As some of you know, I'm a big fan of the Ambassadeur. For me, it meets the happy medium between simplicity, quality, and performance. One reel that I've longed for is one of the small Ambassadeurs with the thumb bar, namely the 1600C IAR and 2600C IAR, but no way was I going to pay eBay money. I even discounted my chances of stumbling upon one at a garage sale or estate sale due to rarity, they just aren't seen in the wild as much as their push-button clutch brothers.
It all began a month ago, scrolling through Facebook Marketplace looking for something to service and flip for a quick buck or add to my parts stash. I see an Abu 1600C IAR for $100, over in the middle of Indiana corn country. My first thought was it's a scam, then my second thought was "this lady is selling it and there probably aren't as many reel scammers as there are for other items." My curiosity got me and I sent her a message. The reel was still for sale, but the catch was she wouldn't ship. A little back and forth over the course of the month and I sweetened the deal, I offered her an additional $100 just for her troubles, then she had no issue shipping.
Here she is, one of 470 made in 1999 (according to the Small Ambassadeur book). I have yet to open it up, but the brake plate is more like a Morrum than an Ambassadeur according to the schematic. The clutch operation is about the best I've had the pleasure of using, even better than my new production Japanese Millionaire CT SV and Calcutta Conquest BFS. This thing has never been opened up as far as I can tell, I can only imagine how it'll feel once I do my thing to it. I have a few trick parts on the way from Japan to make this thing a heck of a trout fishing machine. The best part is, between the fun parts and the reel itself, I still spent substantially less than I would have buying an eBay reel.
(https://i.imgur.com/RqpzxDp.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/t5cxBpY.jpg)
Well look at you !
Ya did GOOD there .Congrats on that find .
Quote from: Wompus Cat on July 09, 2022, 12:44:43 PMWell look at you !
Ya did GOOD there .Congrats on that find .
Many thanks! I still can't get over how nice the clutch feels, it's damn near perfection. A nice crisp engagement, and when the handle is turned over and the clutch returns, there's a nice and gentle satisfying click. My parts should be here pretty soon, then I'm going to open her up, give it a good cleaning, make the upgrades, and hit the river. When I saw the postman on the porch yesterday, it almost felt like Christmas.
Until you posted this I never knew those existed . Kinda makes me wonder now if I have passed some up looking for other stuff at auctions,garage sales ,etc. Wiser NOW and will keep a lookout for em .
I too get excited around Mail Delivery time
I get a few gifts almost daily and the wife always says Santa Left you some more stuff little Henry.......... and off I go to the Porch with my big Grin and disinfectant spray .
Problem is ya get something you want then you want to make it a little better by buying another one with the good parts you want then ya want to fix the one you robbed parts off and so ya buy a deal with 2 or 3 of those needing some work and the whole Ground Hog Day Starts again.
Quote from: Wompus Cat on July 09, 2022, 12:59:47 PMUntil you posted this I never knew those existed . Kinda makes me wonder now if I have passed some up looking for other stuff at auctions,garage sales ,etc. Wiser NOW and will keep a lookout for em .
I too get excited around Mail Delivery time
I get a few gifts almost daily and the wife always says Santa Left you some more stuff little Henry.......... and off I go to the Porch with my big Grin and disinfectant spray .
Problem is ya get something you want then you want to make it a little better by buying another one with the good parts you want then ya want to fix the one you robbed parts off and so ya buy a deal with 2 or 3 of those needing some work and the whole Ground Hog Day Starts again.
Outside of eBay, they can be very hard to find. The 1600C IAR and 2600C IAR were made 3 years, 1998 to 2000. It was the last hurrah before Pure Fishing took over operations. Kind of like the Suveran which was made in Sweden during the same timeframe. I also have a Suveran 1000, it's like a Cardinal on steroids. That was another I got cheap in much the same way as this 1600C. The seller also had a lot of extra parts that came with it, 2 more spools, another handle, a spare complete rotor assembly, and an additional drag unit.
Congrats on the score! Those are cool.
You never find anything if you don't look. That's what I tell myself
Nice catch! You'll enjoy fishing that one!
Quote from: Midway Tommy on July 09, 2022, 04:05:06 PMNice catch! You'll enjoy fishing that one!
Heck yeah I will. My fun parts should be here Tuesday. I got an Avail 1520R spool, Avail double bearing worm, Avail pinion bearing, Avail 6.1 gears, double bearing ported idler gear, and a lightweight line guide on the way. It'll make for one nice trout fishing machine. One of my buddies says to flip it, another says make it a shelf queen ??? No way, this thing is going to do what it was made to do, plus I'll probably never have another land in my lap for as cheap as this one did.
Quote from: tincanary on July 09, 2022, 04:08:46 PMQuote from: Midway Tommy on July 09, 2022, 04:05:06 PMNice catch! You'll enjoy fishing that one!
Heck yeah I will. My fun parts should be here Tuesday. I got an Avail 1520R spool, Avail double bearing worm, Avail pinion bearing, Avail 6.1 gears, double bearing ported idler gear, and a lightweight line guide on the way. It'll make for one nice trout fishing machine. One of my buddies says to flip it, another says make it a shelf queen ??? No way, this thing is going to do what it was made to do, plus I'll probably never have another land in my lap for as cheap as this one did.
Just keep your eyes and ears open, you never know when something will pop up for a decent price! That's how I ended up with 6 American Classic IVs and 8 extra Classic IV aluminum spools. ;D
Nice find! :d
Now the fun really begins ;D
(https://i.imgur.com/jsurR0g.jpg)
Bob, this is great stuff! Glad you found it. This is a case of the equipment landing in the hands of the right owner; well-deserved on both fronts. You might say the reel chose the worthy, like Thor's Hammer :)
Can't wait to see finish product. I'd no idea they existed either.
John
Thanks for showing us, nice find, have fun with it, cheers Don.
I tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.
You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on July 13, 2022, 01:24:08 PMI tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.
You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.
All of the upgrades, with the exception of the gear set also work with the much more common 1500C. The difference in the gear sets; the pinion gear for the 1600C IAR is a little longer and the crown of the pinion gear is a little more beefy.
Here's the manufacturer of the parts. https://avail.jp/. If you're using Chrome, it should auto translate to English. The only two shops that sell Avail products to overseas buyers are Hedgehog Studio and Japan Tackle.
The moment of truth!
Here's a before pic, right before I stripped her down.
(https://i.imgur.com/nUFrxWb.jpg)
The brake plate, as you can see, cut from a different loaf of bread than your typical 1500C/2500C. This guy is more like a Morrum on that end.
(https://i.imgur.com/81gjm7v.jpg)
The brake plate all cleaned up.
(https://i.imgur.com/bIzaz5b.jpg)
The spool. Note how there's an E-clip holding the bearing and spur gear. You can set it up either way, use the black spur gear cup or attach it to the spool. For the sake of simplicity, I put it on the spool.
(https://i.imgur.com/HxSwS0w.jpg)
Brake plate going back together.
(https://i.imgur.com/yyssPtm.jpg)
All finished with the new pinion bearing and spring in place.
(https://i.imgur.com/AxnqLfz.jpg)
Ready to put line on!
(https://i.imgur.com/hjNlhfB.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/G6TaZE1.jpg)
Taking this thing apart, I realized how much different it truly is compared to its push-button brethren. It's interesting because this reel introduces some important features to the small Ambassadeur reels, but these features were only present in a few models, namely the 1600C, 2600C, and 2600C Elite. When the thumb bar is depressed, it rotates the entire clutch assembly, lifting the pinion yoke. This is pretty common to low-profile reels, where the cam action engages the pinion. Second, instead of using posts machined into the bottom of the driveshaft, it uses a kick lever like that of a low profile. When the handle is turned the reel turns right over. On the original 2500C and 1500C, the driveshafts either came in one or two post. A one post would need a complete turn of the handle to engage the spool, and the two post half a turn. This 1600C is instant, right when you need it. For as similar to the others as it looks, it was an evolutionary move for this platform and thus shares features with the Morrum.
Here's a list of parts I put in it.
Avail double bearing level wind
Avail AMB1520R spool
Avail pinion bearing
Avail 6.1:1 gear set (takes it from 18IPT to 23IPT)
Hedgehog Air spool bearings
Avail ported double bearing idler gear
Avail lightweight line guide
Spectacular!
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on July 13, 2022, 01:24:08 PMI tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.
You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.
We can take to another thread so as not to hijack Bob's excellent build, but you aren't looking in the right place....you can build a 500 dollar 5000 or 6000 or whatever if you so wish...I talked to Bob for about an hour one evening all things Ambassadeur, spellbound. He can tell you about anything you might want to do.
Quote from: thorhammer on July 14, 2022, 04:57:26 PMQuote from: JasonGotaProblem on July 13, 2022, 01:24:08 PMI tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.
You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.
We can take to another thread so as not to hijack Bob's excellent build, but you aren't looking in the right place....you can build a 500 dollar 5000 or 6000 or whatever if you so wish...I talked to Bob for about an hour one evening all things Ambassadeur, spellbound. He can tell you about anything you might want to do.
My brain is always ripe for the pickin'. What I love most about the Ambassadeur platform is the near infinite customizability. They are more responsive to tuning and modifications than most other baitcast reels and can be tailored exactly as one would see fit.
You raise a good point- very few upgrades outside of drags and bearings for anything else; a few Daiwa pieces. Abu, on the other hand, has lots of bits and a lot are interchangeable with Akios and Rocket platforms. The FS2 is really an Ambassadeur deluxe monomag, really. I sent Jason a list of places to spend lots of money on ceramic bearings, billet shuttle frames, 18K gold plated stud / cap kits, etc. >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D
Drew first blood with the 1600C yesterday morning. White bass were in thick in the canals of Lake St Clair, landed close to 30 between 8am and 11am, just had to follow where they were boiling at the surface in their feeding frenzy. What a hoot to catch, more fight than a largemouth and harder runs than a smallmouth. A very overlooked gamefish in my neck of the woods.
(https://i.imgur.com/awODlEX.jpg)
Nice! I miss them. Used to have them in our lake chain in the 90's but I think between the white perch and blue cats exploding they got outcompeted. Haven't seen one in 20 years.
Very nice. So what were you throwing and how far were you throwing it?
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on July 18, 2022, 06:30:45 PMVery nice. So what were you throwing and how far were you throwing it?
1/8 ball head jig with a 3" Powerbait minnow, total weight of about 5g, a little less than 3/16 total weight. I will use this reel mostly for trout, easier to learn a reel in the wide open than it is the confines of an overgrown creek like I usually fish lol
Quote from: thorhammer on July 18, 2022, 04:00:11 PMNice! I miss them. Used to have them in our lake chain in the 90's but I think between the white perch and blue cats exploding they got outcompeted. Haven't seen one in 20 years.
We have a very nice run about May of every year. Thousands upon thousands in enormous schools that eat anything in their wake. The piers along the Detroit River get packed with people catching multiple limits per day, and the walleye fishermen get very upset because they can't keep bait on the hook lol
beautiful, thank you for showing us.. a rarity indeed.
My 4600C4 with thumb bar has yet another brake plate design, but it's also an instant pickup.
just acquired a 3500C in ratty shape. Now I have to decide if I'm going to spend the $100 on an Avail spool.. probably will, just takes a bit to get my nerve up to spend more than the reel cost on a spool ;-)
caught my first white bass ever this year, they were swirling around the shallows in a lake where I'd gone to find carp. The white bass distracted me thoroughly, catching them on a fly was lots of fun.