deal, 1bad350 Chris was the guy who nailed it. While rough on the outside, I opened it up a few days ago for a lube and new drag grease, just simple elegance internally. Spooled it up with mono and braid and took it for a boat ride out in the Gulf looking for grouper. Ended up with some "other" species in the fridge at the end of the day. The Regal was just a joy to work with. It'll be heading out again soon. Cool old reel.
Nice reel !! The Regal was designed by Gar Wood Jr. son of the boat racer / designer from Florida he also designed the Fin-Nor fly reels and the No.3 and No.4 spinning reels from Fin-Nor. I have one of Gar Woods Prototype Regal reels. John Taylor
John,
I remember a Fin Nor spinner from the late 60's that, if I recall correctly, had a pickup notch, that was an automatic line pickup, in the spinning rotor with no bail and was quite a bit smaller than the Mitch 302 or Penn 700 common in the day. Never did get to fish it, just played with it on the dock as it belonged to a charter party. I know that the conversion of the 704 and others to manual pickup is a common mod these days as full bails can be a pain. Why has this design seemed to have vanished?
Thanks,
Bob
Very nice Fin-Nor John. I have never seen one colored like that. I seem to remember that war time Fin-Nor reels were black. Do you the age of the reel. It looks like a two speed version. I do not know when Fin-Nor upgraded to the two speed reels, so I am lost in the vintage.
Quote from: Penn Chronology on December 22, 2019, 08:08:03 AM
Very nice Fin-Nor John. I have never seen one colored like that. I seem to remember that war time Fin-Nor reels were black. Do you the age of the reel. It looks like a two speed version. I do not know when Fin-Nor upgraded to the two speed reels, so I am lost in the vintage.
Mike Fin-Nor came out with there first two speed in 1937 different than mine it was very complicated to switch gears in the heat of the battle. Then in 1939 or 40 they came out with the design of two speeds like this one and they stuck around "with minor changes" into the 80s maybe even 90s ! This two speed gear box is bullet proof with big heavy bearings and very rugged gears. As far as dating this reel looking in Ed's book it's early to mid 50s from what I can see and I have seen others in a few different color schemes. The serial # on this is F-166 I have a friend who has reel F-165 and it is exactly the same color combination with all exact same components.
I have about 6 or 7 other 12/0s with the "F" above serial numbers some just silver some silver trimmed in gold
"bearing caps and cross bars" the all gold 12/0s came a bit later. To me these were some really well built reels they reel so smooth with a beautiful clicking sound and when they have been maintained well there drags are smooth and strong !! Well that's what I know so far about the "F" serial number 12/0s. Between myself and a few other Fin-Nor collectors I know we have around 15 reels with the F # and it's neat to see the slight changes Grieten did on his reels as time went on. I believe all reels were hand fitted in this era not yet mass produced and parts are not all interchangeable.
Thanks for looking. John Taylor
The reel on the left in following pictures is serial number F-74 my earliest F 12/0 the one on right is an earlier Machine Industries 12/0 1945 to 1947. As you can see all silver.
John Taylor
Next is Serial number F-82 with cool name plate. John Taylor
Next is F-89 you can see cross bar on this one is a different color of silver.
So not to bore you last one serial number F-219 this one has gold trim and is my latest "F" serialized 12/0. Anybody out there have any more with the F in serial number please post if you do. Thanks again for looking !!
John Taylor
Very nice group ! When was the "first" Fin-nor built ?
Well from reading Ed Pritchard's book on Fin-Nor the first one was in 1936 but unlike Penn they weren't mass produced for a long while I think not till mid to late 50s. The paper trail on Fin-Nor reels is thin until the late 50s early 60s then catalogs were more available. If you look at Ed's Website " antiquefishingreels.com " and go to big game and then Fin-Nor you will see a catalog at the very end of Fin-Nor section that is very rare and seems to be the only one from the early 1940s and that's it from what I see until around 1957. John Taylor
Thanks for all the history John.
I believe this is the first Fin-Nor. I remember many years ago shipping this reel to a collector in Everglade City, Florida. That collector has passed on, so I do not know what happened to the reel. It is a 15/0. The collector that I shipped it to was a friend of Ed Pritchard. He may know where the reel settled. I think the guy I shipped it to name was Tom, but I could be wrong about that.
I see the ghost of Kovalovsky design in this reel.
Here's a couple of 1950's 9/0's that I got off the "Bay" recently. I was given a heads up about them by someone who shall remain nameless! They are both an early "H" series and are in very nice condition. Haven't had time to clean them up yet. You gotta love "Shelf Queens" as my wife calls them!
Nice reels Randy !!! I have one 9/0 of the same vintage but I will have to take a few pics. I will post them later. Really nice score !!! John Taylor
Here is the 9/0 I spoke of above serial number H-115 along with a 6/0 serial number M-241. I bought these reel together from a guy in California. The 9/0 wouldn't reel at all it was froze up. I started to take it apart to see what was up and as I loosened up tail plate screws it started to free up ?? Long story short some one replaced a bearing inside and it was about a 16th of an inch to thick !! I was able to find a thinner bearing and it works perfect.
Notice in the 2nd to last two pictures the drag stop levers have different ends on them I notice that your two 9/0s Randy have same two styles. Which one is newer ?? Also notice spools on mine are same as on one of your 9/0s and mine has an "H" stamped on it. Does yours ?
John Taylor
Couple more : John Taylor
John, I checked the spools on my reels. One, the earlier one, has no markings on it. The other reel has an "M" located next to the line tie same place as yours. As for the difference in the drag stop lever, it looks to me as though the stop in the second picture is a little less refined or machined, I don't see the word "on" or "off" anywhere on it, however it does has the bulbous head on it? Is the second picture of the 6/0 or the 9/0?
Second pic was the 6/0. Do you have any early 6/0 or 4/0 reels ? John
Nothing as early as these. A 7 1/2/0 and a couple others. I think you bought the last one available! I am watching for a 6/0 though. Still on the lookout for that O.C. Orlando as well.
Funny you mention the 6/0. Only Fin-Nor I have is an old one speed 6/0. I found it many years ago. It is mounted into a Neptuna combo rig, original Neptuna built but I see more guides mounted to this rod tip than anything else Neptuna built and it has two stripper guides (figured than was a Zuckerman request). The owner / designer was Steve Zuckerman. Being that the rod and reel is marked with his name and he is a well known big game fisherman, I became attached to the rig. Maybe someday I will part with it. When I get items like this, I kind of marry them.
Nice rig Mike I like Zuckerman stuff !!!! John
I agree with John. That's a nice outfit Mike. Zuckerman is well known and that outfit could probably tell a few stories!
QuoteI agree with John. That's a nice outfit Mike. Zuckerman is well known and that outfit could probably tell a few stories!
That rig was offered for sale as a pair. I only bought the one. The only one I have ever seen set up like that.